RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 179, 99-09-14

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 179, 14 September 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIA LIKELY TO BECOME FULL MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE

[02] ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER EDITOR APPEALS JAIL SENTENCE

[03] AZERBAIJAN'S PRESIDENT TALKS TOUGH

[04] GEORGIAN MINISTER OF STATE REPORTS ON BUDGET

[05] KAZAKH OFFICIALS NOT ALLOWED ACCESS TO DETAINED EX-

[06] EBRD CONCERNED OVER KAZAKHSTAN'S TAX POLICY

[07] KYRGYZ MEDIATOR HEADS FOR MEETING WITH MILITANTS

[08] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER PROTESTS RESTRICTIONS ON OPPOSITION

[09] TAJIK GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO PERSUADE REFUGEES TO RETURN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] ARE SERBIAN POLICE ACTIVE IN KOSOVA?

[11] CLARK: KOSOVA CORPS NOT A MILITARY ORGANIZATION

[12] EU FOREIGN MINISTERS CALL FOR END OF VIOLENCE IN KOSOVA...

[13] ...PLEDGE TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY IN SERBIA

[14] SERBIAN ECONOMISTS: GOVERNMENT CAUSING MONETARY

[15] UN ENVIRONMENT TEAM WARNS OF 'HOT SPOTS' IN SERBIA

[16] CROATIA GOES TO THE HAGUE

[17] TUDJMAN PLEDGES FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

[18] NGOS SEEK BAN ON CROATIAN RIGHTIST PARTY

[19] ALBANIAN POLICE ARREST WAR LORD

[20] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT DENIES EXISTENCE OF 'DEATH SQUADS'

[21] ALBANIAN PREMIER ORDERS TOP OFFICIALS TO DECLARE WEALTH

[22] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY LEADER CRITICIZES PREMIER

[23] HUNGARIAN CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY INAUGURATED IN ROMANIA

[24] JEWISH CEMETERY DESECRATED IN ROMANIA

[25] KOSOVA MERCENARIES RECRUITED IN MOLDOVA?

[26] MACEDONIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN BULGARIA

[C] END NOTE

[27] BETWEEN THE BIBLE AND THE TRADEMARK

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIA LIKELY TO BECOME FULL MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Lord Russell Johnston, who is president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Council of Europe, told journalists in Yerevan on 13 September that he will be "very

surprised" if Armenia is not accepted into full membership of the council next year,

RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He noted "a great change" over the past two years in

implementation of legal reform and in the conduct of elections. He added that lack of

progress in resolving the Karabakh conflict is unlikely to have a negative impact on

Armenia's chances of acceptance, as Armenia and Azerbaijan "are not Siamese twins." The

three South Caucasus states were granted special guest status in the Council of Europe in

1996. Georgia was accepted as a full member earlier this year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28

April 1999). LF

[02] ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER EDITOR APPEALS JAIL SENTENCE

Pashinian, editor of "Oragir" and its successor, "Haykakan zhamanak," has asked the

Review Court to annul the one-year prison sentence for slander that a Yerevan court handed

down to him two weeks earlier (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 and 2 September 1999),

RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 13 September. Pashinian said if the Review Court

fails to overturn that sentence, which he considers illegal, he will appeal to the Court of

Appeals. LF

[03] AZERBAIJAN'S PRESIDENT TALKS TOUGH

Department official William Taylor in Baku on 13 September, Heidar Aliev said he sees no

point in attending the summit of presidents of South Caucasus states in Tbilisi on 10-11

October, Turan reported. Aliev argued that no cooperation is possible between Azerbaijan

and Armenia until a political solution is found to what he termed the "military conflict"

between the two countries. The Tbilisi summit, initiated by U.S. Secretary of State

Madeleine Albright, is to focus on regional cooperation in the energy, ecology, and

transportation spheres. LF

[04] GEORGIAN MINISTER OF STATE REPORTS ON BUDGET

parliament on 10 September, Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze said Georgia's current

budget deficit amounts to 356 million lari ($180 million), Caucasus Press reported. As a

result, Lortkipanidze said, the government still owes a total of 42.8 million lari in wage and

pension arrears for 1999. He noted there are problems with funding the army, police, and

border guards. And he called for changes in Georgia's investment policy to attract

investment in larger enterprises. LF

[05] KAZAKH OFFICIALS NOT ALLOWED ACCESS TO DETAINED EX-

Kazakhstan's Prosecutor-General Yurii Khitrin has not been permitted to visit

former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, who was hospitalized in Moscow after being

detained by Russian police on his arrival from London on 10 September, RFE/RL's Kazakh

Service reported. But in a telephone conversation, Khitrin urged Kazhegeldin to return

"voluntarily" to Kazakhstan. The Russian authorities also rejected a request by

Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Russia Tair Mansurov to order Kazhegeldin's extradition to

Kazakhstan so that he face charges of tax evasion and illegally possession property abroad.

Those authorities said the evidence offered does not adequately substantiate those charges.

In Almaty, several members of Kazhegeldin's People's Republican Party of Kazakhstan

have launched a hunger strike after being arrested and fined on 11 September for staging a

demonstration to protest Kazhegeldin's detention. LF

[06] EBRD CONCERNED OVER KAZAKHSTAN'S TAX POLICY

Almaty on 13 September with President Nursultan Nazarbaev, a senior European Bank for

Reconstruction and Development official urged that Kazakhstan ensure the "transparency

and objectivity" of tax collection, Interfax reported. The delegation also questioned whether

investors are treated equally and expressed concern over frequent changes in legislation and

tax standards. LF

[07] KYRGYZ MEDIATOR HEADS FOR MEETING WITH MILITANTS

Ministry senior official Talant Razzakov told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 13 September

that human rights activist Tursunbek Akunov traveled to Batken the previous day to meet

with the leader of a band of several hundred ethnic Uzbeks who are holding hostages in

southern Kyrgyzstan. Razzakov said Akunov has orders from the Kyrgyz leadership not to

hand over a message from the Kyrgyz government on negotiations on the hostages' release

before he has met the hostages in person. Interfax on 13 September cited an unnamed

Kyrgyz army source as saying the army command headquarters in southern Kyrgyzstan

fears that more guerrillas may try to cross the border from Tajikistan into Kyrgyzstan. LF

[08] TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER PROTESTS RESTRICTIONS ON OPPOSITION

United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri has written to President

Imomali Rakhmonov and to the UN and the OSCE expressing concern at what he terms the

persecution of some opposition parties, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 14 September. Nuri

cites the refusal of the Supreme Court to register the National Movement of Tajikistan, the

court proceedings on banning the activities of the Agrarian Party, and the invalidation of the

registration of the Adolat va Tarakiyot Party. He demands that in order to facilitate the peace

and democratization process in the country, equal conditions be created for all political

parties to participate in the upcoming elections. LF

[09] TAJIK GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO PERSUADE REFUGEES TO RETURN

Tajik government has issued a decree allocating financial compensation to displaced

persons and hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled the country during the 1992-1997

civil war, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 13 September. Under the decree, families whose

homes were destroyed will receive credits of 300,000 Tajik rubles ($200) toward the cost of

building new housing and buying household goods and cattle. There are 14, 000 Tajik

refugees in Kyrgyzstan alone, of whom 74 percent have applied for Kyrgyz citizenship. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] ARE SERBIAN POLICE ACTIVE IN KOSOVA?

Europe General Wesley Clark told an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent in

Prishtina on 13 September that "one of the Serbian assailants...who was killed by the

Russian forces [near Gjilan on 6 September] was carrying a [Serbian Interior Ministry] ID

card" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 September 1999). Clark added that another of the dead

was wearing a "paramilitary uniform." He said that "we cannot permit this" and that he is

"increasingly concerned by the evidence that we see of organized Serbian efforts to cause a

little bit of disruption here and there and to bring increasing pressure on this fragile

community.... There is an obligation [on Belgrade's part] that these Serbian forces are out

[and] are going to stay out." He indicated that at a later date, KFOR will discuss the

possible return of some unspecified Serbian "personnel" to clear minefields, protect

monuments, or monitor border crossings. FS

[11] CLARK: KOSOVA CORPS NOT A MILITARY ORGANIZATION

told an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent in Prishtina on 13 September that the

planned Kosova Corps will be an exclusively civilian body that will undertake humanitarian

and emergency tasks and reconstruction efforts. Clark stressed that the Kosova Liberation

Army (UCK) has accepted that arrangement (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 September

1999). Following a visit to the UCK's general staff, Clark said he expects the UCK to meet

its demilitarization deadline on 19 September. The NATO commander visited Russian

troops in Malisheva and praised their role in KFOR. Clark met briefly with Britain's Prince

Charles, who visited British troops and spoke with UN Special Representative Bernard

Kouchner. FS

[12] EU FOREIGN MINISTERS CALL FOR END OF VIOLENCE IN KOSOVA...

EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels on 13 September, denounced any form of

violence in Kosova and expressed concern that many Serbs and other minorities have

recently left the region, an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent reported from the

Belgian capital. The ministers stressed that all refugees must be able to return to their

homes, regardless of their ethnic or religious origin. They said that the UN civilian

administration must develop a complete institutional framework as soon as possible, and

they pledged to assist in the reconstruction of the region through the European Bank for

Reconstruction and Development. The ministers also said they expect the demilitarization of

the UCK to be completed by 19 September. And they expressed their concern about several

thousand people who disappeared during the war and whose fate remains unknown. FS

[13] ...PLEDGE TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY IN SERBIA

foreign ministers expressed their willingness to support democratic forces in Serbia,

particularly in cities governed by parties that oppose the regime of Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic, an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent reported. The

ministers issued a statement saying that "the time has come to establish formal contacts with

the representatives of democratic forces in Serbia and Montenegro." They agreed to invite

opposition representatives to Brussels to discuss how to provide energy to towns with anti-

Milosevic mayors and pledged to "make sure that the regime will not benefit from EU

action in favor of the population," Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Bodo Hombach, who is

coordinator of the EU's stability pact for Southeastern Europe, submitted his first report to

the foreign ministers. FS

[14] SERBIAN ECONOMISTS: GOVERNMENT CAUSING MONETARY

Mladjan Dinkic, who is the spokesman for the G-17 group of independent

economists, said in Belgrade on 13 September that the recent drop in the value of the dinar

was caused by the government's printing money without adequate hard- currency reserves to

back it up (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 September 1999). Dinkic added that he expects the

inflation rate for 1999 to reach 70 percent by the end of December, RFE/RL's South Slavic

Service reported. PM

[15] UN ENVIRONMENT TEAM WARNS OF 'HOT SPOTS' IN SERBIA

Pekka Haavisto, who heads the UN Environment Team's Balkan Task Force, said in

Belgrade on 13 September that NATO bombing of Serbian targets in the spring did not in

itself cause "any ecological catastrophe," AP reported. He noted that there are nonetheless

two "hot spots" in industrial areas that should be cleaned up soon lest pollution spread. He

cited unspecified "toxic waste" at the Kragujevac automobile plant and mercury and other

pollutants in a canal near the Pancevo petrochemical works. It is unclear whether the

environmental damage was caused or exacerbated by the bombings or if it occurred before

the air attacks began. PM

[16] CROATIA GOES TO THE HAGUE

Croatia's case against Yugoslavia to the Hague-based war crimes tribunal on 13 September.

Zagreb has accused Belgrade of genocide against Croats in the course of the 1991-1995

war. An RFE/RL correspondent quoted a Yugoslav lawyer at the tribunal as saying that

Belgrade will file similar charges against Zagreb. PM

[17] TUDJMAN PLEDGES FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

Tudjman said at the opening of the Zagreb Trade Fair on 13 September that Croatia is

coming out of a recession. He added that the economic situation remains "complex but not

dramatic," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The president lambasted crime and

corruption, pledging a "merciless" struggle against those who break the law. PM

[18] NGOS SEEK BAN ON CROATIAN RIGHTIST PARTY

Committee and the Croatian Movement for Democracy and Social Justice called on the

parliament and the state Prosecutor's Office to launch proceedings to ban the right-wing

Croatian Party of Historical Rights (HSP), an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Zagreb

on 13 September. Representatives of the two human rights groups wrote that the HSP's

leader Ante Djapic recently urged the army to stage a coup if the government extradites any

Croatian generals to The Hague (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 September 1999). The rights

groups listed additional charges against Djapic, whom they accused of glorifying the pro-

Axis World War II regime of Ante Pavelic and of openly opposing rights for ethnic

minorities. PM

[19] ALBANIAN POLICE ARREST WAR LORD

Kulla in Elbasan on 12 September, AP reported. During a raid on his bunker- like home,

police discovered a large arms cache, including explosives, machine guns, and mortars.

While serving a prison sentence for murder in March 1997, Kulla escaped from prison

during the anarchy that swept the country. He went on to become a folk hero in a northern

Tirana suburb, where he maintained a relatively high degree of public order. The Supreme

Court subsequently overturned his original conviction. At one time, Kulla drove an army

vehicle with government number plates, which suggests he had powerful friends. He enjoys

popularity among many poor residents of Tirana because of his reputation of helping them

when asked. FS

[20] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT DENIES EXISTENCE OF 'DEATH SQUADS'

spokesman for the Public Order Ministry on 10 September denied recent allegations by the

opposition daily "Albania" that the government has eliminated suspected criminals recently

by using "death squads," dpa reported. The spokesman said that "such squads do not exist.

The police fight crime only by legal means." "Albania" quoted unnamed police officials as

saying the squads are composed of experienced policemen who have executed several well-

known gang leaders. The daily alleged that the government set up the squads after courts

repeatedly released gang leaders for "lack of evidence." FS

[21] ALBANIAN PREMIER ORDERS TOP OFFICIALS TO DECLARE WEALTH

government officials, including the heads of ministerial departments, to declare their

personal wealth. Those officials must also declare their families' assets and the sources of

this wealth. The measure is designed to curb rampant corruption, dpa reported. FS

[22] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY LEADER CRITICIZES PREMIER

to Prime Minister Radu Vasile's threat to leave the National Peasant Party Christian

Democratic (PNTCD) if criticism against him in the party does not end (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 13 September 1999), PNTCD leader Ion Diaconescu said that "criticism is

common in a democracy," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported on 13 September. He

added that the threat "demonstrates that [Vasile's] allegiance to the party's political ideas

is circumstantial and interest-serving." MS

[23] HUNGARIAN CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY INAUGURATED IN ROMANIA

for ethnic Hungarians in Oradea on 11 September, Romanian Radio reported. The

university will comprise both religious and non-religious faculties and will have some

700 students. It is to be funded by private donations and the Hungarian government.

Asked by Romanian Television to respond to the opening of the new university,

Education Minister Andrei Marga said he "knows nothing" about it. MS

[24] JEWISH CEMETERY DESECRATED IN ROMANIA

recently desecrated two tombstones in the Galati Jewish cemetery, Romanian Television

reported on 13 September. The same day, "Cotidianul" reported that a cross was erected

by followers of Iron Guard leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu at Tancabesti, where the

Romanian fascist leader was assassinated in 1938 on the order of King Carol II. MS

[25] KOSOVA MERCENARIES RECRUITED IN MOLDOVA?

chairman of the Moldovan Helsinki Committee on Human Rights, told journalists on 13

September that Moldovan mercenaries were recruited during the Kosova crisis and sent

to fight on the side of the Yugoslav army. He said he has information on at least 20

cases of veterans of the Afghanistan war fighting with Yugoslav troops. The

mercenaries, he noted, were paid $2,000 a month, Flux reported. Uratu also said that

mercenaries from the Transdniester are being recruited to fight in "military conflicts in

Russia" and that, according to unidentified sources, "some Transdniestrians" were

involved in the recent terrorist acts in Moscow. MS

[26] MACEDONIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN BULGARIA

journalists in Plodviv on 12 September that "there are many positive results" in relations

between Bulgaria and Macedonia and "there is no reason why these relations should not

continue developing in this direction," BTA reported. Kljusev was attending the

inauguration of the Multinational Peace Force Southeastern Europe. He said that by the end

of this month, Macedonia will receive from Bulgaria a second shipment of decommissioned

military equipment. A final shipment is expected within a month or two. Visiting the military

academy in Veliko Turnovo, northern Bulgaria, on 13 September, Macedonian Chief of

Staff General Trajce Krstevski said the common aim of both armies was NATO

membership and that the Macedonian military wished to "learn from the Bulgarian

experience on military reform." MS

[C] END NOTE

[27] BETWEEN THE BIBLE AND THE TRADEMARK

Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda's announcement early last week that he is

returning to the ranks of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) surprised many

observers. Interpretations of that move ranged from the "biblical" to the "post-modern."

According to "Pravda," society was witnessing the "Return of the Prodigal Son," whereas

the more skeptical "Sme" predicted that the premier was about to launch a "Fight for KDH

Trademark". Both head-lines appeared on 8 September and both were right, each in its own

way. Which is another way of saying that both were equally wrong.

The "biblical" interpretation is "past-oriented," as political scientists might be

inclined to say. It refers to Dzurinda's repeated declarations that it is "out of question" that

the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) be dismembered into its five "mother parties"--the

KDH, the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Union, the Democratic Party, and the

Green Party. Dzurinda, in fact, appears to have been defeated by KDH leader Jan

Carnogursky, whose advocacy of the SDK as a loose alliance of the five "mother parties"

seems to have been accepted by a humiliated premier.

On learning of Dzurinda's move, Carnogursky said it shows that "in Slovakia it is

not possible to make politics without the KDH and that all attempts to liquidate the KDH,

under whatever pretext, are bound to fail." Carnogursky's deputy, Vladimir Palko, appeared

to add insult to injury, commenting that Dzurinda and the other SDK officials who followed

him back into the ranks of the KDH, "had to make a choice between sacrificing their vision

or their political future, and they decided to sacrifice the vision."

But did they really? The "future-oriented" or "trademark" interpretation begs to

disagree. Its proponents are likely to admit that Dzurinda has been unable to defeat his

adversary but are no less likely to remind those willing to listen of the old adage "if you

can't beat them, join them." Or rather, "re-join them," in Dzurinda's particular case. The

premier, according to this interpretation, is bound to launch a struggle to unseat

Carnogursky. Unable to change the KDH "from without," Dzurinda will question his old-

new party's policies "from within." And what he has in mind is no less than the

transformation of the KDH from a "traditional" Christian-Democratic party with limited

voter appeal into a modern formation able to appeal to much larger segments of the

electorate.

There are several factors supporting this interpretation. On making his "return

announcement," Dzurinda said on 6 September that his decision was prompted, among

other things, by his desire to "halt the decreasing popularity" of the KDH. He added that the

party "needs a new political agenda." What that agenda will be Dzurinda failed to specify.

But it is noteworthy that when Carnogursky voted against a coalition agreement on

education because he wanted religious teaching to be backed by state support, Dzurinda was

unable to remove him as justice minister. Should he be able to undermine Carnogursky's

position from within the KDH, things might look different next time.

No less important, Dzurinda retains his position as SDK chairman. At first glance,

this may appear a disadvantage, since the KDH statutes prevent SDK officials from seeking

leadership positions in the party. Dzurinda told journalists at his 6 September press

conference that it is "too early" to say whether this provision will be changed. The timing is

interesting. As in Hamlet's soliloquy deploring the fact that "The time is out of joint; O

cursed spite/That ever I was born to set it right," Dzurinda's "too early" does not rule out

"setting right" the course of the KDH in the not too distant future. His return to the party,

he said, is aimed at changing the party's "orientation" to ensure that "it would not attempt to

disengage from the SDK too much." As for challenging Carnogursky himself, it was, of

course, "too early" to decide. Which is another way of saying that the decision has, in fact,

been taken.

A "post-modern" scenario in Shakespearean costume, then? This is how

Carnogursky read it. Following Dzurinda's return, he said, the party was likely to witness "

a noble struggle" between two opinions on the movement's future. The struggle (or is it a

battle?) seemed to have been over by 12 September, when the KDH's Executive Council

decided that in the 2002 parliamentary elections the party will run either independently or in

an election coalition. All observers agreed that this will be the death blow for the SDK and

for Dzurinda personally. "Pravda" summed it up under the caption "Return to your grave,

SDK." If one is to believe these observers, Dzurinda has turned into a Yorick searching for

his own skull. Yet the premier vowed to "take arms" and pursue the struggle.

One thing is certain: no Shakespearean play is known to end with two kings ruling

over the same kingdom. The question is which of the two, Dzurinda or Carnogursky, will

prove willing to "trade his KDH kingdom" for a horse. For now, Carnogursky has kept the

KDH's coat of arms all to himself. Or is it a trademark?

14-09-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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