ROBERTSON: NATO PERMANENT COUNCIL SUPPORTS CROATIA'S ASPIRATIONS

BRUSSELS, May 16 (Hina) - The NATO Permanent Council recognises Croatia's legitimate aspirations to become a full member of the Euro-Atlantic community and it will support such aspirations, NATO Secretary General George Robertson said after talks with Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan in Brussels Wednesday. The Croatian government's determination to cooperate with the international community, particularly the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), was a brave decision and unmistakable signal that Croatia wishes to join the Euro-Atlantic community, Robertson stressed. According to him, democratic Croatia gives a significant contribution to the return of stability in the Balkans and implementation of the Dayton agreements. During today's talks, we agreed that extremist incidents of Bosnia Croats and those in Republika Srpska should be condemned and extremists should be isolated. Just like Croatia, democratic Yugoslavia must too give its contribution to the stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the NATO Secretary General said. The Croatian Prime Minister said Croatia was ready for a new step in cooperation with NATO, namely joining the Membership Action Plan, calling upon NATO to consider this possibility. Speaking of the development of the situation in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Prime Minister Racan said Croatia advocated all three Bosnian peoples and citizens being equal and constituent throughout its territory. "This is why we don't want special relations with a part of Bosnia-Herzegovina and we expect the same from the policy of the official Belgrade", Racan said. Croatia previously signed an agreement on special relations with the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, while the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia signed the same agreement with Republika Srpska. Asked to comment on Robertson's statement under which Croatia's decision to cooperate with the ICTY was good, Racan said democratic Croatia was ready to cope with darker sides of its recent history. "Facing darker sides of one's history is never easy, but democratic Croatia is ready for that. The Homeland Defence War was just, but Croatia does not want to be the hostage of unsolved individual cases of war crimes. If NATO thinks this is brave, I only call upon others to do the same," Racan said after his visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels. (hina) it sb