ZAGREB, Aug 25 (Hina) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday sent a protest note to the Foreign Ministry of Bosnia-Herzegovina concerning claims made by the co-chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Haris
Silajdzic, published in an interview in Zagreb's daily "Jutarnji list" on Wednesday. The interview was headlined "Tudjman is responsible for war between Croats and Moslems and must, therefore, stand before the Tribunal in The Hague". In the interview, Silajdzic said "The Government in Zagreb, including President Tudjman, absolutely bore responsibility for the was which was unnatural, cruel and which was provoked by extremist structures which today cease to give up the idea of separating Bosnia-Herzegovina. Tudjman's responsibility for the war between Bosniaks and Croats is completely transparent, him and his associates are responsible for the fact that our two countries have not
ZAGREB, Aug 25 (Hina) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday
sent a protest note to the Foreign Ministry of Bosnia-Herzegovina
concerning claims made by the co-chairman of the Council of
Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Haris Silajdzic, published in an
interview in Zagreb's daily "Jutarnji list" on Wednesday.
The interview was headlined "Tudjman is responsible for war between
Croats and Moslems and must, therefore, stand before the Tribunal
in The Hague".
In the interview, Silajdzic said "The Government in Zagreb,
including President Tudjman, absolutely bore responsibility for
the was which was unnatural, cruel and which was provoked by
extremist structures which today cease to give up the idea of
separating Bosnia-Herzegovina. Tudjman's responsibility for the
war between Bosniaks and Croats is completely transparent, him and
his associates are responsible for the fact that our two countries
have not yet been included in European associations".
In a statement issued Wednesday, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said
it would once again wish to recall that Croatia had supported the
referendum taken in Bosnia-Herzegovina, provided support to the
defence of Bosnia-Herzegovina from Serb aggression, it was the
first to recognise Bosnia's independence and to send an ambassador
to the country to sign an Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation.
In all these decisions including the signing of the Washington
Agreement, Split Declaration which created the conditions for
liberating important parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina territory
through joint actions of the Croatian Army, Croatian Defence
Council and the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the signing of the
Dayton Agreement, the key role was held by President Tudjman, which
is well known to Mr. Silajdzic.
Stating such grievous and unsupported claims comes at a moment when
the signing of the Agreement on the Inter-State Council between
Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Agreement on Special Relations
between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation, the Agreement on the
use of the Croatian port of Ploce and uninterrupted passage for
Croatia through the Bosnian port of Neum, rose relations to a level
agreeable with good neighbourly relations, which creates
preconditions for their growth and intensifying.
Such claims are not in the interest of these goals, the statement
said.
It is especially surprising that Silajdzic would give such
statements subsequent to the signing of the Agreement on Borders
between the two countries, the first such agreement between states
successors of the former Yugoslavia, when the signatures of
President Tudjman and Chairman Izetbegovic defined 1,001
kilometres of the total mutual border.
At the same time, this agreement put an end to malicious speculation
about alleged Croatia's territorial pretensions towards Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
The Foreign Ministry thus categorically refutes such frivolous
insinuations and does not hold them a positive step in the further
development of bilateral relations, the Ministry said in the
statement.
(hina) lml