Croatia, 2001

I wanted to come here,

and I had to come here. I thought it was necessary to

show that I will not allow those fanatic killers, who

4

may be secretly lurking right now, to prevent me from

presenting the general views of my country, the

Republic of Croatia, about the current situation in the

world in front of this audience in the United Nations.

This year, the general debate is taking place later

than usual. The terrorist attacks on New York and

Washington postponed the scheduled autumn session. I

emphasize the word “postponed”. The terrorists did not

manage to paralyse the United States of America. They

did not manage to stop the work of the United Nations;

nor will the world’s statesmen cancel their visits to

New York and their participation in the work of the

General Assembly.

Since 11 September, when as if in a nightmare we

were faced with the horror of global terrorism, it has

been repeatedly said by many people, including myself,

that the world is no longer the same. I am here today to

repeat this, and also to add a few more words. It is true,

or at least it seems to be true, that the terrorist attacks,

which left thousands of deaths behind, have changed

everything. However, the truth is slightly different:

much has changed as a result of the attacks, but

nothing has changed in the area that made it possible

for the attacks to be committed.

I would therefore like to stress the following

points. In order to make sure that the terror experienced

by New York and Washington will not happen again,

we — I repeat, we — have to change the world

completely.

Today we live with the threat of global terrorism,

and the global response to it. With regard to the nature

of this first big war of the twenty-first century, I can

only repeat what I recently mentioned in my speech in

the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. This is not a clash

of civilizations; this is not a clash of cultures; this is

not a conflict of religions. This is just a confrontation

of civilization and non-civilization.

I would also like to be very clear about something

else. There is no such thing as “our” or “their”

terrorism. There is no justified or unjustified terrorism.

It is in the nature of terrorism, regardless of whether it

is masked by an ideology, religion or war of liberation,

to kill innocent people — the more, the better.

Terrorism is therefore absolutely unacceptable, and this

is why we are fighting against it today.

We have created a broad anti-terrorist coalition,

an alliance of countries not previously known in

history, which can only be compared to the anti-fascist

coalition at the time of the Second World War. This

anti-terrorist coalition is almost an alliance of the

civilized world, a defence response of that world to the

challenge and threat of destruction and anarchy. I

would like to stress two things with respect to the

response and the circumstances in which it is taking

place.

First, today we are not faced with the dilemma of

choosing between anarchy imposed upon us by the

terrorists, on the one hand, and autocracy, which some

could perhaps see as the only efficient response to

global terrorism on the other. To accept that dilemma

would be fatal for our civilization. The response is, and

can only be, democracy and the rule of law. The

defence of democracy must not turn it into its very

opposite, even under the conditions of war imposed

upon us by the terrorists.

Secondly, the establishment of the anti-terrorist

coalition represents the beginning of profound and far-

reaching changes on the world political scene. I am

speaking about changes in relations between countries

or groups of countries. I am also speaking about

changes in the nature and way of functioning of

international alliances, such as the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization, as well as existing international

organizations like the United Nations and those

organizations that are just emerging, of which the

International Criminal Court is one example.

However, while we are still combating global

terrorism using our military, political and economic

force and intelligence organizations, we must start

looking for answers to the following questions: What is

global terrorism and what makes it possible? It is not

enough to defeat the terrorists we are faced with today.

We have to do everything we can to make sure that we

shall not be dealing with new terrorists tomorrow. This

is the second level of change that needs to be carried

out, but that is not yet being made. I view the situation

as follows.

It will not be difficult to encourage fanatic

behaviour in both individuals and large groups of

people — thus turning them into ruthless killers or

terrorists — as long as famine, poverty and non-

development are present in large parts of the world,

and as long as people anywhere suffer from inequality

and the absence of freedom as a result of unresolved

regional crises. I therefore think that we have to change

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the world completely, if we do not want our present

fight against global terrorism and our victory over it, of

which I have no doubt, to be mere episodes.

That might sound too ambitious or even a bit

utopian, but I believe it is neither of the two. I am sure

that, in addition to the fight against terrorism, there is

another task ahead of us that is no less difficult or

responsible, namely, creating and implementing a

global strategy for solving accumulated problems of

today’s world, problems that did not appear only

yesterday. Many of them have been discussed under the

dome of the General Assembly. Many beautiful words

have been said. It is now time to turn those words into

actions. It is now time for those actions to stop ugly,

abominable words full of hatred and hostility from

turning into new acts of madness such as the ones we

saw in this city. We have a common interest: life in

peace and safety for all. Let us have a common goal,

too: a life of dignity for all. Neither can be achieved

tomorrow everywhere, but both can be achieved

everywhere.

I would like this session of the United Nations

General Assembly to reaffirm this world Organization

as an irreplaceable instrument in the struggle for a

different and better world. I would like this session to

show the political will of all Member States to start

seeking together — and finding — in a sincere and

coordinated way, solutions to problems that, in the

context of the threat of global terrorism, prove to be

literally unavoidable.

Let us not forget that in September the terrorists

used planes full of passengers in order to kill thousands

of people. The next time they may use chemical,

biological or, perhaps, even nuclear weapons to kill

hundreds of thousands of people. Let us also not forget

that this Organization was founded to “save succeeding

generations from the scourge of war”. There is no time

to lose. Let us change the world we live in so as to be

able to continue to live.