ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has tried to abuse the parliamentary discussion on Croatia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for political purposes,
said Mato Arlovic, president of the Social Democrats' (SDP) parliamentary bench. The HDZ has been trying to misuse soldiers' emotions through the Headquarters for the Protection of Homeland War Dignity and manipulate them into overthrowing the authorities, Arlovic claimed. He backed up the connection between the HDZ and the Headquarters with the fact that the headquarters' message calling for the toppling of the incumbent authorities was sent on Tuesday from the HDZ parliamentary bench's fax machine. "We are urging opposition representatives to stop with political struggles leading to irreconcilable divisions and tensions in Croatia", Arlovic said at his party's news conference
ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has
tried to abuse the parliamentary discussion on Croatia's
cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for political purposes, said Mato
Arlovic, president of the Social Democrats' (SDP) parliamentary
bench.
The HDZ has been trying to misuse soldiers' emotions through the
Headquarters for the Protection of Homeland War Dignity and
manipulate them into overthrowing the authorities, Arlovic
claimed. He backed up the connection between the HDZ and the
Headquarters with the fact that the headquarters' message calling
for the toppling of the incumbent authorities was sent on Tuesday
from the HDZ parliamentary bench's fax machine.
"We are urging opposition representatives to stop with political
struggles leading to irreconcilable divisions and tensions in
Croatia", Arlovic said at his party's news conference on
Wednesday.
Croatian Parliament Deputy Speaker Zdravko Tomac stressed the
Ivica Racan-led government was fighting to protect national
interests, but it could not promise the impossible. He said the
parliamentary conclusions on Croatia's cooperation with the ICTY
were clear and realistic and were adopted by an agreement among all
political forces in the parliament except for the HDZ, the Croatian
Party of Rights (HSP) and the Croatian Christian Democratic Union
(HKDU).
Asked about the HDZ's motion for a referendum on equating the status
of Croatian soldiers with the status of the victorious armies after
World War II, Arlovic answered it was obvious the HDZ intentionally
prolonged Tuesday's session until midnight - the deadline for the
completion of the 14th extraordinary session - so that voting could
not take place. There are two possibilities left now: to continue
the discussion on the referendum in September or let the HDZ collect
76 signatures needed for the party to request another extraordinary
session on this item, Arlovic said.
(hina) np rml