IZETBEGOVIC ON CROAT-MOSLEM RELATIONS AND RESOLUTION OF CRISIS

SARAJEVO, July 1 (Hina) - President of the Presidency of Bosnia- Herzegovina Alija Izetbegovic said in an interview with Sarajevo Television Thursday night that the principle of preserving the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina within its internationally recognized borders would not be given up. Speaking of his visit to the southern city of Mostar, Izetbegovic described the situation there as "frozen." "There is no fighting and that's good, but not enough," he said. The Bosnian president spoke of Mostar as a sort of indicator of the process of normalization in Bosnian Croat-Moslem relations and the establishment of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. "If ice begins to melt in Mostar, it will melt elsewhere in Bosnia- Herzegovina," he said. Speaking of the problem of refugees, Izetbegovic pointed out Stolac, a town in Herzegovina to which, he claimed, not a single Moslem refugee had returned yet. "We are ready to ensure the return of Croats to Vares (near Sarajevo), but the return of our people (Moslems) to Stolac can no longer be delayed," he stressed. Izetbegovic noted that he was not satisfied with Moslem-Croat cooperation on the military level. "There is only verbal agreement to set up a joint federal army, but in reality the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Bosnian Army are still functioning as two separate armies," he said. Speaking of establishing the Moslem-Croat Federation, Izetbegovic said that the fate of this political project would be clear in the next two months. He laid particular importance on three forthcoming high-level meetings - between commanders-in-chief of the HVO and the Bosnian army, Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic and his Croatian counterpart Nikica Valentic, and finally a meeting of Izetbegovic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman with Turkish President Suleyman Demirel. According to Izetbegovic, those talks would be crucial for the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatian-Moslem relations as a whole. 011826 MET jul 94