ZAGREB, May 24 (Hina) - Two Serb community representatives at the Croatian parliament on Monday voiced their dissatisfaction with a press release issued after their meeting with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on May 21, but
assessed the talks as positive. Speaking on behalf of the Serb representatives present at the talks with Tudjman, Jovan Bamburac said on Monday their opinion was that the talks had been "good and very concrete (...), of an informative-negotiating character, about very serious issues between serious and responsible people, and it was to be expected that it would be presented to the public in an equally serious manner." Bamburac said the Serb representatives were unpleasantly surprised at the statement released by Tudjman's Office after the meeting. "That statement is not only professionally utterly incorrect, but has also an extremely insult
ZAGREB, May 24 (Hina) - Two Serb community representatives at the
Croatian parliament on Monday voiced their dissatisfaction with a
press release issued after their meeting with Croatian President
Franjo Tudjman on May 21, but assessed the talks as positive.
Speaking on behalf of the Serb representatives present at the talks
with Tudjman, Jovan Bamburac said on Monday their opinion was that
the talks had been "good and very concrete (...), of an informative-
negotiating character, about very serious issues between serious
and responsible people, and it was to be expected that it would be
presented to the public in an equally serious manner."
Bamburac said the Serb representatives were unpleasantly surprised
at the statement released by Tudjman's Office after the meeting.
"That statement is not only professionally utterly incorrect, but
has also an extremely insulting tone towards us three
representatives at the Croatian National Parliament, but in a
certain way also towards the President himself."
"We protest against the mentioned statement and expect a public
apology from the author, because we don't want to be manipulated in
any way, which interpretation can very easily be derived from the
statement," Bamburac said.
The statement dated May 21 among else says, "In talks with the Serb
representatives, the President resented that they have not
condemned the crimes committed during the Yugo-communist and
Great-Serbian aggression on Croatia, but are instead making
statements saying that what happened in Croatia was a civil war,
which is contrary to the truth and the clear stands of world
leaders."
According to Bamburac, "we didn't see the President's remark about
the character of the war in Croatia as directly referring to us,
because it probably resulted from the recent statement about a
civil war in Croatia, which is certainly an important issue, but was
not the point of our talks."
President Tudjman's remark on the necessity for the Serb community
to contribute to eastern Croatian village Berak's wives' and
mothers' search for the truth about what happened to their dearest
was, according to Bamburac, acceptable to the representatives of
the Serb community.
They also found acceptable Tudjman's remark about the necessity of
abstaining from making any statements which might obstruct the
search processes. "We did and could not see that statement as a
reproach, but an invitation to act jointly," Bamburac said.
He stressed that by reading the statement from Tudjman's Office,
one could get the impression, and he believed many did, that the
Serb representatives had been almost apprehended to the talks so
that President Tudjman could "slap them on the wrist and lecture
them on proper political behaviour as if they had been disobedient
pupils.
"Of course nothing of that is true and nobody lectured anybody,
because neither did the President talk to us in that way, nor could
we have accepted a talk so intoned without making comments."
Bamburac explained that President Tudjman and associates received
them at their request as representatives of the Serb community in
Croatia, and added that the President was careful and understanding
in hearing three, according to Bamburac actual issues related the
Serbs' position in Croatia. These are the enforcement of the
Amnesty Law, the Serbs' return to Croatia and the return of their
property, and the electoral law issue.
Bamburac said it was evident during the talks that it is necessary
to be patient and persistent in jointly working along the line of
the state policy on the peaceful reintegration and restoration of
trust between Serbs and Croats, in eastern Croatia especially.
President Tudjman "rightly pointed to the entire complexity in
solving the mentioned problems, also because of the strong
emotional component," said Bamburac.
Speaking on behalf of the Serb National Council, which gathers
several Serb organisations in Croatia, Milorad Pupovac called on
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and
Croatian authorities to cooperate towards solving open issues as
soon as possible.
Speaking about the Kosovo crisis, the Serb MPs voiced their
bitterness at NATO's increasingly stronger strikes against
Yugoslavia, and supported President Tudjman's initiative for a
political solution to the crisis.
(hina) ha jn