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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 24, 97-02-04
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 3, No. 24, 4 February 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SHEVARDNADZE IN FRANCE.
[02] IRAN AND ARMENIA.
[03] SUSPECT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING RUSSIAN SOLDIERS.
[04] KAZAKSTANI UNIONS READY TO STRIKE.
[05] FUND ESTABLISHED IN MEMORY OF MURDERED U.S. JOURNALIST.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] SERBIAN PROTESTERS' RESOLVE IN FACE OF GOVERNMENT VIOLENCE.
[07] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CONDEMNS CRACKDOWN IN SERBIA.
[08] SERB LEADERSHIP BREAKS OFF COOPERATION WITH CROATIAN GOVERNMENT.
[09] ATTACK ON INDEPENDENT SARAJEVO MONTHLY.
[10] KARADZIC INTERVIEW PRODUCES OUTRAGE . . .
[11] . . . AND A DENIAL.
[12] CONSTANTINESCU IN BRUSSELS.
[13] CONTROVERSY OVER TREATY WITH UKRAINE?
[14] ROMANIAN EX-MONARCH INVITED TO ROMANIA.
[15] TIRASPOL LEADERSHIP CONFLICT OVER GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURE.
[16] BULGARIAN SOCIALISTS ANNOUNCE NEW GOVERNMENT . . .
[17] . . . WHILE PROTESTS MOUNT.
[18] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION REJECTS PRESIDENT'S ROUND TABLE.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SHEVARDNADZE IN FRANCE.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze arrived in Paris for a three-day
state visit on 3 February, Western media reported. Following talks with his
French counterpart Jacques Chirac, Shevardnadze was quoted as saying
Georgia welcomes France's intention to conduct an "active policy" in the
Caucasus and Georgia was "moving in the direction" of the European Union
but had no ambitions to join NATO because "no one would take it seriously."
Chirac suggested Paris intends to support Tbilisi's bid to join the Council
of Europe. -- Lowell Bezanis
[02] IRAN AND ARMENIA.
Armenian parliamentary Speaker Bakken Ararktsyan held talks with top
Iranian officials in Tehran from 1-3 February, Iranian and Western media
reported. Ararktsyan's Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Natek Nuri, was
quoted by Iranian media as saying the two sides had reached "important
decisions," including the construction of a pipeline to carry Iranian gas
to Armenia. No further details were given. Iranian Vice President Hasan
Habibi reiterated Tehran's standing offer, which is anathema to Azerbaijan,
to mediate in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Ararktsyan voiced hopes that
the recently formed Iran-Armenia joint committee would speed up
implementation of existing agreements and that joint ventures in gas, tire
manufacturing, transport, and petrochemicals would be established in the
future. -- Lowell Bezanis
[03] SUSPECT SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING RUSSIAN SOLDIERS.
A Dushanbe court on 3 February found 30-year-old Aleksandr Gayurov guilty
of murdering two Russian soldiers in February 1995 and sentenced him to be
shot, NTV reported. Gayurov's lawyer says his client received a "cursory
and unprofessional trial" and plans to appeal. In a related story, the
Russian magazine Itogi on 4 February published a poll on the presence of
Russian soldiers in Tajikistan. According a VCIOM survey of 1,600 Russians,
20% said the troops should remain, 12% said their number should be
increased, 50% wanted them pulled out, and 18% had trouble answering the
question. Russian soldiers make up the core of both the 201st Motorized
Division and the CIS peacekeeping force in Tajikistan. During the last two
years more than 60 have been killed, many away from the scenes of fighting.
-- Bruce Pannier
[04] KAZAKSTANI UNIONS READY TO STRIKE.
A leader of the Kazakh Free Trade Unions Confederation, Leonid Solomin,
warned the government that if wage arrears are not paid soon strikes could
sweep the country, Reuters reported on 3 February. Solomin noted that 254
miners at the Achisaysky non-ferrous metals plant in Kentau have occupied
administrative buildings since mid-January demanding their unpaid wages,
which now total 40 million tenge ($500,000). Solomin said many had not been
paid for eight months and some for as long as two years. Teachers in
Kazakstan's northern Semipalatinsk Region are threatening to strike later
this week. Total wage and pension arrears are estimated to be approaching
$1 billion. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has several times ordered the
problem to be solved, but some fear that a sudden payment of the
outstanding wages will drastically devalue the country's currency. -- Bruce
Pannier
[05] FUND ESTABLISHED IN MEMORY OF MURDERED U.S. JOURNALIST.
The Internews network on 3 February announced the creation of the Chris
Gehring Memorial Fund to aid journalists in Central Asia. Gehring, 28, was
the head of an Internews project in Kazakstan until he was found murdered
in his Almaty apartment on 9 January. The fund will be used to continue
Gehring's work, and will include an annual prize for journalists and a
legal defense fund for journalists working in the area. Internews, a non-
profit organization, provides assistance to more than 100 independent
electronic media organizations in Central Asia. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] SERBIAN PROTESTERS' RESOLVE IN FACE OF GOVERNMENT VIOLENCE.
Serbian opposition leaders on 3 January called for peaceful resistance in
the face of police crackdowns to the continuing protests. Vuk Draskovic,
head of the Serbian Renewal Movement and Zajedno leader, urged "We must all
turn into a river of non-violent resistance...All schools and faculties
must close, we must not pay any taxes and bills and we must all go on
strike. They are taking money from the citizens to pay the police who beat
the people," Reuters reported. Meanwhile, reports from 3-4 February
continued to circulate of police beatings, albeit on a scale which did not
reach that of the previous evening. Nasa Borba on 4 February, meanwhile,
reported on the magnitude and severity of the police crackdown on that
night of 2-3 February under the headline "The Police Beat Whomever They
Could." -- Stan Markotich
[07] INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CONDEMNS CRACKDOWN IN SERBIA.
A flood of international criticism has greeted Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic and his government for the decision to employ violence against
peaceful protests. State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns deplored "the
most serious use of force [on 2-3 February]" and called "on the Serb police
and the Serb authorities led by President Milosevic to exercise restraint
in the streets of Belgrade," Reuters reported on 3 February. Meanwhile,
U.S. charge d'affaires Richard Miles met Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic
on 3 February to "condemn" the police violence and "to call upon the
Serbian government officially to refrain from using police force in the
streets of Belgrade." But for his part, Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic attended a state medal awards ceremony in which high ranking
officials, including police dignitaries, were honored, international media
reported. -- Stan Markotich
[08] SERB LEADERSHIP BREAKS OFF COOPERATION WITH CROATIAN GOVERNMENT.
Mirko Tankosic, deputy head of the Office for Transitional Administration
in eastern Slavonia, told the Croatian pro-government daily Vjesnik on 4
February that the local Serb leadership has decided to break off all
contacts and cooperation with Croatian government representatives. Tankosic
said the break will possibly last until 5 February, when the Serb "regional
assembly" will meet and decide on a future political direction. The local
Serb TV station, Beli Manastir, reported on 3 February that local Serb
leadership is very disappointed by the UN Security Council's decision to
endorse the Croatian government's letter of intent for reintegration of
eastern Slavonia into the rest of Croatia. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] ATTACK ON INDEPENDENT SARAJEVO MONTHLY.
Five people on 2 February entered the premises of the independent Sarajevo
magazine Dani and tried to evict its staff, Onasa quoted a press release
by the Sarajevo Canton Interior Ministry. Claiming they owned the premises,
the five threw tear gas canisters and attacked the magazine's deputy editor
in chief, Ozren Kebo. Police arrested the perpetrators and said charges
would be filed against them. In other news, another cab-driver was murdered
in Vogosca, a Sarajevo suburb, on 2 February, following the murder of a cab-
driver at suburb of Ilidza several weeks ago, Onasa reported. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[10] KARADZIC INTERVIEW PRODUCES OUTRAGE . . .
In response to the public warning by indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic
that a Serbian loss of Brcko could lead to war (see OMRI Daily Digest, 3
February 1997), Colum Murphy, the spokesman for the international
community's High Representative Carl Bildt, said: "Dr. Karadzic's statement
threatening war over Brcko is an outrageous provocation. Dr. Karadzic has
made a major mistake. He will not only not be allowed to fan the flames of
war, but by such outrageous statements he has hastened the day when he will
be able to comment only from The Hague. We will also demand of our
colleagues of the international community that indicted war criminals
should go sooner rather than later to the Hague tribunal," reported AFP.
Bosnian co-Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic said, however, that the
international community deserved Karadzic's remarks "because they left
those war criminals running around freely for so long." -- Patrick Moore
[11] . . . AND A DENIAL.
The Republika Srpska's Information Ministry, AFP continued, denied the
whole story, which ran in the Greek daily, Elevtheros Typos: "At the most
delicate moment in the process of arbitration ... [the paper] inexplicably
carried out an invented interview with Radovan Karadzic. [The text runs]
completely contrary to the positions of the Republika Srpska regarding war
and peace, the Dayton agreement, and the arbitration itself. Having
transferred all his powers to [Republika Srpska President] Biljana Plavsic
on 30 June 1996, Radovan Karadzic has not made any public appearances, nor
has he authorized anybody to put forward any views in public on his behalf,
particularly not views contrary to the official Serb position." Regarding
Brcko, the Bosnian Serb leadership has relied primarily on quiet diplomacy
in recent weeks, although on 16 December, Plavsic also raised the specter
of war should the arbitration go against the Serbs. The Greek journalist,
for his part, contended that the interview took place on 25 January, and
his paper published a photo of the interview in progress. -- Patrick Moore
[12] CONSTANTINESCU IN BRUSSELS.
President Emil Constantinescu is scheduled today to meet with NATO
Secretary General Javier Solana for talks on Romania's bid to join the
alliance, international agencies reported. After meeting with
Constantinescu, European Commission President Jaques Santer said on 3
February that the EU has been encouraged by progress in Romania since the
November 1996 elections. The EU's Foreign Affairs Commissioner, Hans van
der Broek, said after talks with Constantinescu that the EU nations should
release some $80 million in aid for Romania, which had been blocked when
the former government failed to meet its pledge for reforms. He also said
that the commission will "give a willful ear" to a $640 million program for
aiding those likely to be hardest hit by the envisaged reforms<strong>.</strong>
-- Zsolt Mato
[13] CONTROVERSY OVER TREATY WITH UKRAINE?
Responding to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's opposition to Romania
joining NATO without previously recognizing the existing borders (see OMRI
Daily Digest, 3 February), Foreign Minister Adrian Severin said Kuchma's
attitude was "unsuitable" and amounted to "blackmail," the daily Jurnalul
national reported. He emphasized that his country has no territorial
claims on Ukraine. Adrian Nastase, deputy chairman of the opposition Party
of Social Democracy in Romania, said the present leaders' change of policy
toward a Romanian/Ukraine treaty was "worrying." Nastase added that the
treaty should not be concluded "at any price." The leader of the extreme
nationalist Greater Romania Party, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, said his party's
very denomination indicated its position and "we would rather forego the
conclusion of the treaty than recognize the abandon of those ancient
Romanian lands." At that price, he added, "we do not understand why we
should join NATO at all." -- Zsolt Mato
[14] ROMANIAN EX-MONARCH INVITED TO ROMANIA.
Exiled King Michael has been invited to visit the northeastern Romanian
city of Iasi by its mayor, Constantin Simirad, Romanian television reported
on 2 February. Simirad said he sensed there was still "reluctance" on the
part of the government to the king's visit and thus wanted to test
declarations that the former monarch could visit the country at any time.
The promise, first made by Foreign Minister Adrian Severin shortly after
the new government had been sworn in, was reiterated by the secretary
general of the main coalition member, the National Peasant Party Christian
Democratic. King Michael's citizenship was revoked by the communists after
his forced abdication in 1947 and has never been restored to
him<strong>.</strong> -- Dan Ionescu
[15] TIRASPOL LEADERSHIP CONFLICT OVER GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURE.
The Transdniester Supreme Soviet has refused to approve the new government
proposed by the breakaway region's president, Igor Smirnov, BASA press
reported on 3 February. On 30 January, the legislature proposed nominating
a first deputy premier, who should become prime minister following an
amendment to the existing constitution. Under the present basic law,
Transdniester's president is also prime minister. -- Dan Ionescu
[16] BULGARIAN SOCIALISTS ANNOUNCE NEW GOVERNMENT . . .
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) premier-designate Nikolay Dobrev on 3
February announced the lineup for his government, RFE/RL reported. Dobrev
will present his cabinet to President Petar Stoyanov on 4 February, and a
confidence vote in the parliament is scheduled for the following day. The
government includes two deputy premiers: Georgi Pirinski, who returns to
the Foreign Ministry, and newly-appointed Social Affairs Minister Nikola
Koychev. More than half of the portfolios will be headed by new ministers,
including interior, defense, industry, and justice. Gen. Sava Dzhendov will
become interior minister, while Gen. Lyuben Petrov will take over defense.
Finance Minister Dimitar Kostov, Foreign Trade Minister Atanas Paparizov,
and Agriculture Minister Krastyo Trendafilov are among the key ministers
who will keep their post. Dobrev said he will announce the ministers of
economic development and of education at a later date. A BSP plenary
meeting passed the new lineup with 146 votes to 7. -- Stefan Krause
[17] . . . WHILE PROTESTS MOUNT.
Protests against the formation of a new BSP government and for early
parliamentary elections intensified on 3 February, Reuters and AFP
reported. Traffic came to a virtual standstill in Sofia and Plovdiv as
public transport workers struck and students and protesters blocked main
intersections. In Sofia, 15 students were injured by angry drivers. Some 20,
000 people demonstrated in the capital. Bus and train services were
suspended, while roads were blocked throughout the country. Road and train
links to Greece were blocked for a 6th consecutive day. Union of Democratic
Forces Chairman Ivan Kostov said the protests will continue until early
elections are called. Strike organizers said Sofia public transport will go
on an indefinite strike if the parliament approves the new government.
Meanwhile, Dobrev warned that "peaceful protests are understandable, but
civil disobedience is outside the law." National Police Chief Hristo
Marinski called on Stoyanov and politicians to find a way of keeping the
protests peaceful. -- Stefan Krause
[18] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION REJECTS PRESIDENT'S ROUND TABLE.
Opposition parties, newly united in a "Forum for Democracy," dismissed the
invitation of President Sali Berisha for round table talks of about 20
political parties and organizations. Instead, they renewed demands for the
government's resignation, Reuters reported. "The Forum is not in favor of a
technical solution as advanced by this round table but for a political
solution," senior Socialist Party leader Pandeli Majko said, adding that
"we have already declared that the first step for a political solution is
the resignation of the government." The Social Democratic Party accused
Berisha of staging a public relations exercise. Elsewhere, 24 more
demonstrators have been formally charged with public offenses in Lushnje
and Berat. -- Fabian Schmidt
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.
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