Croatian president stirs hornet's nest with apology

www.earthtimes.org ^ | April 17, 2010 | German Press Agency (dpa)

[Ravnagora]

Zagreb - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has fallen foul of the government over an apology for crimes his countrymen committed during the 1992-95 Bosnia war, Zagreb media reported Saturday.

In a speech to the Bosnian parliament, Josipovic expressed his regrets at the deaths of thousands of Bosnians during the conflict and criticized the policies of the country's leader at the time, Franjo Tudjman.

"I deeply regret that that kind of policy contributed to the sufferings of the people and the divisions that still trouble us," said Josipovic, who took office only two months ago.

In the war Serbs, Croats and Muslims fought among themselves but Croats and Muslims formed an uneasy coalition. The war ended with the partition of Bosnia into a Serbian part - the Serb Republic - and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Josipovic's comments earlier this week were widely seen in Bosnia and the West as an apology, but caused uproar among Croatian conservative circles and the government of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.

Kosor's ruling HDZ party, founded by Tudjman, accused Josipovic of breaching the constitution, betraying the national interest and meddling in foreign policy.

"Croatia was never the aggressor," Kosor was quoted by local media as saying. "The war was just, and of a defensive character."

Josipovic tried to smooth the government's ruffled feathers by claiming he did not apologize, but merely expressed his regrets, something which the conservative HDZ refused to let pass.

Kosor met former premiers Friday evening to discuss Josipovic's visit to Bosnia, the Jutarnji list daily wrote Saturday.

Croatia's wartime prime minister, Franjo Greguric, claimed what the president said was "an absolute lie ... which would hurt Croatia's international standing," the paper reported.

Jutarnji list said Kosor and the HDZ planned to seek a parliamentary debate on the president's statement "and his unconstitutional act."

According to the Croatian constitution, the government is responsible for foreign policy, not the president.

Expert Mladen Stancic believes Josipovic's comments and Kosor's reaction are "two ways of looking at Croatia's foreign policy and the country's position in the region."

"The HDZ has its own foreign policy and the president does not have to think about party politics but about the country's foreign policy," Stancic told the Novi list daily.

Croatian media pointed out that the country's first premier after it declared independence in the early 1990s, Stjepan Mesic, was not invited by Kosor to the meeting.

Mesic left the HDZ in 1994 because he did not agree with Tudjman's policy in Bosnia. He later served as president of Croatia.

Opposition leader Damir Kajin said the row was proof the ruling party is loosing control. "The HDZ is becoming history. It is trying to save what can be saved", he told the German Press Agency, dpa.

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[Ravnagora]

[Bokababe]

Wow, you think that it would at least be safe for him to apologize for Croats having taken out the Mostar bridge. But that’s apparently not the case — three engineers say that the bridge was blown up by the Bosnian Muslims, themselves, and a German engineer agreed with them.

[montyspython]

A Croat on this very forum admitted that the Mostar bridge was was blown up by the Croats, and said they would do it again if the muslims kept up their shenanigans.

[Bokababe]

"A Croat on this very forum admitted that the Mostar bridge was was blown up by the Croats, and said they would do it again if the muslims kept up their shenanigans."

I know that Wiki isn't the best of sources, but they mention some flap about the Muslims having blown it up themselves, even though the Croats admitted they blew it up.

The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed on 9 November 1993 during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After its destruction a temporary cable bridge was erected in its place. Responsibility for the destruction of the bridge is attributed to Bosnian Croat artillery fire.[1][2][3] After the destruction of the Stari Most, a spokesman for the Bosnian Croats admitted that they deliberately destroyed it, claiming that it was of strategic importance.[4] The Croatian Defence Council, which had previously tried to protect the bridge from Bosnian Serb shells, bombarded the bridge from 8 November.[4] However, a book written by three Zagreb-based engineers, one of whom testified at the trial, claims that the Croatian Defence Council were not responsible for the destruction of the bridge but that it was instead destroyed by a mine activated from Bosniak territory.[5] An expert from Germany considers conclusions of this analysis to be technically correct. [6]

Slobodan Praljak, the commander of the Croatian Defence Council, is currently on trial at the ICTY with the prosecution alleging that he ordered the destruction of the bridge, among other charges.[7][8] Presiding judge at the trial, Jean-Claude Antonetti, recently said during the trial, that it is not proven that the forces of the Croatian Defence Council destroyed the Stari Most, nor it is proven who and how ordered the destruction.[9]

So a question that we thought was answered long ago may still be unanswered. It was either the Croats or the Bosnian Muslims.