Italy says ends row with Croatia over war massacre

ROME, Feb 18 (Reuters) Italy and Croatia have put behind them a diplomatic spat set off by comments about a World War Two massacre of Italians by Yugoslav communists, Italy's foreign ministry said yesterday.

The dispute erupted a week ago, when Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said the killings were tinged with ''sinister outlines of ethnic cleansing'' and that ''Slavic designs for annexation'' prevailed in drawing up a 1947 peace treaty.

His remarks outraged Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, whose office said they were racist and objected to what it saw as his questioning of the treaty.

The mass killing has been a taboo subject for decades, and the diplomatic row raised questions about Italy's support for Croatian entry to the European Union.

The foreign ministry yesterday said that the government had explained to Croatia's ambassador to Rome that Napolitano's comments had been misinterpreted, and both sides had ''overcome'' the misunderstanding.

''In the words of President Napolitano, there was ... no intention to put the Peace Treaty of 1947 in question,'' the ministry said.

It assured Croatia that Italy would support its path towards membership of the European Union.

The massacres occurred during World War Two when Yugoslav forces moved into Istria and Dalmatia, regions which had been part of Italy since the 1920s.

The killings are known in Italy as the ''foibe'', from the name of deep caves where Yugoslav partisans dumped the bodies of up to 15,000 Italians they killed between 1943 and 1945.

More than 1,50,000 Italians fled or were expelled and most had their property confiscated in the regions, which became part of Yugoslavia and are now part of Croatia and Slovenia.

Reuters PKS VP0436