SOFIA, Oct 3 (Hina) - Croatia's President Stipe Mesic said on Tuesday the Armed Forces stood by the Croatian state and its leadership despite an article in Nacional weekly saying another 20 generals were signing a letter against the
new authorities.
SOFIA, Oct 3 (Hina) - Croatia's President Stipe Mesic said on
Tuesday the Armed Forces stood by the Croatian state and its
leadership despite an article in Nacional weekly saying another 20
generals were signing a letter against the new authorities.#L#
"The armed forces are with the Croatian state and the leadership of
the Croatian state, and this is beyond any doubt," Mesic said in the
Bulgarian capital Sofia when asked to comment on the article.
Nacional said in the issue which appeared on the newsstands today
that another 20 generals were intent on joining last week's letter
by 12 generals who criticised the criminalisation of the Homeland
Defence War, Croatia's early 1990s war of independence from the
former Yugoslav federation. Mesic last Friday decided to send seven
active generals who signed the letter into retirement. Another four
were already retired, while one was a reserve general.
"Everyone is their own staff manager. Everyone is taking care of
themselves," Mesic said on the second and last day of an official
trip to Bulgaria.
"There are no 20 generals, nor will there be 20. The ones who are
threatened are those who earned disability benefits despite not
having the right to, (and those) who wrote books in which they
published documents on which (the war crimes) tribunal in The Hague
is now basing investigations," said the Croatian president.
He added "they were retired because they worked secretly behind the
supreme commander's back."
Asked if negotiations were perhaps being conducted with the 20
generals as armed forces chief-of-staff Petar Stipetic and Deputy
Defence Minister Zlatko Gareljic had done the last time, Mesic
said: "I think there is no need to negotiate about anything, and
personally I am not interested in the contents of that letter."
Asked about conjectures in Bulgaria about a military coup in
Croatia, Mesic said it was "nonsense." "There is no coup d'etat," he
stressed.
Reporters asked if Croatia's security was in danger in the wake of
the replacements of so many generals, the president said: "There
are always enough generals in Croatia to lead the Croatian Armed
Forces solidly."
Asked if Franjo Feldi and Josip Ignac would replace armed forces'
deputy chief-of-staff Damir Krsticevic and chief inspector Ante
Gotovina, two of the retired generals, Mesic said he could not
answer because it had not been discussed.
(hina) ha