MESIC GIVES INTERVIEW TO BELGRADE TV STATION

BELGRADE, Feb 10 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in a phone interview to the Belgrade-based TV station Studio B on Wednesday the Serbian Opposition should follow the example of democratic forces in Croatia. "As soon as democracy is established in Yugoslavia and the country turns a new page and turns to Europe, cooperation will be possible. The (Serbian) Opposition has to draw a lesson from what Croatia has done, and then we will be able to cooperate with them," Mesic said. The President said he had many friends in Belgrade "with whom I will be in contact, however, not as the President of Croatia but as Stipe Mesic." Asked about the insistence of the international community that Croatian Serb refugees return to their homes in Croatia, Mesic said the way he saw it, there were only displaced people regardless of nationality, and that he supported the return of all refugees to their homes. Asked whether he was ready to appear before the Hague war crimes tribunal to testify against the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Mesic answered affirmatively, adding he would also testify against the military leadership of the former Yugoslav state, which had carried out a coup d'etat. (hina) rml