Senior Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) official Andrija Hebrang said on Wednesday that Croatia had never divided Bosnia-Herzegovina, but it had to enter Bosnia's territory in order to defend its own territory. Attempts to divide Bosnia-Herzegovina started following a 1992 proposal by the Council of Europe, Hebrang said in a comment on Croatian President Ivo Josipovic's statement in Sarajevo on Wednesday.
"That is the truth about the division of Bosnia-Herzegovina, not what President Josipovic said today," Hebrang said when asked to comment on Josipovic's speech in Sarajevo in which he apologised for Croatia's participation in attempts to divide Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s.
If someone is apologising on behalf of their own state and people, it would be fair and politically wise "to discuss it with their people first", said Hebrang, an HDZ vice president and head of the HDZ parliamentary caucus.
The head of the first commission appointed by the Council of Europe in 1992 with the aim of finding a solution for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Leo Tindemans, proposed three possible solutions, including the "velvet division" of Bosnia-Herzegovina, said Hebrang, explaining that this meant the peaceful division of Bosnia-Herzegovina, without conflict and under the supervision of the international community.
"When (former) President Franjo Tudjman showed me that, he said 'They want to divide Bosnia-Herzegovina, if that option prevails, we must not be unprepared," Hebrang said.
"If we were aggressors in Bosnia-Herzegovina, what will happen with those who are standing trial at the Hague war crimes tribunal, charged with war operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina? How will history be written, what will happen with the picture of how Croatian statehood was built at the time?" Hebrang said when asked if Croatia being considered an aggressor in Bosnia in the 1990s could harm the country.
