Speaking to reporters during his visit to Delnice, about 30 km northeast of the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka, Mesic said that he would declassify the transcripts if so requested by the Government Office, adding that "it is in our interests and in the interests of the public to establish the truth".
During his visit to Zadar on Thursday, Mesic said that the transcripts of a meeting between the late president Franjo Tudjman and army generals, which was held on the northern Adriatic archipelago of Brijuni prior to the military operation Storm in August 1995, had been sent to the Government Office after being found by a thee-member commission appointed by him.
The Justice Ministry said on Thursday it had received two copies of the minutes of the meeting, but since the documents were classified it asked the Office of the President to declassify them.
Commenting on the statement by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, made in an interview with the Slobodna Dalmacija daily on Wednesday, that Dalmatia, Istria and Rijeka "have always been Italian territory ... this was Venetian soil, and before that, Roman", Mesic said that, instead of focusing on important issues such as job creation, people were occupied with statements by a politician who can in no way influence the circumstances in Croatia.