Visit the Sites Mirrored on HR-Net Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923) Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923)
HR-Net - Hellenic Resources Network Compact version
Today's Suggestion
Read The "Macedonian Question" (by Maria Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou)
HomeAbout HR-NetNewsWeb SitesDocumentsOnline HelpUsage InformationContact us
Thursday, 28 March 2024
 
News
  Latest News (All)
     From Greece
     From Cyprus
     From Europe
     From Balkans
     From Turkey
     From USA
  Announcements
  World Press
  News Archives
Web Sites
  Hosted
  Mirrored
  Interesting Nodes
Documents
  Special Topics
  Treaties, Conventions
  Constitutions
  U.S. Agencies
  Cyprus Problem
  Other
Services
  Personal NewsPaper
  Greek Fonts
  Tools
  F.A.Q.
 

OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 164, 96-08-23

Open Media Research Institute: Daily Digest Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>

Vol. 2, No. 164, 23 August 1996


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] GEORGIANS PROTEST NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK.
  • [02] FOREIGN DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITY AROUND TAJIKISTAN.
  • [03] CASH WITHDRAWALS HALTED IN TASHKENT.
  • [04] NIYAZOV HOSTS UZBEK DEFENSE CHIEF.

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [05] PRE-ELECTION VIOLENCE GETTING WORSE IN BOSNIA.
  • [06] NEW TRIBUNAL OFFICES IN SARAJEVO, BELGRADE.
  • [07] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELGRADE.
  • [08] SERBIAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES ELECTION COVERAGE.
  • [09] MONTENEGRIN OPPOSITION PARTIES FORGE ELECTORAL ALLIANCE.
  • [10] TOP SERBIAN OFFICIAL CALLS FOR DIRECT TALKS ON KOSOVO.
  • [11] BOSNIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATES DETAINED IN SLOVENIA.
  • [12] ROMANIAN ELECTORAL UPDATE.
  • [13] RULING PARTY DECIDES TO FREEZE CONSUMER PRICES.
  • [14] BENDERY AUTHORITIES PREPARE FOR EMERGENCY STATE.
  • [15] SNEGUR ON PRESIDENTIAL REPUBLIC.
  • [16] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS REGISTER.
  • [17] IMF MISSION HEAD CRITICAL OF BULGARIA.
  • [18] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER RENEWS RELEASE EFFORTS.
  • [19] GREEK PRIME MINISTER CALLS EARLY ELECTIONS.

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] GEORGIANS PROTEST NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK.

    Georgian scholars have criticized what they regard as "insulting and unethical" comments in a new Georgian-language textbook published in England, ITAR-TASS reported on 22 August. A meeting of scholars at the Samshoblo publishing house in Tbilisi accused author George Hewitt of anti-Georgian bias, which they connected to the alleged fact of his marriage to an Abkhazian. Some participants even called for criminal proceedings against Hewitt. ITAR-TASS reported that an Indiana University professor, Dodona Kiziria, agreed with some of the criticism of the book. -- Peter Rutland

    [02] FOREIGN DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITY AROUND TAJIKISTAN.

    With a new outbreak of fighting reportedly in progress in the Tavil-Dara region, representatives of other interested countries have stepped up their efforts to achieve some resolution to the problems in Tajikistan. Officials of the Russian and Afghan border commands met on 22 August in the Tajik village of Tem, close to Khorog, to discuss means of stabilizing the area along the Tajik-Afghan border, ITAR-TASS reported. Representatives of the two countries agreed on sharing information on border violations and on the creation of a border security zone stretching 2-5 kilometers south into Afghanistan. UN envoy to Tajikistan Gerd Merrem was in Iran, where several United Tajik Opposition leaders live, on 22 August to enlist the aid of Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, according to RFE/RL. Iran has played a constructive role in bringing the Tajik government and opposition to the peace table since the conflict began in 1992. -- Bruce Pannier

    [03] CASH WITHDRAWALS HALTED IN TASHKENT.

    The Uzbek government has ordered Tashkent commercial banks to suspend all operations involving cash withdrawals unless specific permission has been given, Finansovye Izvestiya reported on 22 August. The paper reported that Uzbekistan's treasury is facing a $700 million tax shortfall. -- Lowell Bezanis

    [04] NIYAZOV HOSTS UZBEK DEFENSE CHIEF.

    Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov held talks with visiting Uzbek Defense Minister Rustam Ahmedov on 20 August, Turkmen Press news agency reported the following day. According to the BBC monitored report, the two sides discussed cooperation between the Turkmen and Uzbek armed forces. -- Lowell Bezanis

    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [05] PRE-ELECTION VIOLENCE GETTING WORSE IN BOSNIA.

    The UN spokesman in Sarajevo, Alexander Ivanko, said on 22 August that opposition parties' leaders and supporters are being increasingly intimidated by the ruling parties in the northern towns of Cazin and Teslic, Onasa reported. Along with eight explosions in the Bihac region during the past week, three explosions were reported in Cazin on 22 August, all of them believed to have been directed at supporters of opposition parties. The UN received a letter from a local opposition party accusing the ruling Muslim Party of Democratic Action of acts of intimidation in Cazin. Meanwhile, in the Republika Srpska, a police unit controlled by the ruling Serbian Democratic Party has taken into custody a factory director in Teslic who headed the local opposition party. Ivanko said special Serbian forces continue to operate around the town, with city officials refusing to explain their presence. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [06] NEW TRIBUNAL OFFICES IN SARAJEVO, BELGRADE.

    Graham Blewitt, prosecutor for the war-crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, on 22 August opened an office in Sarajevo and announced that a Belgrade office would open the next day, Onasa reported. Blewitt said the tribunal's Sarajevo office will assist the investigation team arriving in Bosnia in early September to resume mass-grave explorations. He said the Belgrade office represents a major step forward, since the prosecutor's office has been trying to establish a base in the city since 1994. The Belgrade office will allow the war-crimes tribunal to investigate alleged atrocities against Serbs. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [07] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELGRADE.

    Mate Granic on 23 August arrived in Belgrade, where he and rump Yugoslav counterpart Milan Milutinovic are to sign an agreement on the normalization of relations, Nasa Borba reported on 23 August. Earlier in the week, Croatian Foreign Ministry sources had hinted that a number of outstanding issues, including jurisdiction over the strategic Prevlaka peninsula and disagreements over the division of assets, could delay the signing (see ). But on 22 August, Zagreb announced that Granic would participate in the "landmark" ceremony in Belgrade. The BBC on 23 August, however, reported that a signing would not necessarily mean that all outstanding issues had been resolved; contentious issues could be deferred. -- Stan Markotich

    [08] SERBIAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES ELECTION COVERAGE.

    Vojin Dimitrijevic, a member of the opposition Serbian Civic League, told a 21 August press conference that he thought it would be impossible for opposition parties to gain equal access to media coverage during the federal campaign. He also dubbed a recent agreement on media coverage little more than "a state order submitted for signature," reported the BBC monitoring service, citing Tanjug. As of 21 August, a total of 35 parties had signed an agreement on media coverage. -- Stan Markotich

    [09] MONTENEGRIN OPPOSITION PARTIES FORGE ELECTORAL ALLIANCE.

    Novak Killibarda, leader of the People's Party of Montenegro (NSCG), and Slavko Perovic, head of the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro (LSCG), released a statement on 22 August outlining a cooperation accord for the 3 November elections, Nasa Borba reported on 23 August. According to the agreement, the parties have resolved to campaign together, recognizing that "it is imperative for us to fold up our party banners and set aside those factors that divide us so as to raise the flag of democracy over Montenegro." The NSCG, which holds 14 seats in the 85-seat republican legislature, has advocated maintaining federal ties with Serbia, while the LSCG, which has 13 seats, has pushed for Montenegro's outright independence. -- Stan Markotich

    [10] TOP SERBIAN OFFICIAL CALLS FOR DIRECT TALKS ON KOSOVO.

    The chairman of the Serbian parliamentary committee on security, Radmilo Bogdanovic, on 22 August said it is "time for serious talks on Kosovo" between the Serbian government and the Kosovo Albanians, Western media reported, citing state-run Borba. But at the same time, he set conditions that the Kosovars are likely to reject. Bogdanovic--a close aide to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and a former Serbian interior minister--said the Kosovars should take the first step and "ask for talks," and he rejected Kosovar shadow state President Ibrahim Rugova's call for international mediation. Bogdanovic said that "the state does not need a witness to talk to its own citizens." -- Stefan Krause

    [11] BOSNIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATES DETAINED IN SLOVENIA.

    Bosnian politicians Ivo Komsic of the Croatian Peasant Party and Nijaz Skenderagic of the Social Democratic Party on 21 August were detained by police in Slovenia as they were about to address a campaign meeting, Oslobodjenje reported. The police told them that according to Slovenian law they cannot hold a meeting that has not been properly announced. Komsic said Croatia and Slovenia are the only two European countries that do not allow such political meetings, Oslobodjenje reported. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [12] ROMANIAN ELECTORAL UPDATE.

    A "national committee" supporting incumbent President Ion Iliescu's candidacy was formed on 22 August, Romanian television announced on the same day. The committee is chaired by Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu. Iosif Borda, Romania's ambassador to Switzerland, has been appointed director of the president's electoral campaign. The Romanian ambassador to Moldova, Marian Enache, is also a member of the committee. The announcement was met with criticism in the opposition press. The daily Romania libera printed excerpts from the Statutes of the Diplomatic Corps, which forbid Romanian diplomats to be members of political parties or become involved in party activities. In other news, several Roma parties that had set up an umbrella organization called Roma Unification appointed sociologist Nicolae Gheorghe as their presidential candidate, Radio Bucharest announced. -- Michael Shafir

    [13] RULING PARTY DECIDES TO FREEZE CONSUMER PRICES.

    In a move obviously triggered by electoral considerations, the Permanent Delegation of the major coalition partner, the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, on 22 August decided to freeze consumer prices of 54 products, Radio Bucharest reported. The freeze is to be in force till 1 January 1997. It will affect prices for gasoline and fuel for home heating, coal, public transportation, bread, milk, comestible oil, butter, pork and poultry, medicine and medical services, cigarettes, telephone charges, rents, and others. The independent daily Libertatea on 23 August called the move "a bomb whose exploding effects after the elections will be terrible." -- Michael Shafir

    [14] BENDERY AUTHORITIES PREPARE FOR EMERGENCY STATE.

    BASA-press reported on 22 August that the local authorities in Bendery (Tighina), a town in the Dniester region where the Chisinau authorities have managed to keep a police force that acts parallel to the Dniester forces, have started preparations for a state of emergency. The move reflects rumors of a concentration of Moldovan army units preparing an attack on the town. Sources close to the city administration told the agency that envelopes containing instructions on mobilization, to be opened only in case of an attack, have been distributed to workplaces. The authorities have also ordered a Dniester military unit to confine men to barracks and to start fortifications. Gen. Victor Catana, the Moldovan Deputy Interior Minister and co-chairman of the Joint Control Commission (JCC), said in a press release that the allegations on the impending attack are a "premeditated misinforming of public opinion." The JCC and the OSCE mission in Moldova on 21 August released a joint statement calling on public organizations, decision makers, and the population at large to "refrain from actions that may increase tension." -- Michael Shafir

    [15] SNEGUR ON PRESIDENTIAL REPUBLIC.

    Moldovan President Mircea Snegur, addressing a meeting of the National Press Club on 22 August, said that Moldova should become a presidential republic and that he intends to pursue this change if re-elected in November, Infotag reported on the same day. He said that if his main rivals in the electoral contest, Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli and parliament Chairman Petru Lucinschi, lose, it would mean that the government and the parliamentary majority have lost the trust of the electorate. -- Michael Shafir

    [16] BULGARIAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS REGISTER.

    The Bulgarian Socialist Party's (BSP) candidates for president and vice president, Georgi Pirinski and Ivan Marazov, on 22 August handed in registration documents to the Central Electoral Commission (TsIK), Trud reported. Pirinski, the current foreign minister, turned in a Justice Ministry certificate saying that he never lost his Bulgarian citizenship and is not a naturalized citizen. He did so to prove that he fulfills the constitutional requirement that the president be a "Bulgarian citizen by birth." TsIK Deputy Chairwoman Zlatka Ruseva said the opposition representatives on the commission will examine Pirinski's documents "very carefully." Standart reported that the BSP has two reserve teams, one of which will be registered in case the TsIK rejects Pirinski and Marazov, the current culture minister. Novinar reported that, in that case, Pirinski may replace Zhan Videnov as prime minister in the fall. On 23 August, registration documents for the united opposition's candidates, Petar Stoyanov and Todor Kavaldzhiev, were filed. -- Stefan Krause

    [17] IMF MISSION HEAD CRITICAL OF BULGARIA.

    Anne McGuirk, head of an IMF mission presently visiting Bulgaria, on 22 August said it was not clear whether the country will qualify for the second installment of a $580 million IMF loan, international media reported. McGuirk said the government has been slow in implementing economic reforms and singled out delays in closing down 64 major loss-making state enterprises. Closing those companies and cutting off subsidies to another 70 enterprises was part of a deal agreed on in May between Bulgaria and the IMF. McGuirk also voiced concern about the decline of the Bulgarian lev and called for tighter monetary policies. -- Stefan Krause

    [18] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER RENEWS RELEASE EFFORTS.

    The lawyer for imprisoned Socialist Party Chairman Fatos Nano has contacted the European Court of Human Rights in an effort to secure Nano's release, Reuters reported on 22 August. Nano's lawyer, Perparim Sanxhaku, said he has direct contacts with the court and plans to launch an appeal there against Nano's sentence. Nano was sentenced in 1994 to 12 years in prison for embezzlement during his term as prime minister in 1991. President Sali Berisha has rejected domestic and international appeals for Nano's release. The Albanian parliament last month ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, from which the court draws its authority. -- Stefan Krause

    [19] GREEK PRIME MINISTER CALLS EARLY ELECTIONS.

    Kostas Simitis on 22 August announced that early parliamentary elections will be held on 22 September, 13 months before the parliament's regular four-year term expires, Greek state radio reported. Simitis cited the need to revive the economy and to strengthen the country's position vis-a-vis Turkey as the main reasons for the early balloting. Under the Greek constitution, early elections can be held if the premier believes that a "major national issue" requires the government to be approved by popular vote. President Kostis Stephanopoulos signed the decree for new elections on 23 August. -- Stefan Krause

    Compiled by Steve Kettle and Tim Rostan
    News and information as of 1200 CET


    This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic.
    For more information on OMRI publications please write to info@omri.cz.


    Open Media Research Institute: Daily Digest Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
    Back to Top
    Copyright © 1995-2023 HR-Net (Hellenic Resources Network). An HRI Project.
    All Rights Reserved.

    HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute, Inc.
    omri2html v1.00b run on Friday, 23 August 1996 - 9:04:22