PARIS, May 25 (Hina) - In an article entitled "Croatia, Serbia - False Symmetries," released by Le Monde on Tuesday, Croatia's Ambassador in Paris, Smiljan Simac, pointed to the groundless comparisons which have appeared in the press,
some comments and current discussions in connection with the Kosovo crisis. "Attempts to equate crimes against humanity committed by the Serbian State in Kosovo with Croatia's military operation against Serb paramilitary troops which preceded the end of the war in Croatia and Bosnia, reflect more cynicism or ignorance of events than anything which can be taken as a serious political analysis," Ambassador Simac wrote in the article, published in the column called "Horizons and Debates" in this Paris-based daily. Simac recalled that two-million Kosovo, which had enjoyed a status of a federal province until the abolition of its autonomy in 1989 and had been repres
PARIS, May 25 (Hina) - In an article entitled "Croatia, Serbia -
False Symmetries," released by Le Monde on Tuesday, Croatia's
Ambassador in Paris, Smiljan Simac, pointed to the groundless
comparisons which have appeared in the press, some comments and
current discussions in connection with the Kosovo crisis.
"Attempts to equate crimes against humanity committed by the
Serbian State in Kosovo with Croatia's military operation against
Serb paramilitary troops which preceded the end of the war in
Croatia and Bosnia, reflect more cynicism or ignorance of events
than anything which can be taken as a serious political analysis,"
Ambassador Simac wrote in the article, published in the column
called "Horizons and Debates" in this Paris-based daily.
Simac recalled that two-million Kosovo, which had enjoyed a status
of a federal province until the abolition of its autonomy in 1989
and had been represented at the then Yugoslav collective
presidency, has been exposed to the regime of apartheid for ten
years.
All that time ethnic Albanians had used peaceful means for their
resistance before they restored to the armed defence, the Croatian
Ambassador wrote.
On the other hand, an illegal creation -the so-called Srpska
Krajina- was established in Croatia "by force in 1990 and one year
prior to the referendum on the independence of Croatia." It had been
based on the reintroduction of 'ethnic cleansing' in Europe: out of
550,000 residents in that area (Krajina), Serb paramilitary forces
brutally evicted all 260,000 Croats," he added.
Simac also stressed that all the time during the 1995 operation
called "Storm", Croatia's President Franjo Tudjman had
persistently called on the Serb population, on the radio or
television, not to leave their homes, whereas Milan Martic (a
Croatian Serb leader at the time) had ordered their "planned
evacuation", what was subsequently discovered by Serbia's press
(the issue of 'Politika' of 23 August 1995).
Over 147,000 expelled Croats and 57,000 dislocated Serbs returned
to their homes between 1995 and 1998 in eastern Slavonia (east
Croatia) where the peaceful reintegration was successfully
completed and most Serbs remained, Simac added.
"It is now clear that the action taken by Croatia facilitated NATO's
air intervention in September 1995 against Bosnian Serbs. Those
attacks, together with successful ground operations of the
military alliance between Zagreb and Sarajevo, finally forced
Milosevic to sign peace," Croatian diplomat said.
Milosevic's Serbia bears "responsibility for reintroducing the war
in Europe as a means for accomplishing political aspirations,"
Simac wrote.
After having caused four wars, Milosevic's Serbia embodies more
than ever "a danger of destabilising the entire region." On the
contrary, Croatia is sparing no effort every day to deserve the
encouraging title "an island of stability," concluded Croatian
Ambassador his article in Le Monde.
(hina) ms,