PRESIDENT TUDJMAN'S INTERVIEW WITH VATICAN RADIO AND TELEVISION (1)

( Editorial: --> 4805 ) ZAGREB, Oct 1 (Hina) - Since the Pope's first visit to Croatia has undergone major changes. Back in 1994 Croatia was still partially occupied, while today it is free and focused on its domestic affairs and on economic and cultural development, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said on Thursday during his meeting with editors and reporters of Vatican Radio and Television. The second visit by the Pope is of special historical importance as it will bring about the beatification of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who was martyred by the Communist regime, but had also been a persona non grata for the Ustasha regime of the NDH (Independent State of Croatia, 1941-1945). Stepinac had also been threatened by the German Nazis, the President said. Towards the end of the one hour meeting, which was also attended by several editors-in-chief of the Croatian media, President Tudjman was asked to comment on the present political situation in the country. "As far as the polemics between two or three officials of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) are concerned, they will definitely not trigger any serious changes in the HDZ leadership. Those polemics... should have been conducted within the party's bodies. Accusations that have been made are now dealt with by relevant party and government bodies and decisions that will be made will be in the interest of the governing party and Croatia. "The Government is stable too," President Tudjman said in a comment on rumours of a reshuffle in the Croatian government. In an answer to a question on the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tudjman said Croatia was most interested "in the establishment of a Government that would be a guarantor of peace in this region, but would also guarantee the survival of the Croats in BH and thus Croatia's strategic interests along its borders... Implementation of the Dayton accords and the Washington agreement is very important". "We are faced with a kind of underhanded revision of those agreements in an attempt to create a unitary BH, which has proven to be historically unviable... The only viable solution is implementation of the Washington and Dayton agreements and the safeguarding of the constituency of all the three peoples as conditions for their coexistence," he said. As far as Kosovo was concerned, Tudjman said it was another centuries-old Balkan problem. The Croatian Government, the Croatian people are determined not to go back into Balkan or south- east European associations of any kind. "Of course, we want normal relations with neighbours and with those regions... especially normal economic relations and communications... but we do not want political associations of any kind," he said. "The crisis and the war that is now taking place in Kosovo are very tragic. It is quite clear that the international factors in effect have allowed the Yugoslav and Serbian governments to deal with that as an internal issue. As far as we are concerned, we would like to see an imminent resolution of the crisis and cessation of hostilities, to see the stabilisation of some kind of international order there. Yet I must admit, not only as the Croatian President but also as a historian, that I am not very optimistic about the chances of present policies to achieve those goals." The President said that Croatia and the Vatican had recently successfully completed negotiations on economic relations between Croatia and the Holy See and that he expected that an agreement would be signed shortly after the departure of the Holy Father from Croatia. "I feel that both parties are happy with the agreement as a whole, although there are those on both the Croatian and the Church sides who had been expecting more for themselves. Yet co-ordination of any agreement is impossible without compromises. I see this as further proof of the goodwill of both Croatia and the Vatican to resolve all the issues to mutual benefit." When asked about the role of the state in filling a certain spiritual vacuum, President Tudjman said that Croatia was witnessing positive attempts by its democratic authorities and the Church to spiritually revitalise the Croatian people. That revitalisation has already started, but it has not been completed because of everything that the Croatian people went through under the Communist regime. Besides this negative legacy, all the nations must also overcome negative modern tendencies, crime, narcotics and other criminal and amoral activities. The second visit by the Holy Father will bolster the efforts by the Church and the Croatian people on moral guidance and the spiritual revival of the people and the nation as a whole, he said. When asked to describe the importance of the beatification of Cardinal Stepinac for the Croatian state and the strengthening of Croatian statehood and democracy, Dr Tudjman assessed that this is what made the visit historically important. Cardinal Stepinac was martyred by the Communist regime, but had been also a persona non grata for the Ustashe regime in the NDH. He was threatened by German Nazis. Yet Cardinal Stepinac was one of the most prominent Croats and clergymen during World War II. He energetically condemned pro- fascist practices and crimes by the Ustashe regime and implementation of Nazi racial laws, but was also decisively against Communist methods that came to the fore during the Second World War and especially after it. When he stated at the trial that he would have been a wretch had he not noticed and understood the strong wish of his people for independence, he set a historic guideline which had been followed by all rational Croats during the Second World War. His views were eventually incorporated into a democratic movement for an independent and democratic Croatia. Because, as we all know, the Croatian people wanted to get out of Yugoslavia, which Cardinal Stepinac described as a prison for the Croatian nation. But it is also well known that the Croat majority never supported the pro- fascist Nazi quisling regime in Croatia and that it neither embraced Communist ideology, Tudjman said. "After unbalanced and incorrect accusations against the Croatian people, Cardinal Stepinac and the Catholic church in Croatia, the beatification of Cardinal Stepinac comes as an answer to those unfounded accusations and pseudo-historic judgements. The beatification of Stepinac is also a homage to all the victims of that period, especially to the victims of the Communist regime." The visit by the Holy Father and beatification of Stepinac comes at a moment when the democratic Croatia, the Croatian people and the Catholic Church in Croatia are finding themselves under renewed pressure that tends to equate the NDH with modern Croatia. Hence the act of beatification and the Holy Father's visit amounts not only to a homage to Cardinal Stepinac and the Catholic Church in Croatia but also to the Croatian people as a whole. President Tudjman believes that it is also important for all European Catholics, including those who were exposed to fascist pressures during the Second World War and to the Communist ones after it. "The present democratic authorities, the Croatian church and Cardinal Stepinac have condemned and are condemning all Ustasha crimes. Yet we are also indicating that the crimes were committed by individuals and small groups and were not approved by most Croats. Furthermore, some people are ignorant or have forgotten that during the NDH, Croatia had the strongest anti-fascist movement not only in Yugoslavia but in the whole of Europe. And it was not because the Croats supported the Communists who lead the anti-fascist movement, but because the Croats on both sides wanted national freedom and independence." (Hina - to be continued) mro jn/bs /mbr 020156 MET oct 98