"I assured everybody that I talked to that we met all conditions necessary for cooperation with the Hague tribunal and in line with our constitutional law," said Mesic who held talks with his counterparts from Greece, Turkey, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia and Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, on the margins of a regional forum called "Culture Corridors of Southeast Europe, Common Past and Common Cultural Heritage".
Mesic said there was only one barrier - the issue of the transfer of fugitive General Ante Gotovina to the UN war crimes court in The Hague. "We can not meet that condition" as, according to available information, Gotovina is not in Croatia, Mesic said.
He added the officials he held talks with expressed understanding.
The Forum, which had previously been held in Tirana and Ohrid, was held at the initiative of the host, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, under the auspices of UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The event pooled representatives of ten countries of the region -- Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey.
The Croatian president also held talks with UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matshuura who supported the proposal Mesic presented at the forum that the next gathering be held in Croatia.