ZAGREB, April 14 (Hina) - During a heated debate at Friday session of the House of Representatives about a government draft declaration on cooperation with The Hague-based war crimes tribunal, Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of
Rights (HSP) commented on the statement by Vlado Gotovac of the Liberal Party (LS) that "every war is a crime" by saying Gotovac's speech in front of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) command in Zagreb in 1991 had also been "a warmongering speech." "If every war is a crime, as you say, then you, too, have incited to crime," Djapic said, after which Gotovac left the chamber. He told reporters that he would return to the chamber after debates with such tones ceased. "Djapic's statements demonstrate a total lack of education and political responsibility which is harmful not only for the level of the parliamentary debate and its importance, but also for the image the Croatian Sabor is p
ZAGREB, April 14 (Hina) - During a heated debate at Friday session
of the House of Representatives about a government draft
declaration on cooperation with The Hague-based war crimes
tribunal, Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP)
commented on the statement by Vlado Gotovac of the Liberal Party
(LS) that "every war is a crime" by saying Gotovac's speech in front
of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) command in Zagreb in 1991
had also been "a warmongering speech."
"If every war is a crime, as you say, then you, too, have incited to
crime," Djapic said, after which Gotovac left the chamber. He told
reporters that he would return to the chamber after debates with
such tones ceased.
"Djapic's statements demonstrate a total lack of education and
political responsibility which is harmful not only for the level of
the parliamentary debate and its importance, but also for the image
the Croatian Sabor is projecting toward our and foreign public,"
Gotovac said.
"To claim that my speech in front of the Fifth Military District was
warmongering means not to be able to understand it from the first to
the last word," Gotovac said, recalling that on the occasion Djapic
was referring to he had explicitly said that the right to defend
oneself (from the JNA) could at no moment be the right to do evil.
Gotovac was criticised for his 1991 speech also by one of the war
veterans, who today protested against the draft declaration in
front of the Sabor building. The veteran said, "it was on the wings
of Gotovac's speech that I joined the military and today Gotovac is
distancing himself from me saying - 'it was not I who sent you to
kill.'"
Asked to comment on this statement, Gotovac said it was obviously
"the same political approach which does not tolerate the reception
of other people's messages in a clear and understandable manner,
and this inability to conduct dialogue and listen is something all
totalitarian stands are characterised by."
(hina) jn rml