HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
BBC Worldwide Monitoring December 20, 2001, Thursday Yugoslav foreign minister says he expressed regret, not apologised to Croatia SOURCE: HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1756 gmt 20 Dec 01 Text of report in English by Croatian news agency HINA Belgrade, 20 December -- The Belgrade weekly NIN quotes Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic on Thursday 20 December as saying he expressed regret for the war destruction during a recent visit to Croatia, and that "a possible apology to the Croats can be made only by the president of state or someone elected at direct elections". As Yugoslavia's chief of diplomacy, Svilanovic says he felt compelled to address the citizens of both countries, in this case primarily the citizens of Croatia, taking a clear position as to the conflicts which he says were very tragic and claimed many lives. "It is impossible for the Yugoslav foreign minister to come to Croatia and talk about everything else, as though the conflict had never taken place. That's why I very clearly said how deeply I regretted the suffering of those people," Svilanovic responded to the NIN journalist's claim that what he said in Zagreb "was too little for the Croatian and too much for the Serb nationalists". Stating that an apology was a "big gesture which may come to the agenda," Svilanovic reiterated that "only the president of state can" do something like that. Asked who should apologise to whom, the foreign minister said it was "very complicated" but that if the events of the past decade were taken into account, "the starting point must be that the conflict took place on Croatian territory". Asked why he mentioned Jasenovac, Croatia's 1941-45 Ustasha death camp, Svilanovic said he had mentioned the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar as the symbol most Croats "associated with the horrible feelings" of their recent past. "I mentioned Jasenovac as well, not to strike a balance or say that it is the same or similar, because it isn't, but because for the Serbs in Croatia, and I think Serbs in Serbia as well, it, too, is a symbol of another time," said the foreign minister. "The Jasenovac memories have been manipulated a lot," he maintains, saying they were "the power charge that set off the horrible conflict which ensued". Svilanovic says he is perfectly aware of how much fear was imbued "into the heads of the Serbs with the remembering Jasenovac campaign," which he says gave them "an additional killer boost". Asked what his Zagreb visit might yield in practice, he concluded "we still can't talk about good neighbourly relations, even though a lot has been done". Svilanovic said the Croatia talks addressed the issue of war criminals, and that he agreed with his hosts that all who had committed them must answer before national courts, and of course, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Svilanovic said he and his Croatian hosts disagreed as to the tenancy rights of Croatian Serb refugees, but added the issue would be addressed further. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
