Vatican, September 30, 2002 (IKA) — Today, September 30, the secretary of the Holy See for Relations with States, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, received the speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Dr. Zlatko Tomcic, and the president of the Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Zdravko Tomac, at the Vatican.
The meeting at the Vatican was occasioned by an extensive diplomatic campaign to acquaint the political figures and countries considered by Croatia to have a potential role in forming international opinion on current efforts by the Croatian Parliament and Government. According to Dr. Tomcic at a press conference, the Croatian delegation informed Archbishop Tauran on all the aspects of the political activities being undertaken by the Croatian Government and Parliament in the case of Croatian General Janko Bobetko. They informed the Holy See in detail regarding the political and moral aspects of this case and very clearly expressed the position that Croatia expects the international community to take, which is that Croatia should be permitted for a period of time to use legal means to challenge the charges being made by the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, which are completely unacceptable to the Croatian Government, Parliament and people.
Dr. Tomcic explained that they spoke on the level of principles, and added that Archbishop Tauran, as a representative of the highest moral authority of the Catholic Church, accepted the Croatian presentation on the level of principles with a great degree of understanding and requested the Croatian Government to send him a detailed official letter in connection with the case. Dr. Tomcic was of the personal opinion that the Holy See had great understanding for the events of recent years and the current situation in Croatia. Archbishop Tauran declared that he supports justice by the international community and justice by the Croatian authorities. The archbishop emphasized that such justice should have the same meaning for all parties, and then there would be no dispute whatsoever. Speaker Tomcic of the Parliament and Dr. Zdravko Tomac, the president of the Commission for Foreign Affairs, were highly gratified by the outcome of their conversation with the representative of the Holy See, Archbishop Tauran. In the afternoon, a meeting is planned between the Croatian delegation and the president of the Italian House of Representatives, Pierferdinando Casini.