BH FOREIGN MINISTER PRLIC LEAVES HDZ BH PARTY

MOSTAR, Sept 6 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's Foreign Minister and a member of the presidency of BH's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BH) party, Jadranko Prlic, confirmed on Wednesday's statement to Hina that he had stepped out of HDZ BH. Prlic said he notified party president Ante Jelavic about his decision in a letter on Tuesday, saying his decision had been prompted by the party's inability to become modern and democratic. Prlic said his decision had been triggered by the replacement of University of Mostar head Marko Tadic for alleged anti-Croat activity, which Prlic asserted was just a symptom of the state HDZ BH was in. Prlic said that by stepping out of the party, he "wanted to say clearly that he no longer wanted to serve as a cover for a dual policy in the name of some quasi-Croat unity, which is the basic characteristic of the Croat policy or policies in BH over the past decade." According to Prlic, HDZ BH in its present form offers Bosnian Croats "huge quantities of autism and claustrophobia, removing them from Europe and the contemporary world." HDZ BH today issued a statement regretting Prlic's decision. "Considering that Jadranko Prlic was one of the most important creators of the Croat policy in the war and post-war period, that is from 1990 to the present, we shall certainly miss his experience, and we regret his decision to leave the party," said the statement. (hina) ha jn