HOW STATEHOOD DAY WAS CELEBRATED IN BELI MANASTIR

( Editorial: --> 8183 ) OSIJEK, June 1 (Hina) - The Secretary of the eastern Slavonian town of Beli Manastir, Josip Kompanovic, on Monday said the town's mayor, Veljko Bertic, had said last week that it was not yet time for Beli Manastir to mark the Croatian Statehood Day. Bertic himself tried to refute this fact at a news conference on Monday. "Bertic said this at a regular coordination session of state administration officials last Monday, at which I was present. he said the time has not yet arrived for th marking of Statehood Day in Beli Manastir, and that this has to be introduced with great caution and gradually," Kompanovic said. He added that such examples proved that there were still people who did not accept the Croatian state. "The mayor claims that nobody invited him to the celebration of Statehood Day, when, instead, he should have organised the celebration. At the news conference, he cynically said Statehood Day was marked with the manifestation "Days of Serb Culture in Croatia"," Kompanovic said. Instead of apologising to the Croatian and Hungarian refugees for not having undertaken anything to mark this most important state holiday, he dares to say it was marked with days of Serb culture," he added. The town's committee of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party had organised the celebration because it had not wanted to allow Beli Manastir to be the only town in Croatia where Statehood Day would not be celebrated, Kompanovic said. He added there were still people who were interested in causing as many incidents as possible in the Croatian Danube River region and then place the blame on the Croatian state, all with the aim of getting the international community to impose sanctions on Croatia. (hina) lml 012103 MET jun 98