GRANIC ON 3RD ANNIVERSARY OF INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF CROATIA

ZAGREB, Jan 15 - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic on Sunday gave a statement to Croatian Radio regarding the third anniversary of the international recognition of the Republic of Croatia as an independent and sovereign country. "January 15 is a historic day for the Republic of Croatia. We should remember now all Croatian generations who had waited for such a day when the Republic of Croatia was to be internationally recognized," Minister Granic said. "We should also recall to our memory those who immensely helped us - The Holy Father, John Paul II, Austrian Foreign Minister Mock, German Chancellor Kohl, Minister Genscher and others," he said. "It was the Republic of Croatia and Croatian people that contributed mostly to the international recognition, because they resolutely resisted the aggression of Serbia and the then Yugoslav People's Army (JNA)," Granic pointed out. We could know now - and even Yugoslav foreign minister Jovanovic had said - that they got a clear signal in the summer of 1991 to quickly finish Croatia and Slovenia off, the republics which wanted to use their natural right to establish their own states, according to Granic. He added that the recent decision by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman to end the present mandate of UNPROFOR in Croatia marked the end of the period during which Croatia had been trying with help of UN peace keepers and the international community to reintegrate its occupied areas. During that period the UN Security Council and General Assembly had given the formal and legal confirmation that the UN Protected Areas (or UNPA) are the occupied areas of the Republic of Croatia and that the chief reason for the occupation could be found in Belgrade and its conduct toward the Knin Serbs, Granic said. "We believe that the departure of the UN peace keepers will again focus the international community's attention on the Republic of Croatia. This can accelerate all peace processes, and we will more quickly reach our borders and the political solution with the UNPA Serbs in a form of a local autonomy in line with international standards along with the respect for the human and ethnic rights and the international supervision," Granic concluded. (hina) mms 151719 MET jan 95