by Jelena LOVRIC
Pasalic definitely knows what he is talking about. As Tudmans's advisor and close collaborator, he had a chance to witness the internal dealings of the HDZ. The more civilized part of the HDZ is ready to admit that during their rule a lot of mistakes were made. And those mistakes, they say, must not be repeated. Analysts agree that Pasalic's policy, not only on the level of sound bites but also in its essence, is nothing but a return to the past. Our newspaper has obtained hitherto unpublished documents and transcripts of VONS meetings, mostly held during 1995. These transcripts clearly demonstrate why the HDZ is a party of dangerous intentions. Ivic Pasalic was an active participant of all the meetings that will be mentioned in the remainder of this article.
Somewhat earlier, early in 1995, at a meeting held at the presidential residence in Pantovcak, it is mentioned that Croats from Kosovo ["Janjevci" as most of them used to live in the town of Janjevo] had been brought to Vocin [Serb majority village before the war] in order to "modify the composition of the population in that area".
In late August 1995, therefore after the operation "Storm", the same group discussed an exchange of population. President Tudman emphasizes that "because of the international community, we must be very flexible" with the Croatian Serbs. He proposes "confidentially", that sn exchange of population be offered for Croats living in Vojvodina and Serbia and adds: "but it must not be official".
Ivan Milas does not see any justification for secrecy. He says: "there were exchanges of population after every war". Therefore, he believes that Serbs should publicly be given an opportunity to leave.
Tudman was, however, persistent. "It's better not to make life more complicated for either them or us".
Nikica Valentic is convinced that "most Serbs will leave". He has "no fear that many of them will stay". However, he does not think that an exchange of population should be immediately and openly proposed. Instead "that game" should be played "delicately, long term".
Milas is not convinced. "Serbs will agree," he insists, they need more Serbs in Vojvodina where they are not doing ethnically all that well. Still, he agrees that that should be done with Belgrade, without involvement of the international community.
Mate Granic offers a solution: how to appear clean in front of the world, while achieving the set goals. "Diplomatically, we could say that everyone had a freedom of choice, regarding where they want to live, and that says it all," he says. He proposes that direct talks be held with Belgrade. Probably far less diplomatic.
Pasalic mentions that Croatia would have "far easier time dealing with Serbs if they were dispersed, instead of concentrated in particular regions, as now".
Smiljko Sokol, today the president of the Constitutional Court of Croatia, is also adamant that an exchange of population is desirable.
Gojko Susak warns that "no one in the international community will accept that we deny our citizens the right to live where they want". He makes distinction between what "will be offered on paper" and the real policy. He adds that "exchange of population cannot be an official policy", but he is convinced that "our and Serb interests are identical in this matter".
The same year, after the law on de facto confiscation of Serb property had been sent to the parliament, Jure Radic, at a VONS meeting, reports that the Croatian authorities would take possession of more than ten thousand houses, holiday homes and farms. The government, the minister for ethnic cleansing says, would "create a strategy for bringing our people, from Bosnia-Hercegovina, to those houses". "Due to international pressure, for now that will have to be presented as a temporary solution, but with time that will become a permanent solution". Radic also hopes to recruit Croat settlers in Australia for his plan.
Besides being concerned with Serbs and ways to get rid of them, the state leadership is at that time also intensively trying to figure out ways to annex parts of neighboring Bosnia-Hercegovina. In late 1995 VONS discussed construction of highway Zagreb-Split-Mostar that is supposed to go via Bihac, Drvar, Grahovo and Livno. Miroslav Tudman emphasizes that the priority is "homogenization of territory and inclusion of the Federation [Bosnia-Hercegovina] in the Croat corpus". Tudman senior agrees: "Strategically speaking, we must secure inclusion of the Federation BH in Croatia with roads as well. We must count that the whole Federation BH will be tied with Croatia, economically, through transportation links, as well as politically".
After the liberation of the country, the HDZ immediately calls an election, with the goal of exploiting euphoria due to the victory for an electoral triumph. Parliamentary representatives of Croats living abroad are introduced, Tudman is adamant, with only one goal: "the idea is to secure ten seats for the HDZ through that list, because there is not doubt that emigrants will vote for us".
On the eve of the election it was necessary to think about the improvement of the general image of the party. Susak is concerned because in the last four years, as he said, none of the privatization robbers have been held responsible. Tudman says that he is deeply aware of that. Zarko Domljan has a solution worthy of King Solomon. "It is not necessary to sort out the whole privatization," he says, "what matters is that we find one case and blow it out of proportion". He recalls that in Germany they made a big deal of a case that involved $3,500. They explained to him that they needed that "because every political party wants to demonstrate that it is honest and clean". "If we found one case in every county, that would be enough," Tudman says and complains. "I keep talking about that, but no one listens". On this occasion they listened to him. The HDZ soon afterwards announced a war against thieves, and even published a list of suspects, but soon, as usual, everything was hushed down.
Quoted parts of Tudman's parties at Pantovcak testify why the HDZ was a party of dangerous intentions. Ivic Pasalic is a man from the guts of those authorities. We should realize what he means when today he offers a return to the state of dangerous intentions.