PRESIDENT TUDJMAN ON 3RD ANNIVERSARY OF INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF CROATIA

OF CROATIA ZAGREB, Jan 15 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman this evening gave a statement to Croatian Television regarding the third anniversary of the international recognition of the Republic of Croatia as an independent and sovereign state. President Tudjman said that January 15, 1992, would remain recorded in Croatia's history as one of the dates when the independent and sovereign Croatia was included into the world community of sovereign countries. He said the date itself assumed increasing importance for both those who participated in that historic event and Croatian next generations when it was looked in the light of developments and circumstances under which Croatia was to become an internationally recognized country. He recalled that a year before the international recognition of Croatia the world and international responsible factors and the world public had favoured the preservation of the former Yugoslav community. Several months before January 15, 1992, those international factors had expected the failure of recently declared Croatia's independence. They did not only expect that we would not be able to survive in autumn 1991 but they also believed that our fall would be in the interest of the international order, he stressed. He recalled the events in the autumn of 1991 when Serbia and Montenegro had been launching an all-out offensive on Croatia, attacking Vukovar and Dubrovnik and shelling the Croatian President's residence in Zagreb. Under such circumstances Croatia was to achieve its international recognition on January 15, 1992, he emphasized. Reiterating that world factors had not wanted to see Croatia as an independent country because of their various reasons, President Tudjman added that Croatia and its people had succeeded in realizing their independence, first of all, because of their will and resoluteness as well as by using the historical circumstances following the collapse of Communist systems in central and eastern Europe and the dissolution of the multiethnic states. He said the Croatian people showed their political maturity at the time. Croatia managed to survive and withhold the aggression carried out by one of the most powerful armed forces, with its programme and correct policies. Thus, the world recognized the Republic of Croatia, he added. Croatia was formally recognized. Then we had to do our best so that the world would acknowledge and accept Croatia as an indispensable factor in creating a new international factor in southeastern Europe and neighbouring Balkans, President Tudjman concluded. (hina) mms 152253 MET jan 95