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Voice of America, 99-12-12Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>CONTENTS
[01] EU SUMMIT/TURKEY (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (HELSINKI)DATE=12/11/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-257067 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: European Union leaders have closed their summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland by having lunch with representatives of the 13 countries that hope to become members of the union in the next decade. As V-O-A's Ron Pemstein reports from Helsinki, Turkey is confident it will resolve its problems with the European Union. TEXT: Among the candidates for European Union membership, Turkey is the only one not permitted to begin accession negotiations. Still, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit flew to Helsinki to express his appreciation. At the same time, he is confident that Turkey eventually will become a full member of the European family. /// ECEVIT ACT ////// END ACT ////// LIPPONEN ACT ////// END ACT ////// LIPPONEN ACT ////// END ACT ///NEB/RP/ALW/JP 11-Dec-1999 13:10 PM EDT (11-Dec-1999 1810 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America [02] EU - TUDJMAN (S-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (HELSINKI)DATE=12/11/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-257062 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The death of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman has opened up some new thinking in the European Union which has cut off assistance to Croatia because of the lack of democracy under Mr. Tudjman's leadership. Ron Pemstein reports from Helsinki, where European leaders are meeting. Text: The European Union's representative for foreign and security policies, Javier Solana, pays tribute to the late President Tudjman for being a major figure of the Balkans. At the same time, Mr. Solana sees opportunities for the European Union with new leadership in Zagreb. /// SOLANA ACT ////// END ACT ///NEB/RP/ALW/PLM 11-Dec-1999 06:27 AM EDT (11-Dec-1999 1127 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America [03] FRANJO TUDJMAN OBIT BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)DATE=11/12/1999TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT NUMBER=5-44967 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: President Franjo Tudjman - the first leader of an independent Croatia -- has died after a long fight with cancer. He was 77. (The anouncement of of Mr. Tudjman's death came early Saturday from Croatian state television, in Zagreb.) V-O-A's Ron Pemstein, who met Mr. Tudjman during his assignments to Zagreb, reviews the Croatian leader's career. TEXT: I first met Franjo Tudjman in May, 1990, as
communism was dying in Eastern Europe. He had been
elected president in the first multi-party elections
held in Croatia in 50 years. He spoke to me in
Croatian but his face grew agitated as he switched to
English to exclaim, "We are finally out of that
Communist hell."
One year later, a different kind of hell engulfed
Croatia. President Tudjman declared the republic
independent from Yugoslavia, leading to months of
warfare between Croatia and the Serb-led Yugoslav
Army. The fighting ended in January 1992 with a third
of Croatia under Serb control.
As Yugoslavia disintegrated amid ethnic fighting, old
hatred and rivalries re-surfaced. Croatia's past
alliance with Nazi Germany fueled the flames of Serbs
who suffered under Croatia's Nazi-supported Ustache
regime. President Tudjman was angered by Serbian
charges that his independent Croatian Republic was
nothing more than a restoration of the World War Two
fascism.
Franjo Tudjman joined the anti-fascist Partisans in
1941, when he was just 19 years old. He later took
part in the establishment of Communist Yugoslavia's
first national army. By 1960, at the age of 38, he
was promoted to general. One year later, he left the
army to become a professor of political science at
Zagreb University.
It is during his academic career in the 1960s that he
began to develop his sense of Croatian nationalism in
his writings. He challenged Yugoslavia's attempt to
impose collective guilt on all Croatians for the
crimes committed by the Ustache government. He also
insisted the number of people exterminated in Croatian
concentration camps had been exaggerated.
His views began to his aggravate his former comrade,
Yugoslav President Tito, and in 1967, Mr. Tudjman was
expelled from the Communist Party. Shortly afterward
he was removed from Zagreb University.
Then in 1972, during a crackdown by President Tito on
Croatian nationalism, former General Tudjman was
arrested and imprisoned for nine months. He was jailed
again after President Tito's death.
During the 1980s Mr. Tudjman honed his nationalist
credentials by raising funds from Croatians abroad to
start his political party -- the Croatian Democratic
Union -- which he led to victory in elections in
Yugoslav Republic of Croatia in 1990.
With independence, Franjo Tudjman became one of the
key players in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia,
and the bloody war between Serbs, Croats and Muslims
in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In mid-1995, President Tudjman ordered his army to
take back the third of Croatia under Serb control.
His plan was successful and altered the balance of
power between Serb-led Yugoslavia, Croatia and their
allies in Bosnia. Analysts say this military
offensive was a major factor in bringing peace to
Bosnia in December 1995.
After the war, President Tudjman drew much Western
criticism for his treatment of displaced Serbs, and
his crackdown on the independent media and opposition
parties. He faced sanctions from the European Union
and a cool reception from other Euro-Atlantic
organizations.
At home, Mr. Tudjman saw his popularity slip under
economic hardship and charges of widespread party
corruption. He took over palaces in Croatia for his
own use and outfitted his guards in haughty 19th-
century-style red uniforms.
His death may give Croatia a chance to make the
required reforms toward becoming a market democracy
and entering main-stream European politics. Still,
Franjo Tudjman will be long remembered as the man who
led his country to independence. (Signed)
[04] TUDJMAN DEATH (L-ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (TIRANA)DATE=12/11/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-257060 CONTENT= Voiced at: Intro: Croatia's 77 year old President died Friday. Tim Belay is in the Balkans region with a look at what comes next for that former Yugoslav republic. Text: President Franjo Tudjman,the architect of Croatia's independence, died Friday after six weeks of intensive treatment for stomach disorders. A funeral is planned for Monday. State television broke into its regular programs for a brief statement announcing Tudjman's death, which will force the country to hold presidential elections in the next two months. Mr. Tudjman fought illnesses for the past three years. Parliament declared him unable to perform his duties as president in late November and named Parliamentary Speaker Vlatko Pavletic as acting president. Mr. Tudjman led Croatia to independence from the Yugoslav Federation in 1991. His second term as president was to end in June of 2002. It was not immediately clear who the new presidential candidates would be but the election will take place shortly after or at the same time as a vote for the lower house of Parliament on January Third of the coming year. Diplomats had often accused the strongman ruler of restricting the media and human rights groups. Critics described him as one of the biggest obstacles to Croatia's efforts to join the West. Mr. Tudjman had abdominal surgery twice in recent months. He had been hospitalized since November first. (Signed) NEB/TB/PLM 11-Dec-1999 06:17 AM EDT (11-Dec-1999 1117 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America [05] GERMANY/SLAVE LABOR (L-ONLY) BY JONATHAN BRAUDE (BERLIN)DATE=12/12/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-257077 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: American companies may step in to break the deadlock over German industry's reparations to the victims of the Nazis' Second World War slave-labor polices. Jonathan Braude reports from Berlin. TEXT: A solution may be in sight to the long-running
dispute over compensation to the hundreds-of-thousands
of Jewish and East European slave laborers employed by
German industry during the war.
Germany's government and industry have presented a
united front during the past few weeks. They have
refused to budge from the offer of a little more than
four-point-one-billion dollars they made last month.
The offer was firmly rejected by the lawyers, Jewish
organizations and East European governments
representing the victims.
But Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper reports that
American firms may step in where German industry left
off.
The newspaper said American companies whose German
subsidiaries employed slave labor to fulfil Adolf
Hitler's production orders could add almost one-
billion dollars to the fund.
That would more or less close the gap between what
German industry says is its final offer and the bottom
end of the range the victims' various representatives
are said to be prepared to accept.
About 200 U-S firms, including Ford and General
Motors, are reported to be involved. The various
victims groups are said to have agreed to the
principle of a deal by teleconference last week.
The newspaper did not give its sources for the
billion-dollar figure. Instead, it quoted one of the
victims' advocates, German lawyer Michael Witti, as
confirming a contribution from American industry has
been discussed. Mr. Witti did not comment on the sum
involved and cautioned the deal was far from done.
But adding weight to its story, the newspaper does
quote Stuart Eizenstat, the U-S government's chief
negotiator at the compensation talks.
Mr. Eizenstat said nothing about an American
contribution, but he expressed confidence that a
solution would be found. He said the talks must
succeed, because they are too important to be allowed
to fail. (SIGNED)
[06] TUDJMAN FUNERAL (L) BY RON PEMSTEIN (ZAGREB)DATE=12/12/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-257080 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Funeral services will be held Monday for Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, who died Friday at age 77 after an intenstinal illness. Thousands of Croatians are paying their last respects to Mr. Tudjman, the only president the country has had since independence from Yugoslavia. V-O-A's Ron Pemstein reports from the Croatian capital, Zagreb. TEXT: Croatia is in Mourning. /// MUSIC ESTABLISH AND FADE ///NNNN Source: Voice of America Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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