KUCAN: SLOVENIA IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WARS IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

LJUBLJANA, June 25 (Hina) - Slovenia acted right when it declared independence 10 years ago and it is not responsible for wars which happened in other former Yugoslav republics, reads a message of Slovene politicians on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Slovenia's independence. We were faced with a hopeless crisis in the then Yugoslavia and offered peaceful disarmament, which some accepted and some did not, President Milan Kucan said commenting on claims by the then Italian foreign minister Gianni de Michelis. Together with a former German foreign minister, Dietrich Genscher, and a former Austrian foreign minister, Alois Mock, de Michelis accepted Slovenia's invitation to attend a ceremony marking the country's independence, but repeated that he did not change his stands of ten years ago that the war in former Yugoslavia could have been prevented. "Slovenia acted lawfully and did what it judged was its interest at the time, but it did not take into consideration everything else. Croatia agreed to temporarily suspend its declaration on independence. Slovenians did not want that. (Franjo) Tudjman proved more moderate than Kucan who did not consent to the requests of the European Union to adjust to Croatia's flexibility," de Michelis told the daily of the Slovene community in Trieste "Primorski dnevnik" ahead of his visit to Slovenia. He also added that he was Slovenia's friend and wanted it all the best. Commenting on de Michelis' claims, Kucan said time had proved that Slovenia had been right ten years ago and that the international community had accepted this in the meantime. Although he believes that de Michelis is wrong, Kucan considers he should be given most credit for Italy's recognising Ljubljana the right to succession to the Osimo Accords (which define borders with Slovenia). "Slovenia is grateful to him for that and it therefore awarded him with the highest state decoration in 1992," Kucan recalled. (hina) sb rml