PRESIDENT TUDJMAN ADDRESSES SUSAK COMMEMORATION - HIGHLIGHTS

( Editorial: --> 1984 ) ZAGREB, May 6 (Hina) - Following are some highlights from Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's speech at a commemoration to late Defence Minister Gojko Susak held at the Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb on Wednesday. "With the death of Gojko Susak an outstanding and great man leaves our ranks, but his human spirit, his magnificent contribution to Croatia's current freedom (and) the future of the Croatian people remains with us. Thank you dear Gojko for all you have suffered and given for the resurrection of the martyred Croatian homeland as the sovereign, independent and internationally recognised Republic of Croatia," President Tudjman said. "We have gathered on this grieving occasion to pay our last respects to Gojko Susak, one of the most meritorious men in the current historical period of struggle for the establishment of Croatian freedom and state independence. "Gojko Susak was among the first, most consistent and most responsible of my personal assistants, from the first days of political state activity - for the realisation of current Croatian freedom, up to his last breath. "I personally testify that Gojko Susak has special merits for the Croatian people as a whole and for the won state independence, in the realisation of a historic goal - the establishment, defence and international recognition of the present-day independent, sovereign and democratic Croatian state," the President said. As head of state and chief commander of the Croatian Armed Forces, President Tudjman expressed gratitude to Gojko Susak as one of the most deserving people in the creation of the Croatian Army, and for the successful leadership and triumphant end of the Homeland War. "The development of the Croatian armed forces - land, sea and air - into a modern army which, following its military victories in Flash and Storm, also became a factor of international significance, is wholly to the credit of Defence Minister Gojko Susak" said President Tudjman. "Gojko Susak's life mirrored all tragedies as well as the crucial features of personal fates of many Croatian people in the latest period of the Golgothic history of Croatian people," said Tudjman recalling that Gojko Susak was born in the dreadful days at the end of the Second World War in Siroki Brijeg. Understanding that all historical evils which maimed the Croatian spirit, arose not only from external and hostile factors, but also from internal division between certain politicians and entire areas within Croatia, Gojko Susak wholeheartedly advocated reconciliation of politically disunited Croathood. Tudjman recalled a list of Gojko Susak's activities in bridging Croatia and Canada and his merit for establishing the Croatian Studies Foundation in 1985 and the Croatian-Canadian Cultural Federation. President Tudjman said that from his first contacts with the idea of unity between homeland and the Diaspora which Tudjman launched in 1987, Susak became a champion of that national-democratic movement and platform which the Croatian Democratic Union publicly espoused in 1989/90. Susak was among the first ones who were brave enough to come to the first Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) convention in Zagreb in February 1990. At the convention he was elected a member of the HDZ National Committee. At the second convention in 1993 he was elected a HDZ vice-president, which gained him the reputation of the most distinguished party leader, a fact confirmed at the third and fourth conventions with his re-election as a HDZ vice-president who won the largest number of votes, Tudjman said. Tudjman recalled Susak's great contribution to the Croatian Government, from its very beginnings, when in June 1990 he became Minister of Immigration, then Deputy Defence Minister and on September 18, 1991, at the time of battles crucial for Croatia's survival, Defence Minister. "He performed his duties in all Croatian governments as a man who I personally relied upon to organise the Croatian Army and conduct the liberation Homeland war," Tudjman said. "Dear Gojko, of all your imperishable merits in the struggle for Croatian ideals, I believe history will especially mark and highly appreciate your role in the diversified work of the Croatian Diaspora in establishing, defending and building a free Croatia as well as in creating unity in your Herzegovina necessary for the defence of Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatian state independence," Tudjman said. The achievement of Croatia's freedom and sovereignty with a number of victims ten times less than in World War II, was among the outstanding values of Minister Susak's life, ranking him among the greats of history, President Tudjman said. Noting that Gojko Susak's personality embodied the unswerving unity of the Croatian national corps, Tudjman said that the joint efforts of Minister Susak and others had been instrumental in preserving a Croat presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina and protecting the national interests of the Croatian State. "This is why Gojko Susak advocated the consistent implementation of the Washington and Dayton Accords, opposing those at home and abroad who would deepen the Bosnian crisis with their wispy and unreasonable ideas of a Bosnian nation or their extreme and radical demands, jeopardising the results of the peace process and the agreements that have been signed," Tudjman said. "Our dearest Gojko: you are leaving us at a mature age, but as you yourself told me the other day - feeling the satisfaction of a man who not only experienced but also contributed to the realisation of the greatest, holiest ideals of this nation. Those self-same ideals, which our ancestors and forefathers had lived and died for, had for many remained an unattainable dream until the present time and the success attained was to the surprise and wonder of an unfriendly world," Tudjman said. "Eternal praise and glory to the great son of the Croatian nation, Gojko Susak," President Tudjman concluded. (hina) as ha mrb rm /mb 061822 MET may 98