RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 220, 99-11-11

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 220, 11 November 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION SAYS NEW DRAFT MEDIA LAW UNDEMOCRATIC

[02] AZERABIAJNI POLITICAL PARTIES SIGN NEW STATEMENT ON KARABAKH

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT CALLS FOR GREATER OSCE EFFORT TO

[04] AZERBAIJAN DENIES IT WILL HOST CHECHEN FIGHTERS...

[05] ...WHILE GEORGIA SAYS IT WILL NOT TAKE IN CHECHEN GOVERNMENT

[06] TWO GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES AGAIN CLAIM ELECTION OUTCOME

[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S NEW GOVERNMENT SWORN IN

[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT SLAMS OSCE...

[09] ...WHILE OSCE OFFICIAL REJECTS NAZARBAEV'S CRITICISM

[10] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY WANTS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING ON

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S HEALTH TAKING TURN FOR WORSE?

[12] CROATIAN SERB LEADER URGES SERBS TO VOTE

[13] NATO: CROATIAN SECURITY FORCES INVOLVED IN BOSNIAN CRIME

[14] HAGUE COURT GIVES SERB ANOTHER 25 YEARS

[15] UN HAS EXHUMED MORE THAN 2,000 BODIES IN KOSOVA

[16] SOME 379 KILLED IN KOSOVA SINCE JUNE

[17] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES CURBS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

[18] CLAIMANT TO SERBIAN THRONE URGES OPPOSITION TO UNITE

[19] MONTENEGRIN DAILY SAYS YUGOSLAV COMMANDER SLAMMED GOVERNMENT

[20] MACEDONIA, GREECE START PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION

[21] ITALY, ALBANIA STEP UP COOPERATION AGAINST MIGRANTS

[22] TIRANA MAYOR CRITICIZES OLDER GENERATION OF POLITICIANS

[23] RAIL TRAFFIC RESUMES AFTER WORKERS END BLOCKADE

[24] BULGARIAN DOCUMENTS ON ZHIVKOV OUSTER MISSING

[25] BULGARIA'S POPULATION SHRINKING FASTEST

[C] END NOTE

[26] UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF: KUCHMA VERSUS COMMUNISM

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION SAYS NEW DRAFT MEDIA LAW UNDEMOCRATIC

representatives of the opposition Democratic Bloc of

parliamentary deputies expressed concern that the

parliamentary majority ignored most proposed amendments to

the draft law on the mass media that is soon to be considered

in the third reading, Turan reported. They termed the law as

a whole undemocratic and incommensurate with the concept of

freedom of speech. Specifically, they argued that the

proposed issuing of licenses to media outlets constitutes a

form of censorship and that political parties should not be

eligible to establish electronic media. They also objected to

the provision that empowers courts to close down media

outlets for three months. LF

[02] AZERABIAJNI POLITICAL PARTIES SIGN NEW STATEMENT ON KARABAKH

on 10 November detailing measures they consider the country's

leadership should take with regard to the unresolved Karabakh

conflict, Turan reported. Those measures include insisting

that Armenia comply with four 1993 UN Security Council

resolutions demanding the immediate withdrawal of Armenian

forces from occupied Azerbaijani territory. They also want

Yerevan to pay compensation for material damage. The

statement goes on to demand that the financing and

professionalism of the Azerbaijani armed forces be improved.

Also on 10 November, the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, which

did not sign the joint statement, issued a separate statement

calling for a political solution to the Karabakh conflict,

Turan reported. But it added that such a solution should not

be "defeatist" and must not infringe on the country's

territorial integrity. LF

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT CALLS FOR GREATER OSCE EFFORT TO

Meeting on 9 November in Baku with

the new French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Jean-

Jacques Gaillard, Heidar Aliev again accused that body of

"inactivity." He added that his ongoing talks with his

Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, do not absolve the

OSCE of responsibility for trying to resolve the Karabakh

conflict, Turan reported. Aliev had made similar criticism

during the September visit to the South Caucasus of OSCE

Chairman in Office Knut Vollebaek (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20

September 1999). LF

[04] AZERBAIJAN DENIES IT WILL HOST CHECHEN FIGHTERS...

rejected as "deliberate disinformation" a Russian Defense

Ministry statement issued earlier that day claiming that

Chechen fighters plan to relocate the bulk of their forces to

Azerbaijan, Turan reported. Presidential Administration

official Novruz Mamedov similarly termed that report

"absurd," noting that it would be logistically impossible for

the Chechens to relocate in such a way. The Russian statement

said the Chechens have received permission from Baku to set

up camps in Azerbaijan in return for an undertaking to assist

Azerbaijan in a new war in Karabakh. It also claimed that the

Chechens are considering moving to Turkey. LF

[05] ...WHILE GEORGIA SAYS IT WILL NOT TAKE IN CHECHEN GOVERNMENT

Also on 10 November, the Georgian Foreign Ministry

officially denied the Russian Defense Ministry claim, which

was made in the same statement, that Tbilisi will permit the

presence on its territory of some Chechen militants and a

Chechen government in exile headed by President Aslan

Maskhadov, Caucasus Press reported. Parliamentary speaker

Zurab Zhvania and Defense Minister David Tevzadze both told

journalists in Tbilisi that neither they nor any other

Georgian officials have ever held talks on the subject with

Chechen officials, according to ITAR-TASS. LF

[06] TWO GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES AGAIN CLAIM ELECTION OUTCOME

Labor Party Chairman Shalva Natelashvili told

journalists in Tbilisi on 10 November that he has appealed to

the Georgian Supreme Court to rule on the validity of the 31

October parliamentary election results, Caucasus Press

reported. Natelashvili claims that the Union of Citizens of

Georgia, which according to official returns won an absolute

majority, "appropriated" 300,000 votes cast for his party.

Natelashvili says the Labor Party polled at least 15 percent

of the vote, while Central Electoral Commission figures

indicate it failed to surmount the 7 percent minimum required

for parliamentary representation. The National Democratic

Party of Georgia on 10 November similarly refused to accept

the official outcome of the vote. It added that while it does

not consider falsifications by both the Union of Citizens of

Georgia and, in Adjaria, by the Union for Democratic Revival

to be the primary cause of the party's failure to gain

representation in the new parliament, those infringements

nonetheless mirror "the anarchy reigning in the country,"

according to Caucasus Press. LF

[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S NEW GOVERNMENT SWORN IN

November ceremony in Astana at which the new cabinet was

sworn in, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev said the

government's primary tasks are ensuring balanced economic

development and expediting the reform process, RFE/RL's

correspondent in the capital reported. Nazarbaev stressed

that no overspending of the budget will be tolerated, adding

that "unnecessary expenditures" by the presidential

administration and government should be cut. He said foreign

investment should be increased, but he noted this should be

done by encouraging "solid investors" rather than "dark

horses," according to Interfax. Nazarbaev described the

struggle against corruption and crime as a further key task.

He urged the government "to work as a single team" in a

spirit of discipline and mutual understanding. LF

[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT SLAMS OSCE...

in Astana after the 10 November ceremony, President Nazarbaev

accused the OSCE of indifference to developments in

Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the North Caucasus, RFE/RL's

Astana bureau reported. (Afghanistan is not an OSCE member.)

Nazarbaev suggested that the OSCE is not needed if it "does

not care about Asian states." Nazarbaev has long been

lobbying for the creation of an Asian equivalent of the OSCE,

and two months ago it hosted a conference to discuss that

project (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 September 1999). Nazarbaev

again rejected the OSCE's criticism of Kazakhstan's recent

parliamentary elections, noting that up to eight candidates

contested each mandate. He said the poll constituted a

difficult but real step toward democratization, adding that

he considers Kazakhstan "the most democratic country in

Central Asia." Nazarbaev said the use of "double standards"

by any organization is "unacceptable." LF

[09] ...WHILE OSCE OFFICIAL REJECTS NAZARBAEV'S CRITICISM

Schoening, who heads the OCSE mission in Kazakhstan, told the

TV station 31 Channel on 11 November that he considers

Nazarbaev's accusation that the OSCE is guilty of double

standards unfounded, RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported.

Schoening affirmed the OSCE's readiness to continue

cooperating with Kazakhstan, adding that he hopes Kazakhstan

will not become the first country to leave the organization

voluntarily. LF

[10] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY WANTS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING ON

A spokesman for the Ar-Namys party told

RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 10 November that the party has

asked the Constitutional Court to rule on inconsistencies

between the country's constitution and the Election Code

adopted last year. The Election Code stipulates that only

political parties registered with the Ministry of Justice at

least one year before parliamentary elections may participate

in the poll. The constitution does not contain any such

restriction. President Askar Akaev suggested in June that the

minimum interval between registration and qualifying for

participation in elections should be reduced to six months

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 June 1999). The Ar-Namys party was

founded in July by former Bishkek Mayor Feliks Kulov and

registered one month later (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 August

1999). The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for

February 2000. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S HEALTH TAKING TURN FOR WORSE?

run Hina news agency quoted Franjo Tudjman's doctors as

saying on 11 November that the Croatian president suffered a

"capillary hemorrhage of internal organs" the previous night.

The doctors added that they have changed his treatment for

complications following his recent surgery for "a rupture of

his large intestine." Tudjman is widely believed to have

suffered from cancer since 1996. The state-run media have

provided no pictures of him in the hospital, while official

information on the state of his health has been sparse. PM

[12] CROATIAN SERB LEADER URGES SERBS TO VOTE

who heads the Serbian National Council and is a member of the

Croatian parliament, urged Serbs to vote in the 22 December

legislative elections. He stressed that Serbs can help end

the rule of Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Community only if

they vote, the Frankfurt-based Serbian daily "Vesti" reported

on 11 November. Some other leaders of the small Serbian

minority have called for a boycott of the elections. PM

[13] NATO: CROATIAN SECURITY FORCES INVOLVED IN BOSNIAN CRIME

London as saying that NATO forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina have

found extensive evidence that Croatian security forces have

been undermining the Bosnian peace settlement. NATO kept

Croatian and Bosnian Croat security forces under close

observation for one year in a project called Operation West

Star. NATO "hit the jackpot," a diplomat added. The evidence

"provides conclusive proof of the continuing role of the

Croatian intelligence service in Bosnia. It points the finger

directly at Zagreb," he said. Reuters noted that "Croatian

security services were involved in everything from running

paramilitary gangs to money laundering and dealing in

pornography." PM

[14] HAGUE COURT GIVES SERB ANOTHER 25 YEARS

of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal Gabrielle Kirk

McDonald handed down on 11 November an additional sentence of

up to 25 years on Bosnian Serb defendant Dusan Tadic. Tadic

will serve that sentence consecutively with the 20-year term

he received earlier. McDonald suggested that the court did

not give Tadic the maximum penalty, which is life

imprisonment, because he has become a "model detainee" and

because of considerations regarding "the effect of the length

of the sentence" on his family, AP reported. His trial on

charges of atrocities against Muslims and Croats during the

1992-1995 Bosnian war began in May 1997. PM

[15] UN HAS EXHUMED MORE THAN 2,000 BODIES IN KOSOVA

Ponte, who is the Hague court's new chief prosecutor, told

the UN Security Council on 10 November that international

investigators have unearthed the bodies of 2,108 persons in

Kosova. She noted that some bodies may never be found

"because we have discovered evidence of tampering with

graves," Reuters reported. Forensics experts have exhumed 195

graves and hope to investigate an additional 334 in the year

2000. Serbian Deputy Information Minister Miodrag Popovic

told the BBC on 11 November that most of the 2,108 people

probably "died of natural causes." A forensics expert

responded that he and his colleagues can easily prove that

most of the victims died violently and in some cases in

rather grisly circumstances. PM

[16] SOME 379 KILLED IN KOSOVA SINCE JUNE

in Prishtina that 135 Serbs, 145 ethnic Albanians, and 99

people of other or undetermined nationalities have been

murdered in Kosova since NATO took control of the province,

London's "The Guardian" reported on 11 November. The daily

added that criminal rather than purely ethnic considerations

appear to have been involved in many of the deaths. For

example, some Albanians killed numerous elderly Serbs in

order to take their property. PM

[17] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES CURBS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

legislature passed a bill on 10 November giving the central

government greater control over local administrations.

Opposition parties, who are in power in more than 30

municipalities, say the bill is aimed at undermining their

political base. Vladan Batic, who is a leader of the Alliance

for Change, said that opposition-run municipalities should

organize themselves in "self-governing clusters," "Vesti"

reported. PM

[18] CLAIMANT TO SERBIAN THRONE URGES OPPOSITION TO UNITE

Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic said that the opposition

must unite and work together to oust the regime, Belgrade's

"Danas" wrote on 11 November. He also urged the Serbian

people to support the opposition. Aleksandar spoke on the eve

of a conference in Budapest that brings together leaders of

the opposition and the diaspora. PM

[19] MONTENEGRIN DAILY SAYS YUGOSLAV COMMANDER SLAMMED GOVERNMENT

November that they stand by their story that Chief of the

General Staff General Dragoljub Ojdanic recently criticized

top government officials during a visit to Montenegro.

Ojdanic subsequently denied the report, which claimed he

criticized Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic, Deputy

Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, and Defense Minister Pavle

Bulatovic for what Ojdanic allegedly called the poor state of

affairs in the army. In addition to their response to

Ojdanic's denial, "Vijesti" editors also published on 10

November remarks the army chief had made in Montenegro that

they had previously withheld from publication. Among other

things, Ojdanic allegedly commented that he intends to cut

the size of the navy and the air force, which he considers

much less important than the army. He added that most

officers are interested primarily in their pay and that he

will raise their salaries soon. PM

[20] MACEDONIA, GREECE START PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION

10 November on an oil pipeline that will link Macedonia's

sole refinery with the port of Thessaloniki. Greece will bear

most of the $90 million costs. Its state-run oil company

recently acquired a majority stake in its Macedonian

counterpart. PM

[21] ITALY, ALBANIA STEP UP COOPERATION AGAINST MIGRANTS

Prime Minister Ilir Meta said in Tirana on 10 November that

Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema and Foreign Minister

Lamberto Dini promised him more assistance to help prevent

the smuggling of goods and people across the Strait of

Otranto. Meta had returned from a brief trip to Rome, which

was his first trip abroad since his recent election as prime

minister. Traffic in illegal migrants from Albania to Italy

continues unabated, dpa noted. Drug smuggling from Albania is

on the increase, despite the presence of Italian forces in

Albania and in Albanian territorial waters. PM

[22] TIRANA MAYOR CRITICIZES OLDER GENERATION OF POLITICIANS

Party, told Vienna's "Die Presse" of 11 November that the

Democrats' Sali Berisha and the Socialists' Fatos Nano "have

an old communist mentality" that has led to political

polarization. Brojka stressed that Albania instead needs a

"European mentality" that allows people to differ on

political issues without regarding one another as enemies. He

said that he believes Nano's recent victory over former Prime

Minister Pandeli Majko for the leadership of the Socialists

will only make the political climate worse. Majko favored a

policy of rational political dialogue and reconciliation

between the two rival parties, Brojka added. He expressed

regret that Berisha has retained control over the Democrats,

despite a short-lived challenge from the younger Genc Pollo.

PM

[23] RAIL TRAFFIC RESUMES AFTER WORKERS END BLOCKADE

traffic in Romania was back to normal early on 11 November

after hundreds of railway workers ended a blockade of trains

at Bucharest's main train station to protest low wages, AP

reported. Trains were delayed for up to five hours after the

workers had taken over the North Train Station the previous

day. They want their wages doubled and the plan to

restructure and downsize the national rail system to be

scrapped. Transportation Minister Traian Basescu, whom the

workers want sacked, said he is happy the situation was

resolved peacefully, but he called the protest a "serious"

violation of the law. He said the ministry will file an

official complaint. Negotiations between the ministry and

union leaders are due to begin on 11 November. PB

[24] BULGARIAN DOCUMENTS ON ZHIVKOV OUSTER MISSING

Bulgaria's government archives, Panto Kolev, said on 10

November that documents related to the coup that ended the

35-year rule of Communist leader Todor Zhivkov have

disappeared, AP reported. Kolev said the minutes from the

Communist Party meeting at which he was dismissed are among

those documents missing, as are those detailing Bulgaria's

role in the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of the former

Czechoslovakia. Former Interior Minister Atanas Semerdzhiev

is currently awaiting trial for allowing secret police

officials to destroy files in 1990. In other news, the 10th

anniversary of Zhivkov's ouster, which fell on 10 November

1989, was not officially marked in Bulgaria. PB

[25] BULGARIA'S POPULATION SHRINKING FASTEST

growth rate of minus 6.4 people per 1,000, Bulgaria's

population is shrinking faster than that of any other country

in East-Central Europe, AP reported on 9 November, citing

BTA. The data were included in a paper delivered at an

international demographic conference in Sofia. Since 1989,

Bulgaria's population has sunk by 1 million owing to

emigration, which was reported at 700,000, and because of a

high mortality rate. MS

[C] END NOTE

[26] UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF: KUCHMA VERSUS COMMUNISM

The first round of Ukraine's presidential elections on

31 October left incumbent Leonid Kuchma in the lead and his

Communist rival, Petro Symonenko in second place. Under

Ukraine's electoral rules, if no candidate receives more than

half the vote, then the two with the highest share of the

vote go on to a run-off.

Kuchma seemed comfortably ahead in the first round with

36 percent of the vote, compared with Symonenko's 22 percent.

But Kuchma has been criticized throughout his term in office

for the troubled state of the economy, for failing to

introduce major market reforms, and for presiding over a

government riddled with corruption. Critics say that Kuchma

is now playing on the fears of a communist return to power in

order to win second-round votes from many who intensely

dislike him.

Symonenko has openly acknowledged he favors a return to

Soviet-style government and wants a new Soviet Union, with

Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan as initial members.

He has also said he will reverse those market reforms Kuchma

has introduced.

Ahead of the second round of voting on 14 November,

Symonenko has been trying to gather support from some of his

former rivals among the 12 other opposition hopefuls who

competed in the first round. Symonenko has put together a

loose coalition of three leftist and three centrist former

candidates in the hope that their supporters will vote for

him on 14 November. He has the backing of the leader of the

Peasant Party and parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko.

But his support from the two candidates who took third and

fourth places in the first round is clearly less than whole-

heated.

Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz, the third-place

candidate, has said he will support Symonenko--but he has

given that support only grudgingly. Moroz notably failed to

turn up beside Symonenko on 7 November for Communist Party

commemorations in Kyiv of the October 1917 Bolshevik seizure

of power in Russia.

Like Moroz, ultra-Marxist Natalya Vitrenko scored some

11 percent of the vote in the first round to come in fourth.

Some analysts believe Vitrenko's popularity was boosted by an

apparent assassination attempt against her during the

campaign. Vitrenko has since said she will give her blessing

to Symonenko only if he promises her the prime minister's

job. That is a promise the communist leader has not been

willing to make. However, Vitrenko's Progressive Socialist

Party announced on 10 November it will throw its support

behind Symonenko because he "stands for changing the course

of economic and political reforms."

Mary Mycio, the Ukraine correspondent for the "Los

Angeles Times," told RFE/RL that she does not believe the

people who support Symonenko can deliver votes. "They can

basically only provide him with their own personal support,"

she argues. "In the case of Vitrenko, I think that a lot of

her votes were very emotional and based perhaps on her

popular slogans and not necessarily on any program or

proposals that she was making."

At the 7 November rally in Kyiv, attended by some 3,000

mostly elderly party faithful, Symonenko toned down his

rhetoric in an attempt to appeal to a wider range of voters.

His supporters have sought to dispel fears of a communist

comeback, presenting Symonenko as a moderate who would take

care of Ukraine's sluggish economy and its people and even

restore churches now in disrepair.

But analyst Mycio does not think Symonenko will be able

to persuade enough voters of his new-found moderate views to

win the run-off. She believes Kuchma could have been defeated

only if Symonenko had stepped down in favor of another

candidate, as is allowed under Ukraine's electoral law.

"Ironically," she added, "I think that the only person in the

election, in the stable of candidates, who could deliver

votes would be Symonenko.... If Symonenko told the members

and supporters of the Communist Party to vote for a

candidate, they would."

Kuchma has dismissed the alliance backing Symonenko,

saying he is "not afraid, even if they are joined by several

more candidates." But he and his supporters have also sought

help from former first-round rivals. And they have stepped up

efforts to portray a potential communist victory as a

national disaster. State-controlled television, moreover, has

been showing grim film footage of Soviet atrocities in

Ukraine.

Among Kuchma's democratic opponents in the first round,

the candidate who did best was Yevhen Marchuk. On 10

November, Kuchma named Marchuk to head the National Security

Council, a presidential body with sweeping powers in security

matters. The move is seen as a clear attempt to win over the

some 8 percent of voters who backed Marchuk in the first

round.

Meanwhile, Kuchma has won support from the Green Party,

whose leader was also one of the first-round losers. And a

faction of the divided nationalist Rukh movement said it will

back the president on condition that Ukraine seeks membership

in NATO. Like many who will support Kuchma in the second

round, Rukh sympathizers will vote for him only because they

fear the alternative more than the incumbent.

In fact, it is this sentiment that Mycio and some other

analysts believe will allow Kuchma to pull off a victory on

14 November--barring any unexpected developments during the

last days of campaigning.

The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague and

currently covering the Ukrainian presidential election from

Kyiv.

11-11-99

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

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