[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 14, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   CROATIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS SUPPORTING LIFTING OF ARMS EMBARGO ON 
              BOSNIA AND DEMOCRATIC REFORMS WITHIN CROATIA

                                 ______


                      HON. JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR.

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 14, 1994

  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to take this opportunity to share 
with my colleagues two informative letters written by members of the 
opposition within the Croatian Parliament. The first letter was written 
by Messrs. Mesic and Manolic at the time they were the Presidents of 
the House and Senate chambers. Their exact status at this moment is the 
subject of much debate within the Parliament. What is not debatable, 
however, is that they have split with President Tudjman's ruling 
party--of which they were cofounders--and formed a new opposition party 
called the Croatian Independent Democrats. They have expressed strong 
disagreement with President Tudjman's authoritarian style in domestic 
policy and opposition to his war of expansion against Moslems in 
Bosnia. The second letter is from Dobroslav Paraga, who is well-known 
to Members of the U.S. Congress as a fighter for democratic rights 
within Croatia.
  At this point, I wish to include the text of these two letters which 
follow:
                                                   Sabor Republike


                                        Hrvatske--Predsjednik,

                        Zagreb, Republic of Croatia, June 4, 1994.
     Members,
     U.S. Congress, House of Representatives.
       Starting from general democratic principles and in view of 
     the current political situation facing the Republic of 
     Croatia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well 
     as the circumstances of continued Serbian aggression against 
     these two sovereign States, we, as presidents of the Croatian 
     Parliament Sabor, of its two chambers, hereby join in the 
     initiative launched by the U. S. Congress and Senate, 
     concerning the lifting of the embargo on arms imports imposed 
     on the sovereign and internationally recognized Republic of 
     Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the most effective way for 
     stopping the Serbian aggression and bringing war in that 
     country to an end. Lifting the embargo on arms imports in the 
     Republic of Croatia, which is also a victim, still threatened 
     by the Serbian aggression and occupation, should be 
     considered in the same context, too.
       After the Washington accord was signed, a conclusive 
     polarization has taken place on the Croatian political scene: 
     included in the division are those preventing its 
     implementation, and those ardently supporting its consistent 
     implementation. A consequence of the process is the final 
     split in the Croatian Democratic Union, the Republic of 
     Croatia's ruling party, and the emergency of the party of 
     Croatian Independent Democrats.
       As presidents of the parliamentary chambers of the Croatian 
     Sabor, we believe no real democratization can be effected in 
     Croatia until the Washington accord has been brought to life, 
     whereby the demands of the Croatian people and citizens of 
     Croatia would be realized, in actual fact. As far as this 
     question is concerned, our position is the same as the one 
     held by the legal authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
     which is, undoubtedly, supported by most of the citizens of 
     that State. Since we are assured that the ruling party in the 
     Republic of Croatia--President Tudjman's party and its 
     exponents in Bosnia and Herzegovina will sabotage the 
     implementation of the Washington accord, for reasons 
     including also internal political developments in Croatia, 
     where President Tudjman's ruling party has blocked the 
     country's democratization, we have established the new 
     party--Croatian Independent Democrats, which has parted from 
     the ruling party. We have immediately been subjected to 
     attacks by the authoritarian and undemocratic mechanisms of 
     the authorities. The Croatian Independent Democrats has 
     already become the second strongest party of the opposition.
       By the same token, in a situation when the international 
     community is incapable of containing Serbian aggression, even 
     where exclusion zones, ``safe havens'' (so-called enclaves, 
     e.g. Gorazde) are concerned, on the eve of democratic 
     elections in the Republic of B&H, an effective step is called 
     for, one needed for stabilizing the two neighbor States, 
     which would simultaneously shut out prospects concerning a 
     continuation of Tudjman's regime's negotiations with the 
     Serbian one, as well as a cooperation in disagreement with 
     the democratic will of the population and contrary to the 
     very spirit and provisions of the Accord. We, therefore, 
     believe that the lifting of the embargo on arms imports in 
     the Republic of B&H would yield several positive effects in 
     seeking lasting solutions for settling the crisis in the 
     areas concerned.
       In the first place, it would be an expression of 
     determination vis-a-vis the implementation of the Washington 
     accord, a meaningful contribution to its realization in face 
     of attempts at thwarting it being equally made by the 
     Belgrade regime and the authorities in the Republic of 
     Croatia. The former was the first to start an aggression 
     against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the 
     latter, by accepting that the sovereign Republic of B&H be 
     divided, have brought the Republic of Croatia from the 
     position of being a victim of the aggression into that of 
     being a co-aggressor.
       The lifting of the embargo may also come as a solution in 
     the present situation of the United Nations and all relevant 
     international actors being stalemated while seeking more 
     permanent and peaceful solutions to the crisis in our 
     territories. In the act of the embargo being lifted we do not 
     see a threat of a further escalation of the war, but we see 
     it as a precondition for crushing the aggression on the 
     Republic of B&H, leading--indirectly and in practical terms--
     to the crushing of the occupation of parts of Croatia and to 
     a peaceful integration of the areas concerned in the state 
     and legal system of the Republic of Croatia. Orientations 
     such as these are the constant of our political action.
       We have found ourselves before the possibility of the 
     Washington accord being brought to life by solving a question 
     that is crucial for the survival of a sovereign and integral 
     Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After it has carried out 
     free elections, it could enter into a confederation-type 
     relationship with the Republic of Croatia. It would, in turn 
     make an impact on democratization in the Republic of Croatia 
     and the establishment of a rule-of-law State and a full-
     fledged constitutional system. For the above reasons, our 
     initiative is hereby submitted to the U.S. Congress for 
     serious consideration.
                                                     STJEPAN MESIC
                 President of the Sabor of the Republic of Croatia
                                                     JOSIP MANOLIC
      President of House of Zupanije of the Sabor of the Republic 
                                                       of Croatia.
                                  ____



                                   Hrvatska Stranka Prava,    

                                  Zagreb, Republic of Croatia,

                                                     June 7, 1994.
     Members,
     U.S. Congress,
     House of Representatives.
       More than a year ago, 13th May 1993, twelve members of the 
     U.S. Congress addressed a letter to the President of the USA, 
     the respected Mr. Bill Clinton. They briefly presented the 
     trouble that was facing the Republic of Croatia at that time, 
     they simply stated their comments towards the ``autocratic 
     aims of Franjo Tudjman, the president of Croatia''.
       Since that time Croatia has been faced with an escalation 
     of those autocratic aims, so much so that at the present time 
     Croatia finds itself in a parliamentary crisis and a crisis 
     within the government itself, to further illustrate the force 
     of the previously mentioned tendencies. That is the reason 
     why once again I am compelled to contact the Congress, at 
     that time the when at the order of the day at the House of 
     Representatives we are faced with the question of lifting the 
     arms embargo on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
       At the time when the parliamentary crisis in the Republic 
     of Croatia has reached a climax, at that time the two 
     presidents of both houses of the Croatian parliament wrote to 
     the U.S. Congress, as adjudicators of law to plead for the 
     lifting of the arms embargo. Due to these letters Franjo 
     Tudjman's regime used this to discredit these two presidents 
     of parliament, charging them with treason and dishonor, bar 
     their democratic rights to write and consul the parliament of 
     a friendly Nation. Furthermore, this was used to remove and 
     relieve them of their duties in such a way that does not 
     conform to the rules of a parliamentary democracy. Not only 
     was criticism not accepted as a democratic gesture, but was 
     used to banish political nonconformists.
       Governmental crisis, not only exists but is covered up, 
     mainly due to non existence of freedom of the media, the 
     facts stand that certain ministers during the parliamentary 
     crisis overstepped their powers and roles that they are 
     supposed to be limited with and openly rallied in the name of 
     the ruling party in a way to favour the ruling party during 
     the parliamentary crisis. This new demonstration in itself 
     shows that shared and responsible government does not exist 
     in Croatia, that ruling party influences regularly emerge 
     over the law making bodies.
       All of this is of no wonder when it is revealed that the 
     president misuses his power and has practically installed his 
     own family as an oligarchy in all matters of every day life. 
     Tendencies of embedding the ruling party in the governmental 
     apparatus, which is directly contradicting the Conference of 
     European Security and Co-operation and democratic principles, 
     proceeded in a process of establishing an oligarchy, and not 
     only has the ruling party categorically halted the opposition 
     parties by non democratic means, but has started a ``witch 
     hunt'' on the critics and non conformists amongst it's own 
     ranks.
       The way that then oligarchy plans to resolve the 
     parliamentary crisis is by a one party `parliamentary' rule, 
     namely, without democratic legitimacy is in direct 
     contravention of the constitution of the Republic of Croatia 
     and the rules of the parliament. The president of the 
     Republic of Croatia himself is already in contravention of 
     the constitution clause 103, which states that at least once 
     annually the president of the Republic must himself 
     personally address the parliament, inform the parliament of 
     the political situation in the Republic of Croatia and state 
     his activities; that he has failed to comply with. In itself 
     this is a proof that at least for a period of two years he 
     has persisted in weakening parliamentarianism in Croatia and 
     is hijacking the powers of parliament.
       What's more, during the parliamentary crisis, speaking to 
     the members of croatian parliament of his own party, he 
     bluntly acknowledged insurging in the internal affair of the 
     neighbouring Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointing out 
     that through his minister of defence as the person that he 
     carried out his political aims into the Republic of B&H, 
     meaning that his policy was war against the Muslims and 
     division of the recognised Republic of B&H, including the 
     physical liquidation of political non conformists and 
     persecution of all that refused to be pushed into a war of 
     non survival against a natural ally. I initiated personally 
     and in the name of my party--Croatian Party of Rights--an 
     initiative for a parliamentary investigation into the conduct 
     of the president of the Republic of Croatia. My criticism and 
     wishes that the disregard of constitutional powers and 
     limitation be dealt with democratically means were 
     misinterpreted as ``against national interests and 
     subversive'', but the escalation of the parliamentary crisis 
     has in effect halted further insistence of the before 
     mentioned initiative.
       The letter of the twelve congressmen marked to the 
     attention of the respected Bill Clinton, the contents refer 
     to the physical liquidation on leaders of the opposition, 
     that is the continuing political practice of the Tudjman's 
     regime. These days, the leader of the opposition Drazen 
     Budisa faces threats and physical liquidation, due to this he 
     has asked for special protection, the same applies to other 
     respected members of opposition parties such as Stjepan 
     Mesic, Vladimir Bebic and others, and certainly I am still 
     exposed to the same threats.
       The assassins of Ante Paradzik were tried, but the 
     investigation did not allow the unravelling of who(m) was 
     behind the scene, that is, the person(s) that ordered the 
     assassination. Murders of Marina Nuid, Blaz Kraljevio, Reichl 
     Kir and others as yet are unsolved, nor are any 
     investigations being conducted in these matters. The regimes 
     campaign against the freedom of the press and media in 
     general have long been completed, the situation is far worse 
     than when the congressmen last sent their letter in 1993.
       All of these mentioned results are due to the fact of 
     absence of multi party control on result counting and 
     observation during the last 1992 and 1993 elections, as in 
     the wishes of the regime to non democratically halt emergency 
     elections brought about due to the crisis, which is 
     consistent with the conclusions of the congressmen's letter 
     the previous year. In today's situation emergency elections, 
     parliamentary and presidential, in the Republic of Croatia 
     would even be condition sine qua non for the lifting of the 
     arms embargo, so as to prevent misuse of the lifting of the 
     mentioned embargo.
       At this moment as you consider the lifting of the arms 
     embargo for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I draw 
     your attention to the situation in the Republic of Croatia. 
     Lifting of the arms embargo would seriously rock Tudjman's 
     plans to establish an oligarchy strong enough to keep a hold 
     over Croatia, it would strengthen the prospect of realisation 
     of the Washington Accord, with that to once again awaken the 
     process of democratisation in Croatia. Finally, lifting of 
     the arms embargo on the two neighbouring countries--Republic 
     of B&H and Republic of Croatia--USA, UN, NATO and other 
     factors would not grant these two countries anything that 
     they are not entitled to: their fundamental right is to self 
     defense from the existing aggression and occupation, and when 
     that is associated with the right for democratic development 
     there should not at all be any dilemma in the decision, in 
     which no doubt you will agree to same.
                                                 Dobroslav Paraga,
      Member of Croatian Parliament and President, Croatian Party 
     of Rights.

                          ____________________