TUDJMAN ADDRESSES PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL SESSION ON CROATIA'S INTERN

INTERN $ ATIONAL POSITION ZAGREB, May 25 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Saturday addressed a session of the Presidential Council on the international position of Croatia. President Tudjman said that this topic deserved discussion because of "a lack of understanding and one-sided interpretations" at home and abroad regarding the process of Croatia's accession to the Council of Europe. He added that Croatia was faced with attempts aimed at including it into Balkan integrations. "In order that this issue, which is of vital importance for the future of the Croatian state, could be fully understood, I think that it is necessary to understand the circumstance under which the independent Croatian state was established, the conduct of the Homeland War, Croatian policy towards Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatian policy towards the Serb population in Croatia and Yugoslavia, and Croatian relationship with the European Union and the United States," President Tudjman said. He said that international factors were trying to "influence internal political events in Croatia in ways unprecedented in international relations." Speaking of the circumstances under which the Croatian state had been established, President Tudjman recalled that Yugoslavia had been an important factor of the international order enjoying support of all major countries, including the European Union, the United States and Russia. He stressed that any kind of Yugoslavia had been acceptable to them. During the Yugoslav crisis, both Western countries and Belgrade had agreed that Slovenia could leave Yugoslavia but that Croatia could not. "The Serb rebellion, the instigating, organizing and arming of the Serb uprising, did not happen because the independent and democratic Croatia was a sequel to Pavelic's Independent State of Croatia (NDH), but because they, Belgrade and Western factors alike, opposed any independent Croatian state," Tudjman said. Since the beginning of 1990 and in the summer of 1991, the world tacitly, if not openly, supported the policy of Belgrade and the Yugoslav army, and in the autumn of 1991 it expected and wanted the independent Croatian state to disappear, he said. "Attempts are again being made to influence Croatia's destiny," President Tudjman warned. He pointed out that "all important international factors were equally categorical against all our decisions," from decisions about military operations to dismissing UNPROFOR. They had always come up with the same explanation that such actions prevented peace efforts by the European Union and the United States of America, President Tudjman stressed. "As a regional power, Croatia established partnership with the U.S.A., enabled it to resume the leading role in ending the war, and made the Dayton peace agreement possible," President Tudjman stressed, adding that this caused envy of those factors in Europe who had failed to resolve the crisis in the region, but also of those factors in America who could not come to terms with Croatia's independence". "The permanently contentious issue is Croatian policy in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as its policy on the internal and international political scenes," President Tudjman said, reiterating that "the goal of Croatian policy is to ensure the existence of Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia's strategic interests", as well as cooperation and union with Moslems. He stressed that such policy proved to be "ever so effective and purposeful". "With the political and military establishment of the Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia we ensured the strategic interests of Croats and the Croatian state, which was the only way to achieve the Washington Agreement," President Tudjman said, expressing support for the establishment of the Bosnian Federation and its connections with Croatia. He said that "Croatia's policy toward Serbs and Yugoslavia remains the contentious issue," stressing that the policy towards the Serb population in Croatia "was and is such as not to confirm claims that Croatia is the continuation and resurrection of the Independent State of Croatia in all aspects, even in its policy toward Serbs. Such claims come from those who do not have good intentions or who are ignorant". "We have accepted the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area to show to the world that we support democratic resolutions, that we do not want all Serbs to leave Croatia, that we support the normalization of relations with all states which emerged on the territory of former Yugoslavia, with Serbia and Yugoslavia, but we will not accept the idea occurring not only in some Serbian circles but also in some international circles, that the Croatian Danubian area, meaning eastern Slavonia, Baranja and western Srijem, should be given autonomy and that we should accept some Z-4 Plan in a milder form". 'We do support the normalization of relations with Serbia and Yugoslavia, for the sake of a stable international order, but our wish cannot be interpreted as our consent to enter some regional Balkan associations', President Tudjman said. He went on to explain reasons for certain attempts 'aimed at exerting influence on Croatia's internal, political and social development in a manner unheard of in the history of diplomacy'. 'Where is the problem? Croatia has developed from a centuries- long political object into a subject of international politics. This subject does not fit into plans of some, I dare say, leading European powers from the time of Versailles until present days, but also of some U.S. circles which are connected with those European powers, and which too...cannot come to terms with the idea of a modern Croatia'. 'As a regional power, Croatia enabled the cessation of war, it enabled Dayton, but it was also burdened with the task of breathing life into the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which, as I said, is in Croatia's interest, but to some extent also exceeds more immediate interests of the Croatian national being and state', President Tudjman said. 'The European Union states - France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy - they all have their own policies, but they are unanimous to a large extent as regards their stance towards us. They are also united in being dissatisfied with the fact that the United States had played the leading role in the solution of the Bosnian crisis, as well as with the fact that the United States' took Croatia's side'. 'That dissatisfaction and the fact that some European powers only formally accept the Dayton peace agreement, can be seen in the attempt to compromise the Dayton peace agreement in the case of Mostar, and at the expense of Croatia'. 'Even the election battle between Democrats and Republicans, which is being fought in the United States, is having negative consequences for us, both here in Croatia as well as in Bosnia-Herzegovina'. 'The European plans aimed at forcing Croatia to stay in the Balkan regional frameworks in any form, in some kind of Euroslavia, Adriatic or Balkan confederation or Eastern European union are supported by certain influential circles in the United States, which is evident in their Soros-like activities here but not only in them. Meetings were being held on the level of major ministries and bank governors with the aim of integrating Croatia into the ex Yugoslav area, President Tudjman said, adding that similar solutions were being applied in the field of European sport. U.S. representatives are proposing to Croatian Radio-Television that it 'introduce joint programmes with Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skoplje, but not with, say, Ljubljana or other parts of Europe'. 'My dear colleagues, all this is an everyday practice in all areas', President Tudjman warned. That practice could be seen in 'an all-out pressure against Croatia, culminating in the attempt to destabilize its internal order with all means and, as I said, with unprecedented diplomatic actions'. 'We are faced with a critique of Croatian democracy from those factors who have admitted to the Council of Europe such democratic countries like Albania, Rumania, Moldavia and Russia, at the same time when those very same factors supported Russia, allowing it to use tanks against the Parliament and Chechnya'. 'Because of those general international circumstances which I spoke about, we will accept constructive dialogue and cooperation, but we will not accept any humiliating conditions', President Tudjman stressed. 'One of the main reasons for today's meeting was for me as the head of the state to make this fact known'. 'Preaching about the immaturity of Croatian democracy is inappropriate, and Croatian people have to be aware of it'. 'As regards Croatia's current international position, we should speak in plain words. With all achievements on the political, economic and military planes, Croatia has gained the status of a first-class regional factor. Croatia is respected in international military and financial circles'. 'We have achieved partnership with the United States, the leading world power', President Tudjman said, adding that attempts to force Croatia into joining the ex-Yugoslav, Balkan, southeastern European region caused disagreement between Croatia and main European factors and some U.S. factors. 'As far as this problem is concerned, I think that we will have the support of the whole Croatian public when we present our stance resolutely'. We support the normalisation of relations between all states that emerged on the territory of former Yugoslavia and the Balkan south-eastern European area, but we also want to be integrated into Central Europe. By history and culture we belong to that part of Central Europe which includes Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. We are part of western European civilisation and not of eastern European Orthodox civilization. History has already shown with the two-fold disintegration of former Yugoslavia that our stance is justified. It is of utmost importance for the future of Croatian people and their state that the unity of all national and social- political forces be established, in the same way other nations did it in the past and are doing it today', President Tudjman concluded. (hina) mm jn vm lm rm 252158 MET may 96