Slovenia, Croatia Declare Freedom From Yugoslavia : Balkans: Federal Parliament reacts angrily and orders the army to ‘prevent the division’ of the nation.

Croatia and Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia on Tuesday, delivering a death blow to the federation and to the 73-year struggle to unite the fractious Balkan nations.

The moves were in defiance of Western warnings that both states will face international isolation for unilaterally dissolving the union of southern Slavs created in 1918.

The federal Parliament in Belgrade reacted angrily, ordering the army “to undertake measures to prevent the division of Yugoslavia and changes in its borders.”

But the lawmakers appeared to be overstepping their authority. The Yugoslav presidency is supposed to command the armed forces, but it collapsed five weeks ago because of an ethnic dispute.

Federal Prime Minister Ante Markovic made a last-ditch appeal for unity a day earlier, claiming that any secession could lead to civil war and economic chaos.

Of the two republics’ declarations, Slovenia’s was the more definitive and clearly amounted to secession from what Ljubljana officials now refer to as “the former Yugoslavia.”

While the Croatian declaration was less specific, stating only that a process of “dissociation” had begun, it may prove to be the more inflammatory because of Croatia’s 600,000-strong Serbian minority, which is staunchly opposed to separation from the Yugoslav nation that binds them with Serbia.

The nationalist leadership of Serbia, the largest of Yugoslavia’s six republics, has threatened to use any force necessary to prevent division of the Serbian people.

Slovenia and Croatia had previously said they would secede on Wednesday, but the two governments summoned lawmakers to surprise nighttime sessions in an apparent attempt to stay ahead of any deterrence that federal or Serbian authorities might have planned.

Despite the immediate calls for military intervention, it is widely thought that any effort to deploy the multi-ethnic Yugoslav People’s Army to quell a political dispute would result in mass desertion and failure.

Slovenia and Croatia had been preparing to break away for months, having failed to persuade other republics to restructure the alliance to give their more Westernized and prosperous states more autonomy and financial control.

In an unequivocal declaration of independence, Slovenian President Milan Kucan announced that the federal constitution no longer applies to Slovenia and that the newly independent state is assuming responsibility for all functions, ranging from defense to air traffic control.

However, Kucan sought to assure European neighbors and other foreign governments that the world’s newest country poses no threat and will work to ease the current Balkan crisis.

“Resolution of Yugoslavia’s problems is not without risks. But the greater risk is maintenance of the Yugoslav federation by force,” Kucan told the assembled members of the Slovenian Parliament.

At least 24 people have been killed in ethnic violence in Yugoslavia since early May, and each of the ethnic groups--with the exception of most Slovenes--have been arming themselves in preparation for an all-out conflict.

Prime Minister Lojze Peterle promised that independent Slovenia will uphold all international agreements signed by Yugoslavia and that the new state will erect no barriers to the movement of goods, transport or people.

A five-article declaration of independence said that Slovenia’s delegation to the federal Parliament in Belgrade is being recalled and replaced with a 12-member team charged with negotiating remaining issues with the other republics. Croatia said it is doing likewise.

According to the new legislation, Slovenia will gradually take control of all army property by the end of 1993, when the 20,000 federal soldiers now deployed on republic territory are expected to leave.

The territorial defense chief also has said that the 4,000 Slovenian recruits serving in the federal army will be recalled.

Slovenia insists that it will be better able to protect human rights and ensure compliance with international accords if it secedes, rather than remaining bound to a federation paralyzed by political and ethnic turmoil.

Federal authority has virtually collapsed in recent months. Serbia and its Communist ally Montenegro have refused to endorse a Croat as head of state, leaving Yugoslavia leaderless and without an army commander in chief at a time of razor-sharp tensions.

The federal prime minister repeatedly appealed for unity and won significant backing from the U.S. and other foreign governments. But as an unelected holdover from the discredited Communist era, Markovic, although a committed free-market reformer, commands little respect in the strongly nationalist republics.

In the Croatian capital of Zagreb, Parliament Speaker Zarko Domjan said, “Croatia no longer remains within federative Yugoslavia.”

The declaration of sovereignty approved by the deputies in Zagreb said, “By this act, the Republic of Croatia initiates the process of disassociation from the other republics.”

Deputy Speaker Vladimir Seks said in the televised legislative session that Croatia will no longer accept federal laws.

It was not immediately clear whether further steps remain to bring about full independence for Croatia. Presidential adviser Darko Bekic said earlier in the day that Croatia still considers itself to be within the framework of Yugoslavia.

Both republic leaderships said they recognize the statehood of the other, but no other offers of political solidarity were immediately forthcoming.

Slovenian citizens endorsed a six-month process toward independence last December, while Croatia held a similar referendum only a month ago.

Support for independence was overwhelming in both republics.

The United States and Western Europe have said they will not recognize the statehood of Slovenia or Croatia, and U.S. State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler reiterated that stand Tuesday.

Western governments failed in their efforts to keep Yugoslavia together, and they may find it equally difficult to punish those they blame for its falling apart.

While Slovenia may be denied immediate acceptance in the world community, it is likely to maintain normal trade ties.

The West did not employ all the weapons at its disposal to force a Yugoslav unity that might have been more destructive, a likely sign that it recognizes independence--at least for Slovenia--as the lesser of two evils for the republic’s 2 million people.

“We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t, but we are more damned if we don’t leave Yugoslavia,” said Slovenian banker Matjaz Jevnisek. “We might lose 30% of our living standards with independence, but without it we would lose everything.”

No effort has been made to economically isolate Slovenia from its established trading network, and Ljubljana officials expect business as usual with the European nations that have given them a political cold shoulder.

Much of Slovenia’s motivation for separation rests with the disastrous state of the Yugoslav economy.

Serbia and other republics are faced with bankruptcy and runaway inflation. State workers have not been paid for months, the federal government has been lurching along on only a third of its usual revenues, and most industrial enterprises outside Slovenia are deeply in debt and scaling back production.

The Yugoslav dinar--the monetary system to which Slovenia and Croatia remain tied--has been devalued twice so far this year and is rumored to be poised for another major downward adjustment.

Peterle said that Ljubljana is creating its own central bank and that a Slovenian currency could be issued within eight months.

On Monday, he said that Slovenia could step up monetary independence if the dinar became so encumbered that it threatened to drag the Slovenian economy into a tailspin.

A new Slovenian flag sporting the Triglav mountain symbol of the new republic will be unveiled in Liberation Square today, when official ceremonies will mark the creation of Europe’s newest state with music, the ringing of church bells and a military parade.

The first Yugoslav state was formed after World War I from the small Balkan states that had long been dominated by Hapsburg Austria and Ottoman Turkey.

It fell victim to royal dictatorship in the inter-war period and collapsed into a devastating civil war during World War II, when more Yugoslavs were killed by their countrymen than by the invading Nazis.

Yugoslavia’s strongman, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, forced the ethnic combatants back into a fragile alliance in 1945, but the federation has been staggering from crisis to crisis since his death in 1980.

A Nation Disintegrating

Both Croatia and Slovenia took the step they had been promising for months-but they did it a day early and took everyone by surprise. They are the richest and most westernized of the six republics.

What’s Next

Federal lawmakers want the army to intervene.

Slovenia wants to join the United Nations and the European Community.

Croatian and Slovenian deputies will be recalled from the federal Parliament.

A Patchwork of Nationalities

Yugoslavia is like a quilt patched together with Serbs, Croatians, Slovenes, Bosnian Muslims, Macedonians and Montenegrins. Slovenia and Croatia are Roman Catholic and use the Latin alphabet. Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia follow Orthodox Christianity and have a Cyrillic alphabet. Muslims dominate in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Kosovo republic. The republic of Vojvodina is mainly Serb.

SERBIA (Capital, Belgrade)

Population: 9.83 million. Area: 21,609 sq. miles.

History: Serbs were conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1389. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed in 1918. In 1929, the name was changed to Yugoslavia.

CROATIA (Capital, Zagreb)

Population: 4.68 million. Area: 21,829 sq. miles.

History: Croatia was part of Hungary from 1102 to 1526 and came under Hapsburg rule.

SLOVENIA (Capital, Ljubljana)

Population: 1.95 million. Area: 7,819 sq. miles.

History: Slovenia developed under the Hapsburg Empire and prospered with a higher standard of living than the southern Slavs.

MACEDONIA (Capital, Skopje)

Population: 2.11 million. Area: 9,928 sq. miles.

History: Settled by Slavs, it was conquered by Bulgars, Serbs and Turks. Later it was divided among Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.

MONTENEGRO (Capital, Titograd)

Population: 640,000. Area: 5,333 sq. miles.

History: Montenegro became a separate entity on the breakup of the Serbian Empire. King Nicholas I was deposed in 1918.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (Capital, Sarajevo)

Population: 4.48 million. Area: 19,741 sq. miles.

History: Settled by Slavs, then conquered by Turks. Annexation by Austria-Hungary in 1908 helped touch off World War I.