CROATIAN VICE PREMIER DISMISSES CLAIMS ABOUT UNFAVOURABLE POSITION OF

POSITION OF $ BOSNIAK MINORITY ZAGREB, 2 Oct (Hina) - Croatian Vice Premier Ljerka Mintas-Hodak dismissed claims about the unfavourable position of the Bosniak minority in Croatia during her talks with the Bosnian Ambassador Kasim Trnka, which took place in Zagreb on Thursday. For the sake of good neighbourly relations, one should bear in mind all that Croatia had done for the rights of the Bosniak minority in Croatia, Mintas-Hodak said. The Bosniak minority was not being cared for properly, although according to the 1991 census it was the second largest minority in Croatia, Trnka said, announcing that a special memorandum on that issue would be sent to the Croatian government. One of Trnka's complaints included the statement that Bosniaks in Croatia were not being called Bosniaks (but Muslims). Trnka reiterated his request for a Bosniak minority representative in Parliament. The Bosnian Ambassador also presented a stand of Bosniak associations in Croatia saying that 'they hold that Bosniaks are being discriminated against to a certain extent'. As an example he mentioned a 'Bosniak enclave' near Vojnic, on the Croatian-Bosnian border, whose residents, although autochthonous, did not get Croatian documents. The Bosniaks did not have adequate access to the media, they were prevented in practising their religious customs in the army and they had problems in acquiring ground for cemeteries, Trnka said. Answering to Trnka's objections, Mintas-Hodak presented data on support for the Bosniak minority. According to those data, since 1992, the Croatian government had set aside more than 1.6 million kunas (some US $254,000) for various cultural programs with the aim of preserving Bosniak cultural heritage. As far as the term Bosniak is concerned, the Croatian Constitution, which uses the term Muslim, had been written in a time when 'Muslim' was the official name for a member of the Bosniak people, Mintas-Hodak said, adding there were no obstacles to regulating this issue during next changes of the Constitution. There were some 45,000 Bosniak in Croatia in 1991. A large number of them came to Croatia after the outbreak of the war, and the attitude of the Croatian society towards them was very favourable, she said. Croatian policy never discriminated against the Bosniaks, she said. Answering to Trnka's objection concerning the 'Bosniak enclave' near Vojnic, Mintas-Hodak said that according to the Interior Ministry data, all requests of the Bosniaks living near Vojnic had been solved positively, except for several of them which did not meet the legal requirements. The question of a Bosniak representative in Parliament should also be regulated through discussion and legal change, she said, adding that five minority representatives represented all and not only their own minorities. The Government did not have any influence on the media, she said, adding she hoped that a discussion on the presence of minorities in Croatian television programs would start soon. The Government could not influence the allocation of cemetery ground either, she said, adding the problem should be regulated on the local level. The problem of violation of religious customs in the army could be solved only on the basis of real data. If there are no facts, then we are dealing with unfounded estimations, Mintas-Hodak said. (hina) jn rm 022031 MET oct 97