NEW YORK, July 13 (Hina) - The sole purpose of a letter by Yugoslav charge d'affaires, Vladislav Jovanovic, in which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) lays claim to the peninsula of Prevlaka is to "artificially extend the
duration of a morally bankrupt quest for the change of international borders in south-east Europe," assessed Croatia's Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Ivan Simonovic. The Croatian diplomat forwarded a letter to the UN Security Council President, Malaysian Ambassador Hasmy bin Agam, dismissing Jovanovic's fabrications. Simonovic reiterated that the issue of Prevlaka is only the security problem. Some confirmations that it is not the territorial problem can be found in official Yugoslav documents as well. One of these confirmations is a letter of the President of the Montenegrin Parliament of 8 October 1991, when he, according to the Montenegrin Parliament'
NEW YORK, July 13 (Hina) - The sole purpose of a letter by Yugoslav
charge d'affaires, Vladislav Jovanovic, in which the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) lays claim to the peninsula of
Prevlaka is to "artificially extend the duration of a morally
bankrupt quest for the change of international borders in south-
east Europe," assessed Croatia's Ambassador to the United Nations
in New York, Ivan Simonovic.
The Croatian diplomat forwarded a letter to the UN Security Council
President, Malaysian Ambassador Hasmy bin Agam, dismissing
Jovanovic's fabrications. Simonovic reiterated that the issue of
Prevlaka is only the security problem.
Some confirmations that it is not the territorial problem can be
found in official Yugoslav documents as well.
One of these confirmations is a letter of the President of the
Montenegrin Parliament of 8 October 1991, when he, according to the
Montenegrin Parliament's Conclusions, wrote to the President of
the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) and proposed an Initiative for
change of the existing land border "as it has been up to present"
between Montenegro and Croatia.
The second irrefutable evidence, which includes a military map of
the then chief-of-staff of the Yugoslav Army headquarters, Zivorad
Panic, is a Joint Declaration signed by Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman and the then Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic, in Geneva on
September 30, 1992. In compliance with this agreement, the Yugoslav
Army withdrew from Prevlaka. The border line which was drawn on the
map was "AVNOJ's borders", wrote Simonovic.
That Jovanovic's claims are pointless is proved also by "the
official map of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, posted at the
Yugoslav Federal Government's official web site," the Croatian
Ambassador added.
Describing Jovanovic's statements as "this sadly farcical but
dangerous tampering", Simonovic said "too much precious time and
resources of the international community have been allocated since
1991 to dealing with the aftermath or further containment of the
aggressive and destructive energies of the Belgrade political
leadership."
Simonovic reiterated the assessment that during almost seven years
of the UN presence on Prevlaka, "no progress has been made"
regarding a solution of this issue while over the past 18 months
"Croatia's offer of demilitarisation of the area... has been
ignored."
Taking into account that Jovanovic wrote in his letter that his
country respected the opinions of the Badinter Arbitration
Commission, the Croatian Ambassador concluded that the Security
Council should decide on the implementation of the Commission's
decisions on the inviolability of international borders, as well as
of other applicable international law.
(hina) ms