RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 184, 99-09-21

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 184, 21 September 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] NEW LEFT-WING ALLIANCE FORMED IN ARMENIA

[02] BUDGET COMMITTEE LAMBASTES ARMENIAN CENTRAL BANK

[03] AZERBAIJAN MARKS FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF 'DEAL OF THE CENTURY'

[04] AZERBAIJANI POLICE PREVENT THIRD DEMONSTRATION

[05] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SLAMS UN APPROACH TO ABKHAZ CONFLICT

[06] IS GEORGIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTRY TO BLAME FOR ANTHRAX

[07] KAZAKHSTAN AGAIN HOPING TO SELL ARMS ABROAD

[08] KAZAKHSTAN SUSPENDS EXPORTS OF FUEL OIL

[09] MILITANTS KILL MORE KYRGYZ TROOPS...

[10] ...AS RUSSIA PROMISES ARMS

[11] ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS ARRESTED IN TAJIKISTAN

[12] TURKMEN PRESIDENT CRITICIZES BANKING OFFICIALS

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] KOSOVA LIBERATION ARMY ACCEPTS CIVILIAN ROLE

[14] SOLANA HAILS AGREEMENT, MOSCOW FEELS IGNORED

[15] SOME UN OFFICIALS SKEPTICAL OF NEW CORPS, AGREEMENT

[16] PROTEST RALLIES PLANNED IN SERBIA, AS ACTIVISTS DETAINED IN

[17] BOSNIAN SERB PREMIER MEETS WITH MILOSEVIC

[18] MONTENEGRO CHARGES YUGOSLAV PREMIER WITH PLANNING COUP

[19] SERBIAN BUSINESSES MOVING TO MONTENEGRO

[20] U.S. TEAM IN BOSNIA TO INVESTIGATE CORRUPTION

[21] TUDJMAN DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM BOSNIAN CROAT WAR VETERANS

[22] ISRAELI ARMS SMUGGLER INDICTED IN ROMANIA

[23] OFFICIAL LANGUAGE TO PREDOMINATE IN MOLDOVAN ELECTRONIC MEDIA

[C] END NOTE

[24] MORALITY AND LOCAL POLITICS: THE CASE OF BULGARIA

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] NEW LEFT-WING ALLIANCE FORMED IN ARMENIA

parties that failed to win representation in the parliament

elected last May announced on 20 September their plans to form

a bloc named Artarutyun (Justice), which is intended to fight

for "social justice," RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The

parties in question include the Democratic Party of Armenia,

the Scientific-Industrial and Civic Union, and the social-

democrat Hnchakian Party, one of the three oldest Armenian

political groups represented both in Armenia and within the

diaspora. The bloc will hold its founding congress in October,

but it is not known whether it will field candidates in local

elections later this fall. LF

[02] BUDGET COMMITTEE LAMBASTES ARMENIAN CENTRAL BANK

September statement, the Armenian parliament's office on

budgetary oversight claimed that the Central Bank's 1998

report to the National Assembly is flawed and full of

statistical discrepancies, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported.

The Oversight Chamber also said that the Central Bank last

year exceeded some quotas set by the legislature: in

particular, it spent 454 million drams ($857 million) on its

employees' salaries instead of the planned 394 million drams.

Central Bank chairman Tigran Sarkisian rejected that

criticism, explaining that the extra payments to the staff

were made after the bank slashed other expenditures. LF

[03] AZERBAIJAN MARKS FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF 'DEAL OF THE CENTURY'

companies congregated in Baku on 20 September to celebrate the

fifth anniversary of the signing of a $10 billion contract,

the first of 18 Azerbaijan has concluded with international

consortia, to extract off-shore Caspian oil, AFP and Reuters

reported. After numerous delays, that first consortium, the

Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), began

exporting crude via Russia in late 1997 and via Georgia in

spring 1999 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 November 1997 and 19

April 1999). Addressing participants in the celebrations,

Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev said that a cornerstone of

future oil strategy is construction of the planned Baku-Ceyhan

export pipeline. The AIOC is not convinced of the viability of

that project. LF

[04] AZERBAIJANI POLICE PREVENT THIRD DEMONSTRATION

on 20 September prevented members of the opposition Azerbaijan

Popular Front Party from picketing the Mayor's Office to

demand a response to their request for permission to hold a

demonstration on 25 September, Turan reported. It was the

third time within five days that police have thwarted an

opposition action (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 September 1999).

LF

[05] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SLAMS UN APPROACH TO ABKHAZ CONFLICT

Shevardnadze slammed what he termed the world community's

"gross indifference" to the plight of displaced persons forced

to flee Abkhazia during the 1992-1993 war, Caucasus Press

reported. Last March, Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba

declared that those displaced persons may return to Abkhazia

if they wish to do so. Shevardnadze expressed disappointment

that UN resolutions on the Abkhaz conflict fail to condemn

explicitly what he termed genocide and ethnic cleansing by the

Abkhaz. Stressing his support for the NATO intervention in

Kosova, Shevardnadze suggested that the UN should condone a

similar peace enforcement operation in Abkhazia. A NATO

official said in Tbilisi last week that NATO is unlikely to do

so as Abkhazia does not constitute a threat to European

security (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 September 1999). LF

[06] IS GEORGIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTRY TO BLAME FOR ANTHRAX

Speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi on 16

September, city council member Djondo Baghaturia accused the

Agriculture Minister Bakur Gulua and the head of the

veterinary department within the Ministry of Agriculture of

embezzling funds allocated for vaccinating cattle against

anthrax over the past two years, Caucasus Press reported two

days later. Baghaturia said he will ask the prosecutor-general

to open criminal proceedings against the two men. Dozens of

people have been hospitalized with anthrax in Tbilisi after

eating contaminated beef (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 and 16

September 1999). LF

[07] KAZAKHSTAN AGAIN HOPING TO SELL ARMS ABROAD

Qasymzhomart Toqaev, who accompanied President Nursultan

Nazarbaev to Bulgaria and Ukraine last week, told Interfax in

Kyiv on 17 September that Astana hopes to sell with Ukraine's

help almost 1,500 pieces of heavy military equipment formerly

deployed by the Soviet Army in East Germany. Those vehicles

are primarily tanks, which would be sent to Ukraine for

repairs. Ukraine would keep three or four and sell the rest to

foreign buyers, Toqaev explained. He added that Ukraine could

also help to find a market for the output of the Uralsk Small

Arms Plant. At an arms fair in Almaty in April 1998,

Kazakhstan exhibited former Soviet military hardware,

including MiG-21 fighters, for which the asking price was

$150,000-$180,000 each. Kazakh government officials have

denied any knowledge of the sale of those aircraft to North

Korea (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 August and 13 September

1999). LF

[08] KAZAKHSTAN SUSPENDS EXPORTS OF FUEL OIL

Balghymbaev signed a decree on 18 September halting exports of

fuel oil for three months beginning 25 September, Interfax and

AP reported. That measure is intended to ensure that the

country has adequate supplies of fuel for domestic heating.

The city authorities in Astana and Almaty will be required to

report at 10-day intervals on the level of fuel oil reserves.

LF

[09] MILITANTS KILL MORE KYRGYZ TROOPS...

were killed and another five wounded on 20 September when

guerrillas opened fire on their truck in Osh Oblast, dpa

reported. The previous day, one officer was killed and two

servicemen wounded when their armored personnel carrier hit a

land mine laid by the militants, according to ITAR-TASS. In

Bishkek, Security Council Secretary Bolot Djanuzakov told

journalists on 20 September that the 13 hostages, including

four Japanese geologists, who are currently being held by the

guerrillas are alive and well. But he added that the guerillas

are constantly moving the hostages from one location to

another. Meanwhile, the number of fugitives from the fighting

gathered in the raion center of Batken has reached 4,200,

RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 20 September. LF

[10] ...AS RUSSIA PROMISES ARMS

send several war planes and two trainloads of ammunition and

arms, including sub-machine guns and grenade launchers, to

Kyrgyzstan within a week, an unidentified Kyrgyz military

source told ITAR-TASS on 20 September. That decision was taken

at a meeting of CIS defense ministers in Moscow last week.

Armenia has already sent a plane-load of technical equipment

to Bishkek. Kyrgyz parliamentary deputy Dos Bol Nur Uulu told

RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 20 September that the government

forces deployed in the south of the country are short of

ammunition. LF

[11] ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS ARRESTED IN TAJIKISTAN

an underground radical Islamist party allegedly founded by

Uzbek fundamentalists were apprehended in Tajikistan's

Leninabad Oblast on 19 September, ITAR-TASS reported the

following day, citing the Tajik Security Ministry. In the town

of Khojend, the activists were reportedly handing out leaflets

calling for the creation of an Islamic state in Central Asia.

LF

[12] TURKMEN PRESIDENT CRITICIZES BANKING OFFICIALS

September in Ashgabat with banking sector officials,

Saparmurat Niyazov criticized the work of both the Central

Bank and the Foreign Trade Bank and fired the latter's

chairman, Deputy Prime Minister Yula Gurbanmuradov, Interfax

reported three days later. Niyazov criticized the Foreign

Trade Bank for failing to repay loans on schedule. He added

that the information supplied by the Turkmen government to

international financial institutions is frequently incorrect,

and he called for a review of data on the country's foreign

debt. Meanwhile, German Ambassador to Ashgabat Hans-Jurgen

Keilholz told businessmen on 20 September that bilateral trade

fell by 10 percent over the first eight months of this year,

compared with 1998. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] KOSOVA LIBERATION ARMY ACCEPTS CIVILIAN ROLE

negotiations with UN and NATO officials in Prishtina on 20

September, leaders of the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) agreed

to transform their force into a Kosova Protection Corps,

Reuters reported. NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark

flew to Kosova to help forge the deal, which had been held up

by disagreements over the role of the corps and the kind of

weapons to be kept by its members. UCK political leader Hashim

Thaci and UN Kosova chief Bernard Kouchner signed the

agreement, along with UCK Chief of Staff General Agim Ceku and

Kosova Force (KFOR) commander General Mike Jackson. Under the

agreement, the KLA will become the 5,000-member Kosovo

Protection Corps, and Ceku will be its commander. Only 200

members of the corps will be allowed to carry weapons. A new

insignia will also be worn on the uniforms of the corps,

replacing the UCK emblem. The corps will operate under the

supervision of the KFOR commander. PB

[14] SOLANA HAILS AGREEMENT, MOSCOW FEELS IGNORED

General Javier Solana said in Toronto on 21 September that the

agreement marks "a milestone for the ongoing peace

implementation efforts" in Kosova, AP reported. He warned,

however, that anyone violating the weapons ban in the province

"willl be dealt with severely." Kouchner said "we have to work

all together to achieve not only the corps' transformation but

offering services to the people of Kosovo." Belgrade strongly

opposes the continued role of any aspect of the UCK in Kosova.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it has negative views on the

"creation of paramilitary or semi-military formations under

any name on the basis of the UCK," ITAR-TASS reported on 21

September. It added that Moscow's position on the issue was

"ignored." PB

[15] SOME UN OFFICIALS SKEPTICAL OF NEW CORPS, AGREEMENT

many hailed the formal end of the UCK's existence as a

structured paramilitary organization, others voiced

skepticism. One unidentified UN official told AFP on 20

September that "we are satisfied that the UCK has handed in

10,000 arms even if we know they still have 100,000." There

were several reports of broken or very old weapons being

turned over to KFOR troops during the demilitarization.

Another UN source said "we know that some radical commanders

will not accept the new agreements." AFP also reported that

there is some friction between UCK political leader Thaci and

the head of the new corps, General Ceku. Thaci reportedly

opposed the idea of Ceku leading the civilian force. PB

[16] PROTEST RALLIES PLANNED IN SERBIA, AS ACTIVISTS DETAINED IN

Police arrested 12 members of the student

organization Otpor (Resistance) on 20 September in the town of

Kragujevac, Belgrade's Radio B2-92 reported. The students were

detained for organizing a protest against Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic and were later released. In Novi Sad,

Gordana Comic, leader of the Together caucus in the Vojvodina

parliamentary assembly, said a protest outside the assembly

building will be held on 21 September. She said the people

gathered there will "indict all those who have mutilated Novi

Sad and Vojvodina," BETA reported. In Leskovac, the opposition

coalition Alliance for Change said it will begin daily

protests on 21 September in the town's main square. It added

that the highlight of those protests will be a mock trial of

Milosevic and his wife, Mira Markovic. Zoran Djindjic, a

leader of the Alliance for Change, said protests in 17 cities

will be staggered and will be aimed at reminding citizens of

the damage Milosevic has inflicted on the economy, the health

care system, and agriculture. PB

[17] BOSNIAN SERB PREMIER MEETS WITH MILOSEVIC

acting prime minister of the Republika Srpska, met with

Yugoslav President Milosevic in Belgrade on 20 September, the

Onasa news agency reported. No details of the meeting are

known. The meeting came a few days after Milosevic met with

ousted Srpska President Nikola Poplasen and the former Serbian

member of the Bosnian presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik. PB

[18] MONTENEGRO CHARGES YUGOSLAV PREMIER WITH PLANNING COUP

September filed criminal charges against Momir Bulatovic for

allegedly planning a military coup against Podgorica, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. Vukcevic said in a statement

that the Yugoslav premier had proposed at an April government

meeting that the Yugoslav army "occupy" all media institutions

in Montenegro. Vukcevic said the idea had been "tantamount to

a putsch" and had jeopardized "state order" and the

constitution. Serbian opposition leader Vuk Draskovic has also

said that Milosevic and his allies had planned a coup in

Montenegro. PB

[19] SERBIAN BUSINESSES MOVING TO MONTENEGRO

Montenegro's labor minister, said on 20 September that more

than 1,000 Serbian businesses have relocated to his republic

in the last few months, Radio B2-92 reported, citing "Glas

Javnosti." Drecun said the companies moved because of "more

favorable trading conditions." He added that their total value

was some $70 million. PB

[20] U.S. TEAM IN BOSNIA TO INVESTIGATE CORRUPTION

from the U.S. arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 20 September to

investigate allegations of widespread corruption, AP reported.

Robert Frowick, one of the heads of the delegation, met with

Bosnian co-Premier Haris Siljdzic upon arriving in Sarajevo.

Frowick said the mission is a fact-finding trip on behalf of

the U.S. congress. He said the group would also look into

reports on the failure of the government to collect taxes and

customs revenues. In other news, 15 bodies were exhumed from a

mass grave near Sarajevo on 19 September. They are believed to

be Muslims killed by Serbian soldiers in June 1992. More than

24,000 people are still missing from the Bosnian wars. PB

[21] TUDJMAN DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM BOSNIAN CROAT WAR VETERANS

office of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said on 20

September that the president was unaware that he was to be

awarded a medal from a Bosnian Croat army branch, AP reported.

The Association of Homeland War Volunteers and Veterans issued

"medals of gratitude" to Tudjman and late Croatian Defense

Minister Gojko Susak at a ceremony in Siroki Brijeg on 18

September. Also given an award was Mladen "Tuta" Naletilic,

currently wanted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He

is being held in Zagreb. Tudjman's office added that no one

was sent on the president's behalf to accept the medal. PB

[22] ISRAELI ARMS SMUGGLER INDICTED IN ROMANIA

General's Office on 20 September said it is indicting Shimon

Naor for smuggling arms to two unnamed African countries that

are on the UN embargo list, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau

reported. Naor, who is of Romanian origin, had faked orders

from the Sudanese embassy in Bucharest. Naor's accomplices,

two Romanians and one Moldovan, will also be indicted. The

Burundi honorary consul in Romania is being investigated under

suspicion of involvement in the ring. MS

[23] OFFICIAL LANGUAGE TO PREDOMINATE IN MOLDOVAN ELECTRONIC MEDIA

all Moldovan radio and television companies must be in the

official state language, Infotag reported on 20 September,

quoting Alexei Chubashenko, chairman of the National Board for

the Electronic Media. Violators of that regulation will

receive punishments ranging from a warning to loss of their

broadcasting license. The regulations will not apply to

foreign broadcasters, cable and satellite television, or media

outlets in areas that have large ethnic minorities. MS

[C] END NOTE

[24] MORALITY AND LOCAL POLITICS: THE CASE OF BULGARIA

With no fewer 96 parties competing in next month's local

elections, observers who are unfamiliar with politics in

Bulgaria might be misled into concluding that the ballot's

stakes are high. Those more familiar with Bulgarian reality

see it otherwise.

Take Prime Minister Ivan Kostov. Addressing journalists

in Pernik on 12 September, he described the upcoming elections

as "a political flea market." What Kostov "forgot" to mention

was that his Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), as the

strongest parliamentary group represented in the legislature,

is responsible for the abundance of parties. Having postponed

until this fall the passage of a new law on political parties

that might have cut the number of formations eligible to

compete to around 10, Kostov's party unwittingly brought about

the current state of affairs.

Many see the current contest as one between the ruling

United Democratic Forces (ODS) and the opposition, among which

the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) is the most prominent

formation. Apart from the SDS, the ODS includes the Bulgarian

Agrarian Union, the People's Union, and the Bulgarian Social

Democratic Party. This alliance won the 1997 parliamentary

elections but has since been weakened by the late 1998 split

in the Social Democratic Party, a wing of which--led by Petar

Dertliev--left the ODS and joined the opposition.

That rift, however, is unlikely to play a major role in

the local elections, since Dertliev has almost no followers.

More significant was the departure from the ODS of the ethnic

Turkish Initiative Committee for Renewal, which was recently

renamed National Movements for Rights and Freedom (NDPS). But

the NDPS will mainly be competing against the rival Movement

for Rights of Freedom (DPS), headed by Ahmed Dogan, for the

Turkish vote. Furthermore, NDPS leader Gyuner Tahir has

already said that in those constituencies where his party is

not fielding candidates, it will support the ODS.

The ODS's goal is clear: to repeat its success at the

1997 parliamentary ballot. Local elections were last held in

Bulgaria in 1995: at that time, the BSP won 194 mayoralties,

the DPS 26, independents 17, the ODS 15, and the Business Bloc

two. Viewed from this perspective, the slogan chosen by the

BSP for the local elections "It Is Our Turn [to Win]" is

undoubtedly misleading. In fact, the slogan makes sense only

if seen against the background of the BSP's defeat in the 1997

parliamentary elections.

But local elections are never a mirror of general

elections; rather, they are often decided by strictly local

issues and by local politicians who opt to ignore the

interests of the "center" and to form alliances that may not

conform with what the "center" would like to see. Moreover,

local government is still weak in Bulgaria. Whatever the

outcome of the October contest, it will have virtually no

impact on the central government.

According to a survey conducted by the MBDM polling

institute and published in the daily "24 Chasa" on 9

September, the ODS will gain 27 percent backing and the BSP

just 16 percent. Three days later, "Demokratsiya" published a

poll by the Alpha Research Institute suggesting that the ODS

will receive 32 percent of the vote and the BSP 17 percent.

This is good news for the ruling alliance, although not

as good as it might have wished. The Alpha poll had the ODS

winning six out of the Bulgaria's 10 largest towns. SDS Chief

Secretary Hristo Bisserov, speaking to journalists on 7

September, said the BSP "stands no chance in any of the large

towns" and that the party will be "marginalized."

Should that prove the case, the question would arise as

to what extent it reflects pre-electoral maneuvering. In June,

the ODS amended the law on local elections to stipulate that

in localities with a population of less than 500, mayors will

no longer be elected but appointed by the local district

council. Depriving some voters of the right to exercise their

democratic privilege is quite unacceptable, even if it is

justified by budgetary constraints, as the ODS claims. Even

Vice President Todor Kavaldjiev criticized the amendment. For

all its drawbacks, however, the measure cannot be viewed as

disadvantageous for the opposition.

The BSP contested the amendment at the Constitutional

Court and lost. It also challenged the provision obliging

candidates to state whether they were informers for, or on the

payroll of, the communist secret police. That requirement, the

BSP claimed, infringes on constitutional rights. But the court

did not support that view, arguing that the provision does not

disqualify former informers or members of the secret police

from running and stating that its "essence" was to be found

its "moral character."

Indeed, when it comes to morality, the BSP does have a

problem. Whether many Bulgarians care about morality nowadays,

having long suffered the economic hardships of a legacy with

which the BSP itself is identified, is another question--one

that for the time being remains unanswered.

21-09-99

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

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