CROATIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES LAWYERS - STATEMENT

ZAGREB, March 14 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Friday received a delegation of the Croatian Bar Association and representatives of European and international bar associations, on the occasion of Croatian Lawyers' Day, the President's Office said in a statement. Croatian Bar Association president Marijan Hanzekovic informed the President about the work of the Bar Association and about a meeting on the protection of ethnic minorities which closed in Zagreb on Friday. The representatives of eleven European bar associations who attended the meeting said that Croatian constitutional solutions to regarding the protection of ethnic minorities were among the highest in Europe, Hanzekovic said. Tudjman said that Croatia, relying on its centuries-old legal tradition which is rarely found in the world, had created a democratic legal system after establishing a democratic order. The Croatian Constitution and laws guarantee the minorities all ethnic and minority rights, he stressed. We can be satisfied with what has been achieved despite the difficulties caused by the fact that Croatia emerged from the socialist system and that it was exposed to aggression, the President said. President Tudjman was accompanied by his Chief of Staff Hrvoje Sarinic and Deputy Chief of Staff Vesna Skare Ozbolt. Also attending were the president of the Zagreb Bar Association, Zdenko Haramija, the former president of the International Union of Lawyers and president of the International Arbitration Tribunal at the Council of Europe, Mauro Rubino Samartano, and the president of the General Council of the Bar Association of England and Wales, Robert Owen, the statement concluded. (hina) vm 141808 MET mar 97