RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 202, 99-10-15

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 202, 15 October 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN NATIONALIST PARTY WARNS AGAINST KARABAKH

[02] MOVEMENT IN SUPPORT OF FORMER AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT GAINS

[03] FOUR UN HOSTAGES RELEASED IN WESTERN GEORGIA

[04] KAZAKH OPPOSITION QUERIES OFFICIAL POLL RETURNS

[05] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT COMPLETES CABINET RESHUFFLE

[06] NEGOTIATOR SAYS ONE KYRGYZ HOSTAGE KILLED...

[07] ...AS GUERRILLAS' LEADERS THREATEN REPRISALS

[08] DEMANDS ON KYRGYZSTAN'S BUDGET MULTIPLY

[09] TAJIK OPPOSITION MAY SUSPEND COOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] KOSOVARS TRY TO STORM BRIDGE IN MITROVICA

[11] ANNAN CALLS FOR MULTI-ETHNIC KOSOVA

[12] ALBANIA'S MILO WARNS AGAINST NEGLECTING KOSOVA

[13] TURKISH PRESIDENT VISITS KOSOVA

[14] NEW LICENSE PLATES FOR KOSOVA

[15] SERBS MOVE PRISHTINA UNIVERSITY FACULTIES

[16] SERBIAN OPPOSITION AGREES ON ELECTION TERMS

[17] SERBIAN PRESIDENT STONED IN NIS

[18] UN SAYS NATO CAUSED NO ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE IN SERBIA

[19] SFOR PEACEKEEPERS STONED IN MOSTAR

[20] PETRITSCH CALLS ON BOSNIAN OFFICIALS TO VACATE APARTMENTS

[21] TUDJMAN SEEKING SPECIAL TREATMENT AT VATICAN?

[22] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT WANTS MORE TV AIR TIME?

[23] CROATIAN OIL COMPANY TO CALL IN DEBTS

[24] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN CHINA

[25] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT DECIDES TO COMPENSATE ANTI-COMMUNIST

[26] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OKAYS INITIATIVE TO AMEND

[27] BULGARIAN PREMIER SAYS COUNTRY MAY HAVE TO AMEND

[C] END NOTE

[28] AUSTRIA'S EX-COMMUNIST NEIGHBORS RESPOND TO HAIDER'S

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN NATIONALIST PARTY WARNS AGAINST KARABAKH

Hrant Khachatrian, one of the leaders of the

hard-line Right and Accord parliamentary bloc, warned

Armenian President Robert Kocharian on 14 October not to

agree to any peace deal that does not provide for the

unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to become fully

independent or be unified with Armenia, RFE/RL's Yerevan

bureau reported. Khachatrian warned that if Kocharian does

agree to major concessions he may share the fate of his

predecessor, Levon Ter-Petrossian, who was forced to resign

in February 1998 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 February 1998).

Right and Accord, which has eight seats in the parliament, is

backed by former Karabakh Defense Minister Samvel Babayan. LF

[02] MOVEMENT IN SUPPORT OF FORMER AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT GAINS

The committee to protect the rights of exiled

former President Ayaz Mutalibov has collected 150,000

signatures in support of its demands to allow him to return

to Azerbaijan, Turan reported on 14 October, citing the daily

"Yeddi gun" (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 2, No. 35, 2

September 1999). Committee chairman Abdul Mahmudov said that

on average its members collect an additional 10,000

signatures a day. The present Azerbaijani authorities have

accused Mutalibov of theft of arms and ammunition,

instigating and participating in mass public disturbances,

and complicity in the alleged coup attempts against President

Aliev in October 1994 and March 1995. LF

[03] FOUR UN HOSTAGES RELEASED IN WESTERN GEORGIA

unidentified gunmen who seized six UN observers and their

interpreter in the Kodori gorge on 13 October upped their

ransom demand from $200,000 to $250,000 on 14 October and

threatened to shoot one of their captives. Later, however,

they unconditionally released four of the hostages. Georgian

parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania said on 15 October that

no ransom had been paid and that he is sure the remaining

hostages will soon be freed. He added that the gunmen are

negotiating security guarantees with the Georgian leadership,

ITAR-TASS reported. LF

[04] KAZAKH OPPOSITION QUERIES OFFICIAL POLL RETURNS

candidates continue to complain to the OSCE monitoring

mission of irregularities during the 10 October election to

the lower chamber of Kazakhstan's parliament, Reuters

reported on 14 October. The agency quoted an OSCE spokesman

as saying the mission has "serious concerns" about the

validity of the results in the three districts of Almaty.

Petr Svojk, who heads Kazakhstan's opposition Azamat

(Citizen) Party, told Reuters that the preliminary results

are "a catastrophe for democracy in our country." According

to the outcome of the party list vote, Azamat failed to

overcome the 7 percent threshold to qualify for parliamentary

representation. Communist Party leader Serikbolsyn Abdildin

said the voting procedure was more democratic than during the

January presidential poll but that the voting tallies are

being revised to ensure that the leadership's "favorite"

candidates receive parliamentary mandates. LF

[05] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT COMPLETES CABINET RESHUFFLE

Nazarbaev on 14 October appointed Vladimir Shkolnik as

minister of industry, trade and energy, and Nikolai

Radostovets as minister of labor and social protection,

Interfax reported. The agriculture, justice, and interior

ministers retained their posts in the new cabinet. Nazarbaev

began a short vacation later the same day. LF

[06] NEGOTIATOR SAYS ONE KYRGYZ HOSTAGE KILLED...

parliamentary deputy Tursunbai Bakir Uulu, who recently

secured the release of five of the 13 hostages seized by

guerrillas in southern Kyrgyzstan in late August, told

journalists in Bishkek on 14 October that the guerrillas had

killed one of the Kyrgyz hostages before 4 October, RFE/RL's

Bishkek bureau reported. He did not give the name of the

hostage allegedly killed. Bakir Uulu advocated talks between

the Uzbek government and the opposition Islamic Movement of

Uzbekistan, to which the hostage-takers reportedly belong. He

also said that the Japanese government should accede to the

kidnappers' demand to send a representative to negotiate

terms for the release of the four hostage Japanese

geologists, whose lives he said are in danger. LF

[07] ...AS GUERRILLAS' LEADERS THREATEN REPRISALS

brought a further message, dated 6 October, to the Kyrgyz

authorities from the leadership of the Islamic Movement of

Uzbekistan announcing its decision to release the hostages in

stages and to declare a unilateral cease-fire. The statement

threatened reprisals against Kyrgyz leaders who cooperate

with the "dictatorial regime" of Uzbek President Islam

Karimov. LF

[08] DEMANDS ON KYRGYZSTAN'S BUDGET MULTIPLY

address to the parliament on 14 October, Kyrgyzstan's

President Askar Akaev vowed that the government will pay all

wage and pension arrears before the end of 1999, RFE/RL's

bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. He said that the

guerrilla incursions into southern Kyrgyzstan over the past

two months and the military response to that threat have cost

a total of 200 million soms (about $5 million) and that 1.5

billion soms must be spent on national security over the next

four years. The previous day, Finance Minister Sultan Mederov

told a cabinet meeting that the draft budget for 2000 must be

amended to provide an additional 200 million soms for the

newly created Batken Oblast. He estimated wage costs for the

region's 160 administrators alone at 12 million soms. In

addition, Kyrgyzstan must repay some $80 million next year on

loans from Russia and international financial organizations.

LF

[09] TAJIK OPPOSITION MAY SUSPEND COOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT

journalists in Dushanbe on 14 October that the UTO may

suspend its participation in the work of the National

Reconciliation Commission to protest the authorities'

restrictions on opposition activities, ITAR-TASS and Asia

Plus-Blitz reported. Nuri said that at a meeting the previous

day, he had handed to President Imomali Rakhmonov

documentation proving that local administrators had violated

the election law by preventing three opposition politicians

from collecting the required number of signatures to register

their candidacy in the 6 November presidential poll (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 12 and 13 October 199). Nuri urged

Rakhmonov to ensure that the poll is democratic. Also on 14

October, a group of investigators from the Dushanbe branch of

the Tajik Interior Ministry were subjected to artillery fire

in the capital, ITAR-TASS reported. Six police officers were

wounded in the ensuing shootout. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] KOSOVARS TRY TO STORM BRIDGE IN MITROVICA

Albanians on 15 October tried to force their way across the

Ibar River bridge that links the Albanian and Serbian parts

of Mitrovica, Reuters reported. French KFOR troops and

Italian riot police fired stun grenades and tear gas to force

the Kosovars back, according to AP. Other KFOR soldiers fired

into the air to warn Albanians and Serbs alike to stay back

from the bridge. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Ethnic Albanians demand an end to what has become in effect a

partition of Mitrovica into a northern Serbian sector and a

southern Albanian one. PM

[11] ANNAN CALLS FOR MULTI-ETHNIC KOSOVA

Kofi Annan said in Prishtina on 14 October that his goal is

to promote a multi-ethnic Kosova. He added that the UN is

"not here to prepare the people for independence." Local

media have recently suggested that the UN will soon share

administrative authority with Hashim Thaci of the former

Kosova Liberation Army, which seeks independence. Annan is on

a Balkan visit that has already taken him to Bosnia. PM

[12] ALBANIA'S MILO WARNS AGAINST NEGLECTING KOSOVA

Minister Pascal Milo said in Tirana on 14 October that the

international community should devote as much energy and

attention to the post-war reconstruction and development of

Kosova as NATO did to its military action against Serbia in

the spring. He also appealed to Kosovars not to engage in

violence lest they jeopardize their chances of eventually

achieving a political settlement in the province, dpa

reported. PM

[13] TURKISH PRESIDENT VISITS KOSOVA

representatives of Kosova's 60,000 ethnic Turks in Mamusa on

15 October that they should live in harmony with their

Serbian and Albanian neighbors. He also visited Turkish

troops stationed nearby. Kosova was part of the Ottoman

Empire for nearly 500 years. Many of the province's ethnic

Turks have long resented what they regard as attempts by

ethnic Albanians to assimilate them. PM

[14] NEW LICENSE PLATES FOR KOSOVA

license plates in Kosova on 15 October. The aim is to control

a growing market in stolen cars, AP reported. Most cars have

no license plates. Owners often claim that Serbian forces

confiscated their license plates and registration papers, but

UN officials believe that many cars were stolen in Western

Europe or from local Serbs. PM

[15] SERBS MOVE PRISHTINA UNIVERSITY FACULTIES

government decided on 14 October to "temporarily" move the

Serbian faculties of Prishtina University to northern

Mitrovica and Krusevac, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. PM

[16] SERBIAN OPPOSITION AGREES ON ELECTION TERMS

of most Serbian opposition parties signed an agreement in

Belgrade on 14 October in which they set down their demands

to the government for holding early elections (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 14 October 1999). The opposition wants a round-

table with the authorities to discuss an early ballot but did

not set a deadline for the government to respond. This is the

first time in 10 years that the opposition has agreed on a

common electoral platform, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. Elsewhere, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav

Seselj said that his Radical Party is willing to discuss key

issues with other parties. He did not elaborate. PM

[17] SERBIAN PRESIDENT STONED IN NIS

hurled stones at Serbian President Milan Milutinovic in Nis

on 14 October. He reopened a bridge damaged by NATO air

strikes in the spring of 1999. Milutinovic, who is an

indicted war criminal, said "the reconstruction of Serbia

does not mean only rebuilding but also making changes. [We

need to introduce] a modern market economy and inter-ethnic

equality, and to strengthen and develop democratic

institutions," Reuters reported. Protesters booed him in June

in Nis, which is Serbia's third largest city and an

opposition stronghold. PM

[18] UN SAYS NATO CAUSED NO ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE IN SERBIA

the Balkans, said in Stockholm on 14 October that NATO's

spring air campaign did not produce an ecological

catastrophe, as the Milosevic regime has claimed. Haavisto

noted that Serbia was already a heavily polluted country

before the war. He added that previous pollution and the

effects of bombing have produced dangerous situations in

Pancevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, and Bor. PM

[19] SFOR PEACEKEEPERS STONED IN MOSTAR

civilians pelted an unspecified number of SFOR troops with

stones in Mostar on 14 October, injuring four of the

soldiers. At least one civilian was hurt, but the

circumstances are unclear, Reuters reported. The peacekeepers

were searching a weather station, police building, television

station offices, and other unspecified sites for illegal

weapons. A NATO spokesman said in Sarajevo that "local

authorities have consistently failed to tackle illegal

activities, making it necessary for SFOR to act in the Mostar

area...to ensure the peaceful establishment of a multiethnic

and law-abiding community in the Mostar area," AP reported.

The spokesman provided no details of the mission. Western

Herzegovina, of which Mostar is the main city, has

traditionally been the home of the most militant Croatian

nationalists in the Balkans. Since 1995, local officials and

armed paramilitaries have doggedly resisted the international

community's attempts to enable Muslims to return to their

homes in western Herzegovina. PM

[20] PETRITSCH CALLS ON BOSNIAN OFFICIALS TO VACATE APARTMENTS

spokeswoman for the international community's Wolfgang

Petritsch said in Sarajevo on 14 October that local

politicians who live in apartments belonging to other people

should vacate the premises. She noted that such a move would

demonstrate their personal commitment to respecting the

Dayton peace agreement, which guarantees the right of

refugees to go home. Petritsch's office receives "daily"

complaints from persons wanting to return to their apartments

but who are unable to do so because government officials are

living in them, she added. The process of enabling refugees

to go home would receive a great boost if officials and

government workers would set an example, "Oslobodjenje"

commented. PM

[21] TUDJMAN SEEKING SPECIAL TREATMENT AT VATICAN?

President Franjo Tudjman has asked that Cardinal Angelo

Sodano, who is the Vatican's "foreign minister," personally

administer Holy Communion to him and his party in the crypt

beneath St. Peter's when Tudjman visits Italy later in

October, "Jutarnji list" reported on 15 October. The Zagreb

daily cited "Church sources" as saying that it is not common

for visiting foreign dignitaries to "order" a Mass, to

specify who is to say it, or to ask for it to be held in the

crypt. The Vatican has included a Mass in St. Peter's in

Tudjman's schedule "in order not to have a diplomatic

scandal," the newspaper added. The schedule does not give any

particulars regarding the Mass. Tudjman uses Roman Catholic

events for his own political purposes but does not claim to

be a religious man. He has long sought to keep the Church

from acquiring a voice in politics. PM

[22] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT WANTS MORE TV AIR TIME?

members of the government said they oppose Croatian public

television's (HRT) rule that news coverage given to

individual government officials be counted as part of the air

time allotted to their respective political parties. Foreign

Minister Mate Granic, who disagreed with his colleagues, said

that HRT's policy is fully in keeping with international

standards, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. HRT is

widely regarded as a mouthpiece of the governing Croatian

Democratic Community. PM

[23] CROATIAN OIL COMPANY TO CALL IN DEBTS

monopoly INA is seeking to call in debts, which now exceed

$200 million, AP reported on 14 October. The biggest debtors

are the state-owned electric company, which owes $28.6

million, and the Petrokemija plant, whose debts amount to

$21.4 million. It is unclear what INA will do if customers

fail to pay. The oil company itself has made losses of more

than $58 million in the past eight months and has debts

amounting to $114 million. PM

[24] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN CHINA

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Foreign Minister Tang Jianxuan

in Beijing on 14 October, the BBC reported, citing Xinhua.

According to the Chinese news agency, Plesu said Romania

"firmly supports" China's position on both Taiwan and Tibet

(Plesu had visited the latter before arriving in China).

Mediafax, however, quoted him as saying that relations

between Romania and China remain good "despite differences."

Plesu noted that economic relations are "lagging behind" the

two countries' political relations. Plesu and Tang signed an

agreement for a "$600,000 non-refundable credit" to Romania,

according to Mediafax. MS

[25] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT DECIDES TO COMPENSATE ANTI-COMMUNIST

The Chamber of Deputies on 14 October approved a

law on the rehabilitation of and compensation to those who

used military means to resist the Communist regime. Under the

law, that compensation will be equal to that received by

those who were political prisoners under communism. The law

was drafted by 17 deputies representing the National Peasant

Party Christian Democratic and has still to be approved by

the Senate. Observers note that the law is controversial

because many anti-Communist guerrillas of the late 1940s and

the 1950s were Iron Guard members or sympathizers. Persons

(or their descendants) eligible for compensation must first

apply for rehabilitation. If they are rehabilitated, all

confiscated property must be returned to them (or their

descendants). Those executed or killed in prison after being

captured are to be granted the title of "Martyr-Hero." MS

[26] MOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OKAYS INITIATIVE TO AMEND

The Constitutional Court on 14 October ruled

that the initiative of 39 parliamentary deputies to amend the

basic law is in accordance with constitutional provisions,

Infotag reported. Under existing legislation, the initiative

can be moved in the legislature six months after the court's

ruling. The aim of the initiative is to stop President Petru

Lucinschi's drive to switch to a presidential system by

strengthening the powers of the government. The proposed

amendments stipulate that the government will have the right

to ask the parliament to pass legislation under emergency

procedure. In addition, the parliament will be able to grant

the government temporary legislative powers. MS

[27] BULGARIAN PREMIER SAYS COUNTRY MAY HAVE TO AMEND

Addressing the parliament on 14 October, Ivan

Kostov said Bulgaria may have to amend its constitution

"because some of its provisions do not allow access to the

EU," AP and BTA reported. Kostov did not specify which

articles of the basic document must be amended, but earlier

he had suggested that it may be necessary to strike the

provision forbidding the sale of land to foreigners. Kostov

added that the problem of the Kozloduy nuclear plant will

have "to be sorted out" with the EU, saying "we have no

option..., we must not miss this chance." MS

[C] END NOTE

[28] AUSTRIA'S EX-COMMUNIST NEIGHBORS RESPOND TO HAIDER'S

by Michael Shafir

The electoral success of Joerg Haider's far-right,

populist, and xenophobic Freedom Party in Austria's 3 October

parliamentary elections triggered different reactions from

that country's former communist neighbors.

Only Istvan Csurka, leader of Hungary's Justice and Life

Party, dared go as far as to openly voice satisfaction,

saying he was "delighted" with the results because "all

nations have a right to defend their own living space and

their particular way of life against foreigners." In this

context, Csurka used the Hungarian equivalent of the Nazi

term "Lebensraum," for which he had been harshly criticized

in the past. And he suggested that the Austrian elections

might foreshadow Hungary's future political scene, in which

"the liberals could be swept out from the parliament."

The event was ignored by like-minded parties elsewhere

in the region. In Slovakia, the National Party (SNS) was

preoccupied with an internal power struggle that saw its

former leader, Jan Slota, replaced by Anna Malinkova, a

woman--the ultimate insult to the macho Slota. But as the

daily "Pravda" remarked on 6 October, Malinkova is much

closer to Haider than the coarse Slota ever was. And like

Haider, she will probably embark on a process of making the

party's image more sophisticated, while conserving its ultra-

nationalist, anti-minority, and anti- European integration

postures.

In the Czech Republic, the anti-German postures of

Miroslav Sladek's Republican Party (SPR-RSC) would not allow

that group to display pro-Haider sympathies. After all, the

SPR-RSC was dealt a serious blow when it was revealed that,

its rhetoric notwithstanding, the party had been financed

from the purse of the German ultra-right Republicans. At the

time of the Austrian elections, the SPR-RSC was preparing for

a visit by the leader of France's National Front chairman,

Jean Marie Le Pen, which began on 14 October.

Haider's rhetoric against European integration (or, as

Csurka calls it, his "anti-globalism"), his insistence on

property restitution to German-speakers forced to leave

Austria's neighboring countries, and his demands that the

status of the largely insignificant German minorities there

be improved are reason enough to make those countries'

governments apprehensive. Even without Haider, those

countries' relations with Vienna are strained: Austria

threatens to veto EU accession unless the controversial

nuclear plants at Krsko (Slovenia), Temelin (Czech Republic),

and Mochovce and Jaslovske Bohunice (Slovakia) are

immediately shut down. And there is also the problematic

issue of the 1945 Benes decrees, which an Austrian government

that includes the Freedom Party would pursue far more

rigorously than has been the case to date. Indeed, on 13

October, in London, Haider said the Czechs' admission to the

EU could not proceed before they abrogated those decrees.

Just as applause for Haider came only from Budapest, so

did the strongest criticism. Prime Minister Viktor Orban on 6

October said that Haider's position against EU enlargement

"is in conflict with Hungary's own interests." "To put it

bluntly," he continued, "we are interested in an Austrian

government coalition made up of parties...supporting

Hungary's EU membership."

Reactions from Slovenia were initially more restrained.

Foreign Minister Boris Frlec on 4 October said he feared the

elections "could have awe-inspiring consequences,

particularly for the Slovenian ethnic minority" in Austria.

But two days later, Premier Janez Drnovsek expressed the hope

that Haider may "turn out to be more pragmatic and reasonable

than the initial impression suggests." By 12 October,

however, Deputy Foreign Minister Franko Juri was calling

Haider's post-electoral statements on Austrian-Slovenian

relations "blackmail."

Intimidated by the prospect of an Austrian veto against

its EU membership, Slovak Foreign Ministry State Secretary

Jan Figel on 5 October said he does not expect Haider to

enter the government but Bratislava "will discuss

[contentious issues] with any democratically elected

government." Jaroslav Volf, leader of the Social Democratic

Party had said the previous day that Haider's electoral

success "could not please him" but it at least demonstrated

that "political extremism does not apply to Slovakia alone."

The bluntest comment came from Estonia. Alluding to

criticism of his country's treatment of the Russian minority,

Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves commented on 11 October

that "if a political force similar to the Freedom Party had

come second in elections in Estonia, one can well imagine

what a row the OSCE would have made."

In the Czech Republic, there was unexpected "fallout"

from the Austrian elections. On 4 October, Premier Milos

Zeman remarked that the vote demonstrated that a party

advocating "xenophobe and racialist moods" can garner serious

support even in an economically prosperous country and that

this was "food for thought." Freedom Union Deputy Chairman

Petr Mares volunteered the comment that a de-facto two-party

coalition has also emerged in the Czech Republic and that, as

in Austria, this may push the electorate to support a radical

alternative. Only in the Czech case, Communist leader

Miroslav Grebenicek would play the role of Haider.

Mares's ideas were unexpectedly embraced by Civic

Democratic Party (ODS) leader Vaclav Klaus. He said that the

elections' outcome demonstrated that Austria's 13-year-old

"grand coalition" of the Social Democratic Party and People's

Party has "lasted too long." While refraining from

criticizing the results, Klaus was ready to use them to

embark on ending a partnership that was only 16 months old

but, doubtless according to his viewpoint, has also "lasted

too long."

The minority government of the Social Democrats has been

ruling by the grace of the ODS. That grace's time is now up.

Vienna politics have thrown Prague politics into turmoil, but

not for the first time in history. And that, to quote Zeman,

is indeed "food for thought."

15-10-99

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

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