Departing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić organized a dinner for regional leaders, including Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Priština stated.
The Kosovo president’s cabinet stated that the meeting was organized in Zagreb on the last day of Mesić’s mandate.
Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić has stormed out of an interview session, “for the first time in ten years in office”, reports from Zagreb say. He did so with the words, “I’m fed up with that shit”, Croatian media write today.
Outgoing Croat President Stjepan Mesić repeated that he would use the country’s military to intervene in neighboring Bosnia. He was quoted as saying that he would “cut off the corridor connecting the Republic of Srpska (Serb entity in Bosnia) if it were to try and secede from Bosnia-Herzegovina.”
Croatian President Stjepan Mesić presented President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia Sonja Biserko with a medal in Zagreb on Monday. Mesić explained that Biserko earned the medal “because of her great contribution in the fight for human and citizen rights of Croats and other ethnic minorities in Serbia and in building the foundation for normalizing the relations between Croatia and Serbia”.
Croatia wrote a letter to the UN Security Council stating that Serbian President Boris Tadić’s address regarding this country was “unfounded.†Croatia believes that Tadić “used the Kosovo debate†to make an “unfounded response†to outgoing Croat President Stjepan Mesić’s statements that he would intervene militarily against Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Exiting Croat President Stjepan Mesić has congratulated the new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), Patriarch Irinej. “I have received the news of your election as the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church with pleasure,†the Croatian president wrote in his message, pointing out that it was “joyous news for all members of the SPC in Croatiaâ€.
Newly-elected Croatian President Ivo Josipović said that Croatia is dedicated to leading peaceful policies. Josipović said that he was not surprised by Serbian President Boris Tadić’s statements before the UN Security Council in which he accused Croatia of “threatening with weapons,†because of the statements of exiting President Stjepan Mesić regarding the possible military intervention in case of a referendum in the Republic of Srpska (RS) for seceding from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Exiting Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that an eventual secession of the Republic of Srpska (RS) would lead to the formation of a “Greater Serbia.†Mesić said that holding a referendum for the RS adjoining itself to Serbia would be dangerous because the borders of Serbia would then reach Karlovac, which would change the architecture of this part of Europe and lead to great problems, according to Zagreb daily Jutarnji List.
Serbs from Croatia are the biggest victims of the war because they “left†Croatia and “left behind everything they hadâ€, says Croat President Stjepan Mesić. “I am not talking about the number of victims now, I am saying that they are victims as a corpus because they withdrew with the army and left everything they had in Croatia, while MiloÅ¡ević did not object because it suited him,†Mesić told the new issue of the Serbian National Council weekly Novosti.
Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that he would send the military to cripple RS if it called a secession referendum. The Croatian military, according to Mesić, would incapacitate the Republic of Srpska (RS) in case there was a referendum on independence in this Bosnian entity, that would violate the Dayton accord.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that he does not see a reason for his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadić to be angry over his visit to Kosovo. “I would have supported him coming with me here and meeting with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and the citizens that welcomed us whole-heartedly,†Mesić said after visiting the Croatian minority in the Kosovo village of Janjevo, according to the Croatian Hina agency.
Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić has arrived in Kosovo, where he is meeting with Kosovo Albanian officials.
Beside his meeting with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and Assembly President Jakup Krasniqi, Mesić will address members of the assembly in Priština.
Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić has decided to shorten prison time of SiniÅ¡a Rimac by one year. Rimac was sentenced to eight years in prison when Croatia’s Supreme Court ruled that he personally took part in the executions of ethnic Serb civilians in the PakraÄka Poljana region of western Slavonia in late 1991.
Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that there will be negative effects if Bosnia-Herzegovina falls apart. He stated that should the Serb entity, RS, break away, Bosnia’s Croats – who currently form the second entity, the Muslim-Croat Federation – “would do the same”, with all this turning what would remain of Bosnia-Herzegovina into “an Islamic state”.
Interior Minister Ivica DaÄić says Croat President Stjepan Mesić’s “honorary citizen of Pristina” accolade represents interference in Serbia’s internal affairs. DaÄić, who is also first deputy PM, told a news conference in Belgrade on Wednesday that this represents a move of the departing Croatian president who does not behave in conformity with Serbia’s strong wish to establish friendly relations in the region.
Relations between Croatia and Serbia have not worsened and cooperation is good between the two countries, Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said. Speaking on the differing stances on Kosovo, Mesić said that the policies of Serbia are too focused on the “Kosovo myth”, but that Serbia “does not have to recognize Kosovo if it does not want to”.
Relations between Croatia and Serbia have not worsened and cooperation is good between the two countries, Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said. Speaking on the differing stances on Kosovo, Mesić said that the policies of Serbia are too focused on the “Kosovo myth”, but that Serbia “does not have to recognize Kosovo if it does not want to”.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Croatian President Stjepan Mesić to discuss issues related to the property of the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS). NIS, which is now owned by Russia’s Gazprom, believes that some property in Croatia that also belongs to the company, which Croatia denies.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that Serbia’s objections regarding Croatia’s recognition of Kosovo are not justified. According to Mesić, “Croatia has recognized the new reality†of the situation.
President Boris Tadić says “certain statements by Croatian officials were spoiling relations between Serbia and Croatia”, Beta reported. He stressed that he was primarily referring to the stand of Croatian President Stjepan Mesić about Serbia not conducting a sufficiently honest policy toward Bosnia-Herzegovina.
