ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman today gave a New Year reception for religious dignitaries.
ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman today
gave a New Year reception for religious dignitaries. #L#
Addressing the dignitaries, President Tudjman said this was
the first time that an Orthodox Church representative was present
at such an occasion since the establishment of independent and
democratic Croatia. He recalled that he personally and the
democratic Croatian authorities had always invited Orthodox
dignitaries to attend state functions.
Many evils in the past five years may have been avoided if
such invitations had been accepted, President Tudjman said. But
that period was fortunately behind us now, he added.
During the aggression against Croatia, 450,000 Croatian
citizens had been driven out from their homes and Croatia had given
shelter to nearly half a million refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
At a time when we were faced with the task of overcoming the
negative hearitage of the past and all that we had experienced in
the war, religious communities had a vital role to play in the
moral revival of the Croatian people and all Croatian citizens.
"This is our common task and religious dignitarites can count
on the full cooperation of the true representatives of the
democratic Croatian authorities," President Tudjman said.
He voiced the hope that "we would be able to liberate the
remaining part of the homeland by peaceful means."
"This means that we will be able to return hundreds of
thousands of Croatian citizens - Croats, Hungarians, Ruthenians,
Slovakians, Czechs and others - to their homes. This will also
resolve a great part of our social and moral difficulties," Tudjman
said.
This task would not be easy and we would need faith in the
possibility and necessity of normalising relations between people,
particularly between Croats and Serbs in Croatia, Tudjman said.
Those who had stayed accepted Croatia as their homeland.
President Tudjman voiced the belief that this year would truly
be the first year of peace, in which Croatia would be able to
devote its energies to economic, cultural and scientific
development, and moral revival.
In a brief address to the President, Government members and
Parliament officials, the Archbishop of Zagreb, Franjo Kuharic,
said that arms had fallen silent at last at the end of 1995.
"Peace has been proclaimed, but still it has to be enforced
and protected by armed force. This is not yet true peace," Kuharic
said, adding that true peace was built on the foundations of truth,
justice and freedom for all people.
Evangelical bishop Vladimir Deutsch, Orthodox Deputy Bishop of
Upper karlovac, Danilo Ljubotina, Chairman of the Jewish Community
Ognjen Kraus, representative of the Protestant-Evangelical Council
Petar Kuzmic and representative of the Christian Adventist Church
Zdenko Hlisc also briefly addressed the President and Government
and Parliament representatives.
Islamic Community representatives sent word they were unable
to attend the reception.
(hina) mm as
121950 MET jan 96