COMMENTS ON MEETING OF BOSNIAN CROAT PARTIES WITH CRO. PREMIER

SARAJEVO, Feb 18 (Hina) - A Zagreb meeting of representatives of Croat political parties from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatian Premier Ivica Racan caused very reserved reactions or critics in Sarajevo and disapproval in Mostar. The harshest evaluation came from the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) president, Sulejman Tihic, who believes a visit to Zagreb is not a good method of problem solving. The Dnevni Avaz quotes Tihic as saying "this practice reminds of the time of Tudjman's rule and all bad that was happening then, it reminds of the ugly and of the disintegration of Bosnia". The SDA president said constitutional changes in Bosnia should be discussed by the country's authorities, and that Croatia should build its relations towards Bosnia respecting the Dayton agreement and not "by pulling out Croats from Bosnia and influencing them". Stjepan Kljuic, the president of the Republican party, which is also a member of the ruling Alliance for Changes, shares a similar standpoint. Kljuic, who refused to take part in the meeting in Zagreb, said a consensus on constitutional changes must be reached in Bosnia. Other members of Bosnia's ruling coalition were not so critical in comments about talks between representatives of Bosnian parties with the Croatian premier. President of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Safet Halilovic, said Croat politicians were encouraged to make a trip to Zagreb by justifiable reasons, that is, care for the interests of Croat people in the coming constitutional changes. The Mostar daily Dnevni Avaz, close to the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), in an editorial on Monday suggests that any objections from Sarajevo at the account of the Zagreb meeting are completely unfounded. It also condemns the Social Liberal Party of Bosnia's president, Zlatko Lugumdzija, for forbidding Croats from the party a trip to Zagreb. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) secretary, Miro Lazovic, categorically dismissed such accusations and said the SDP believed all problems should be solved inside Bosnia. Croat parties from Bosnia have not been denied the right and need for contacts with Zagreb by anyone from the Bosnian ruling coalition. It is only important that such contacts are in the interest of Bosnia. Ideas by some Croatian politicians, such as deputy speaker Zdravko Tomac, about making an impact on the change of the situation in Bosnia by complicated external affairs combinations, are much more disputable. Regardless of good relations between Sarajevo and Zagreb, and even better with Ankara, Tomac's recent initiative for cooperation between Croatia and Turkey in the domain of changing the Bosnian Constitution has been perceived as direct interference in Bosnia's internal affairs. The speaker of the House of Peoples at the Bosnian parliament, Sejfudin Tokic, called Tomac's idea an "incidental move" damaging good inter-parliamentary cooperation. "This is about drastic interference into Bosnian internal affairs for which we thought were a matter of history together with the leaving of Tudjman and the HDZ from power", Tokic said. (hina) np sb