New York, June 3, 1997

President Franjo Tudjman visited Beli Manastir yesterday at the invitation of the local leadership. Beli Manastir is a town in the northern part of the Eastern Slavonia region of Croatia, Which is administered by UNTAES. Following the first democratic elections there since occupation on April 15, the leaders of Beli Manastir formed a new multi-ethic administration for the city over the weekend. After a closed door meeting with the leadership) of the region, President Tudjman addressed the Assembly of the Osijek-Baranja County. His unprepared address was broadcast nationwide by radio. This was his seventh public overture to the Serbs dating back to May 26, 1996.

At the outset, as reported by HINA news agency, President Tudjman thanked the region's Transitional Administration, Jacques Klein, on the successful process of peaceful reintegration of the region into Croatia. "The Croatian leadership accepted the peaceful reintegration in spite of requests for a military solution, in order to show that it wanted a democratic and peaceful solution, and to show that it did not want Serbs to leave Croatia." "We want to give all Serbs who accept Croatia as their state the possibility to be full-fledged citizens and to built their future in it," the President said.

"I think that thanks to our joint efforts, we have succeeded in that, and this will be the contribution of Croatia's democracy to the cause of international understanding, the solution of the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the normalization of relations between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," President Tudjman stressed and pointed out that his visit to the region was evidence of the Croatian leadership's resoluteness to implement the peaceful reintegration and to establish a democratic constitutional-legal order.

"We shall make all-encompassing efforts to heal the wounds of the past as soon as possible, which won't be easy," President Tudjman said, pointing out that the return of refugees alone would demand a lot of patience, and that objective difficulties would arise in achieving reconciliation and mutual trust. He called on Croatian displaced persons to find political wisdom and reason within themselves, and stressed that it is "human to forgive, because of life -- so as not to renew the evils we have suffered, and in order to create better living conditions for present and future generations."

Recalling that the Yugo-communist and greater Serbia imperialistic aspirations towards Croatia could not be renewed, the President said that as long as 20 years ago he had proposed the "scandinavization of the region, " which meant a "mutual recognition of state and national-ethnic co-existence."

"Your destiny is in your hands," President Tudjman told both Serbs and non-Serbs in the region, calling on them to remove all extremists, which the Government would do as well. "There are extremists all over the world. The government alone cannot be responsible for every single excess, but we, all together, both the government and the people, must be responsible and must remove all extreme elements, "President Tudjman said.

Croatia would achieve the normal functioning of the legal order at any cost, he said, adding that the Amnesty Act would also be applied consistently. Stressing that only war criminals who had bloodied their hands would go to trial, the President said that "there would be no more lists of war criminals of any sort. We don't want to open old wounds with subsequent accusations; instead, we want to provide conditions for normal co-existence of all citizens who wish to live in Croatia, as soon as possible."

Speaking about the economic future of the region, President Tudjman pointed out that Croatia would use its experience in privatization there as well. The transition from the socialist system to the market system with private ownership is extremely difficult, he said. "Our aim is to solve these problems in the interest of every region and the people who live there," President Tudjman added, calling on all local officials to take an active part in the resolution of these problems. This region of Croatia was one of its wealthiest, and had its products sold not only in Croatia, but in the markets throughout the world, he said.

At the end of his address, President Tudjman called for a speedy completion of the process of peaceful reintegration of the region and the creation of normal living relations between the region and the rest of Croatia. Croatia's leadership would back this with its full authority, President Tudjman stressed, reiterating that the "establishment of constitutional-legal order should be understood as the creation of conditions for co-existence, economic and every other development, and not revenge. " The imposed evil had not sprung from an individual's needs, but from an irrational policy that was defeated, the President concluded. (end)