ZAGREB, July 11 (Hina) - Croatia must respect its laws, including the one on cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, but will know how to counter wrong and ill-intentioned interpretations of the Homeland Defence War which
might be made at a possible Hague trial, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, July 11 (Hina) - Croatia must respect its laws, including
the one on cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, but will
know how to counter wrong and ill-intentioned interpretations of
the Homeland Defence War which might be made at a possible Hague
trial, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said on Wednesday.#L#
According to Picula, three recent events will mark Croatia's
international affairs in 2001: the initialling of a Stabilisation
and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union, Goran
Ivanisevic's victory at Wimbledon, and the government's decision
to act in line with the Hague tribunal's request to extradite
Croatian citizens based on sealed indictments.
Reminding the decision on extradition was just the enforcement of a
valid law on cooperation with The Hague, Picula told a news
conference cooperation with the UN's tribunal was one of the two
most important indicators "whereby this government's foreign
policy determination to realise programmes is measured." The other
is the relationship towards neighbouring Bosnia.
Croatia can now either resume with international integration or
return to international isolation, the foreign minister said. He
added choosing the latter option would be "the beginning of the
second political ice age in Croatia, which is absolutely not this
government's programme."
He believes the fears of those maintaining that "the character of
the Homeland Defence War might in part be brought into question by
poor, even malicious interpretations from abroad" can be
understood.
He added, however, the government would know how to deal with that
and "will not allow tendentious and superficial interpretations,
regardless of their origin, deform the Homeland War's greatness."
"An indictment itself is not a judgement and... even if there is a
trial in The Hague, I think that as a state we will find a way to
dismiss contentious elements from the indictment during the trial
itself" and have somebody's guilt established exclusively on the
basis of crimes that were committed, said Picula.
He voiced hope on the government's behalf for the EU and the United
States to show more understanding for what is awaiting Croatia. "I
think economic assistance is the highest form of political
understanding," the minister said, hopeful this would yield
results at the first meetings of Croatian and international
officials.
Picula refuted a claim made by the president of the strongest
opposition party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), to the
effect that the government did not want to disclose the whole text
of the SAA as it contains provisions on Croatia's regional
association as the main prerequisite for admission to the EU.
The Agreement will be presented later in the week, he said,
reminding it was being translated until now and that MPs had been
familiar with it for quite some time.
Picula lauded some war veterans' associations from the Dalmatia
region for deciding not to block roads and thus undermine the summer
tourist season. Every other democratic form of protest is
acceptable, he reminded.
Asked to comment on a Croatian weekly article stating the Foreign
Ministry was in utter chaos, Picula said he had "read (it) and got
alarmed."
"If even 20 percent of it was true I would have to resign at once,
without thinking," he said, adding a field as important as foreign
affairs had become dysfunctional in Croatia. There are problems
because the ministry is undergoing a thorough reform, he said, but
voiced confidence most would be resolved by year's end, when the
ministry will be "much more consolidated."
(hina) ha sb