From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: Croatian leader distances himself from Bosnian ally
Date: 25 Jan 1993 04:08:39 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

 Croatian leader distances himself from Bosnian ally

 17 Jan 93

 ZAGREB, Croatia (UPI) -- Croatian President Franjo Tudjman distanced
 himself from his nominal ally Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic in
 remarks Sunday that appeared to sever their joint interests in war-torn
 Bosnia-Herzegovina.
 Serbian rebels have seized about 70 percent of the former Yugoslav
 republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina -- home to 1.9 million Muslim Slavs, 1.4
 million Christian Orthodox Serbs and 750,000 Roman Catholic Croats.
 Bosnian Croats and Muslim Slavs have been allies in defending the
 republic from Serbian rebels backed by the neighboring republic of
 Serbia. The Croats have had at least moral support from the republic of
 Croatia -- which earlier fought its own war with Serbia-backed forces.
 However, the basis of the alliance between the Bosnian Croats and
 Muslims has been their common enmity with the Serbs, rather than strong
 agreement on the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
 And Tudjman, in his remarks Sunday, indicated that the Croats will
 have to deal directly with Serbian forces, appearing to leave the
 Muslims out of the equation.
 ``The only possibility for lasting peace in the Balkans lies in an
 agreement between Croats and Serbs,'' Tudjman said speaking at a
 political rally of his right-wing Croatian Democratic Union in Zagreb.
 ``It is now apparent that Alija Izetbegovic represents only Muslim
 interests in Bosnia-Herzegovina ...,'' the Croatian leader added. ``He
 doesn't accept that units of the Bosnia-Herzegovina army submit their
 authority to the right command of'' the Croatian forces in Bosnia-
 Herzegovina.
 Bosnian Defense Minister Bozo Raic, a Croat and commander in the
 Croatian forces in Bosnia, demanded Saturday that the mostly Muslim Slav
 Bosnian forces relinquish authority to Bosnian Croats in areas to be
 placed under mostly Croat influence under a Geneva peace plan.
 But only Mate Boban, the Croatian leader in Bosnia and Tudjman's
 proxy, has agreed to the plan in full. Izetbegovic and Bosnian Serb
 leader Radovan Karadzic still have stong objections to the proposal.
 The Bosnia-Herzegovina military has refused to accept the authority
 of the Croatian forces in Bosnia. Fighting flared between Croats and the
 mostly Muslim Slav Bosnian forces in the predominately Muslim Slav town
 of Gorji Vakuf and other areas of central Bosnia, Croatian radio
 reported.
 Izetbegovic said Saturday the fighting in Gornji Vakuf was
 ``unnecessary,'' but was a direct result of the conflicting political
 aspirations of the Bosnian Croats and Muslims.
 Although fighting subsided between the two sides on Sunday, Croatian
 radio issued an ultimatum telling the predominantly Muslim Slav forces
 to leave Gornji Vakuf by midnight.
 Tudjman, for his part, added that ``victory cannot be achieved''
 either against the Bosnian Serbs or their backers in the truncated
 Yugoslavia, which is comprised of the republics of Serbia and
 Montenegro.
 ``The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina is a defeat for both Croats and
 Muslims there,'' Tudjman said.
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