ANTIWESTERN CAMPAIGN

AIM Zagreb, 21 June, 1998

The polemic between the American ambassador in Croatia, William Montgomery, and representatives of Croatian authorities after the invitation to six opposition leaders to visit the USA has hardly died down, when Montgomery sent a new challenge to the same address. In an interview to Globus, he declared that the United States would not recognize results of the next elections in Croatia if the election law were not immediately amended. This is in fact an old demand made by the Croatian opposition many years before Montgomery came to Zagreb (in the end of last year) and it refers to introduction of multiparty control of the elections and abolishment of six seats in the parliament warranted for deputies of diaspora (which practically comes down to "Herzeg-Bosnia"). But, only after Montgomery had repeated this demand, a big fuss was made over it, which like several times in the past few months, reached the verge of hysteria. In the central daily news program of Croatian Television, the American ambassador was warned from a high place that the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) had won the elections eight times, moreover with such a turnout of voters which not even "the so-called democratic" countries can brag with, although they think they are entitled to incessantly criticize Croatian authorities and their actions.

The Americans were openly told that if anyone should be given lessons in democracy, they were the ones who should be sending delegations to Zagreb, and not vice versa. Moreover, the tone chosen creates an impression as if the USA had asked Croatia to make some suicidal sacrifice, and not improve the democratic system which its highest representatives had pledged to do themselves. Having endured the first cannonade of criticism, Montgomery pointed that out, reminding them that when it had become a member of the Council of Europe, Croatia signed 21 conditions, one of which referred to the amendment of the election law. Therefore, the American ambassador concluded, repeated accusations of Zagreb about "pressure" exerted on it are not true. If anyone were pressuring someone, it is the state leadership of Croatia which is demanding from the international community to apply on it "different standards from those applied to others". With these additional explanations, Montgomery made the top of the HDZ even angrier. A day later there was the statement of vice chairman of the assembly Vladimir Seks, whose political shares have been going up lately, so that he was co-opted one of the vice presidents of the HDZ instead of late Mr. Susak.

Seks demanded no less than to proclaim Montgomery persona non grata in Croatia, having summed up a few serious mistakes he had made (qualifying Croatia the "disgrace" of the whole world because of the trial to journalists, and having said that Croatian Television was the "cancer of Croatia"). Although Croatian-American relations are extremely cold in the past period, such escalation of ill humour exceeds all expectations, and it can easily be guessed that internal political reasons have contributed to it the most. In the past period, the conflict between pro-European and isolationistic faction in the HDZ has intensified, and this was indicated even by Seks.

He said that Montgomery should be marked as an undesirable person "by mediation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" which on any other occasion would have sounded as a technical description of the procedure, but not in this one. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is known to be the main stronghold of the pro-European faction, and a severe campaign was launched against it by some of the regime-controlled media, and even HDZ itself. The Ministry of Mate Granic was accused of being too lenient to foreign pressures, and not for some tactical thoughtlessness, but because it has become too influenced by the West. Three Croatian ambassadors were publicly warned for it: Janko Vranyczany Dobrinovic (EU), Miomir Zuzul (USA) and Darko Bekic (OSCE), and the latter was even replaced, or rather degraded (he was transferred for the ambassador in Portugal).

Apart from these direct attacks against Granic - who was explicitly warned in public to watch what his ambassadors were saying, to avoid doubts who is behind these acts - some more subtle steps were taken. After Montgomery had made the statement about refusing to recognize election results according to the currently valid election law, the first reaction arrived from the foreign ministry which protested why the ministry was involved in matters which were in exclusive competence of the legislature. It is highly probable that Granic's ministry did not send this protest by its own free will but that it was forced to do it by the rival faction in the state leadership in order to discredit it among its western friends.

This is indicated by the fact that after the foreign ministry had come out with its statement, Montgomery reacted very soon after. In a new interview, which was already mentioned, he made an evident effort to make the position of the pro-western faction in Croatian diplomacy easier, taking off the edges of some of his formulations from the first interview. To the question of the journalist of Jutarnji list what he had meant by not recognizing elections, he declared: "The main sense of my statement to Globus was that if no changes occured, the international community would not be able to to recognize elections as fully democratic and up to western standards. This does not mean that we will not recognize the officials elected in the elections, but we will very probably describe the elections in words used by senator Paul Simon in the capacity of the head of OSCE observers in the past elections: 'Free, but not just'".

In the end, why has the Ministry of Foreign Affairs become the target of attacks? Hue and cry against Granic's crew coincides with the so far greatest split in the HDZ which was best illustrated in B&H HDZ which split into two factions

• the Herzegovinian (Ante Jelavic) and the Bosnian (Kresimir Zubak). In order to prevent this division, Tudjman tried to establish control over both factions and reconcile them, and at the same time tried to establish control over their possible sisterly factions in Croatia. With this objective, the new minister of defence Andrija Hrebrang who replaced the late Susak, introduced sharp measures of saving and cadre spring cleaning in the ministry dominated by the Herzegovinians (read: supporters of Jelavic). At the same time, criticism from HDZ started also against Croatian diplomats who played the role of supporters of Zubak.

Soon after the campaign in the ministry of defence died down, partly because of the stubborn Herzegovinian lobby in it, but even more because of incapability of Tudjman to reconcile the quarrelled factions in B&H HDZ, when he decided to support the more numerous and better organized one - Jelavic's. The very minute this decision was reached, it could be assumed that the campaign against the ministry of foreign affairs would be intensified, and this indeed happened. Montgomery did not have to say what he said, but the anti-western campaign would have nevertheless been launched. But, when his statement did appear, it came in handy and was a good immediate cause for the HDZ. That is how the campaign could immediately be launched and almost immediately become loud and almost hysterical.

MARINKO CULIC