DELEGATION OF CROATS FROM VOJVODINA WITH MARKOVIC

BELGRADE, May 7 (Hina) - The head of the office of the Republic of Croatia in Belgrade, Zvonimir Markovic, received today a delegation of the Democratic Union of Croats from Vojvodina (a province in the so-called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), led by its chairman Bela Tonkovic. They discussed the difficult position of Croats in that country. The delegation quoted many examples of persecution of Croats. Since the beginning of the war on the area of former Yugoslavia 35, 000 Croats have been exiled from Vojvodina. Thus, for example, in the village of Morovic each Croat house is being marked by the letter U, whereas the remaining Croats are requested to leave the village for one month. Despite the ethnic cleansing committed in the villages of Hrtkovci, Golubinci, Slankamen that have been prevailingly inhabited by Croats, Vojvodina is not still completely ethnically "cleansed" of Croats. Bela Tonkovic reiterated that the Croatian community in Vojvodina had to be better organized to protect its rights. The demands of the Croats from Vojvodina have been already clearly placed before the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia. They request their cultural autonomy wherever it possible and recognition of the Croat community in Vojvodina as a political subject, functioning through the Croatian National Council. Croats request the adequate number of their representatives in the local authorities, judiciary and police, and autonomy in the fields of culture, education and mass-media. Showing their understanding for the current difficulties that war-stricken Republic of Croatia is facing, the Croats from Vojvodina do not ask for a material help from their mainland. What they expect from Croatia is to stand by Vojvodina Croats' demands in order that Croats in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will be enabled to exercise their civil and national rights, said their delegation at the meeting with Mr. Markovic. Mr. Markovic promised that a help would be offered to the Croats from Vojvodina within the normalization of Croat-Serb relations. 072158 MET may 94