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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 236, 99-12-07Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 3, No. 236, 7 December 1999CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] INVESTIGATION OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARYKILLINGS CONTINUES...Armenia's Military Prosecutor Gagik Jahangirian told journalists in Yerevan on 6 December that police continue to gather evidence concerning the shootings on 27 October of eight senior officials, including the prime minister and parliamentary speaker, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Jahangirian said that some 256 people, including 52 parliamentary deputies and 37 journalists, have been questioned about the killings. At least 12 hypotheses concerning the motives of the five gunmen are being assessed. Jahangirian confirmed media reports that the gunmen have implicated some Armenian political groups and politicians, but he declined to name them. LF [02] ...AS PRESIDENT EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER MURDERTRIAL DELAYNoyan Tapan on 7 December quoted President Robert Kocharian's spokesman, Vahe Gabrielian, as telling Armenian state television that Kocharian fears the repeated postponements of the trial of former Interior Minister Vano Siradeghian may totally undermine public confidence in the justice system. Siradeghian is accused of having ordered a series of contract killings. Following his refusal to appear in court last week, his trial has been adjourned until January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 December 1999). LF [03] ARMENIAN POLITICAL PARTIES REJECT CALL FORPRESIDENT'S RESIGNATIONTigran Torosian, deputy chairman of the Republican People's Party of Armenia (HHK), one of the two members of the majority Miasnutiun faction within the Armenian parliament, on 6 December downplayed the demand voiced two days earlier for President Robert Kocharian's resignation and new presidential elections, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Speaking at a congress in Yerevan of the Yerkrapah Union of Veterans of the Karabakh war, Minister for Industrial Infrastructure Vahan Shirkhanian had argued that Kocharian should resign (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 1999). Torosian said Shirkhanian was expressing only his personal opinion. David Lokian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun expressed support for Kocharian. And the National Unity Oukht condemned Shirkhanian's statement as a call for the ouster of the commander-in-chief of the Armenian armed forces and "the establishment of a military junta." LF [04] GEORGIAN BORDER GUARDS DETAIN MERCENARIES ONBORDER WITH CHECHNYAGeorgian border guards on 6 December detained 12 men who had attempted to cross from Georgian territory into Chechnya, ITAR-TASS reported. The men--nine from Turkey and one each from Northern Ireland, France, and Jordan--were unarmed but said they had intended to fight on the side of the Chechens against Russian forces. Also on 6 December, the Georgian State Border Department and the Ministry for Refugees and Forced Migrants issued a joint statement warning that Georgia will restrict the entry of refugees from the Chechen fighting, given that the country is hard pressed to provide adequate living conditions for its own citizens displaced by the fighting in Abkhaia and South Ossetia, according to Caucasus Press. LF [05] INVESTIGATIONS UNCOVER FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIESIN GEORGIAN DEFENSE, CULTURE MINISTRIESFollowing allegations of corruption within the Defense Ministry (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 December 1999), Georgia's Military Prosecutor has discovered four instances of unsanctioned expenditures totaling 5 million lari (some $2.7 million), Caucasus Press reported on 3 December, citing "Rezonansi." All four cases involved the purchase of uniforms, fuel, and food for the Union for the Support of the Georgian Army, which is headed by the brother of Defense Minister David Tevzadze. On 4 December, Caucasus Press reported that Deputy Minister of Culture Razhden Mikaberidze has been charged with misappropriating 150,000 lari. LF [06] EXPORT OF AZERBAIJANI OIL VIA GEORGIA RESUMESPumping of oil through the Baku-Supsa export pipeline resumedon 4 December, Caucasus Press reported, quoting Georgian oil official Irakli Kelbakhiani. But according to ITAR-TASS on 6 December, pumping has not yet reached full capacity. Last month, pumping was suspended after torrential rains in western Georgia washed away the ground from under a 50 meter section of the pipeline. On 3 December in Tbilisi, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze met with David Woodward, president of the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, to discuss the ecological safety of the pipeline. LF [07] MILITARY CADETS, ISLAMIC MILITANTS CLASH INSOUTHERN KAZAKHSTANThe independent television station 31 Kanal reported on 6 December that two Islamic militants were shot dead in an exchange of fire on 26 November with a group of cadets from the Almaty Military Academy, RFE/RL's correspondent in the former capital reported. The incident occurred at Darbaza, near the Kazakh- Kyrgyz border. LF [08] KAZAKH OPPOSITION AGAIN CALLS ON PRESIDENT TORESPOND TO FORMER PREMIER'S PROPOSALSLeaders of the opposition movements and parties aligned in the Democratic Forum convened a press conference in Almaty on 6 December, RFE/RL's Almaty correspondent reported. The opposition leaders castigated President Nursultan Nazarbaev for failing to respond to former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin's call for political dialogue and demanded that he do so before leaving for the U.S. on 17 December. LF [09] KAZAKHSTAN, CHEVRON FAIL TO REACH AGREEMENTON TENGIZCHEVROIL SALENazarbaev held talks in Almaty on 3 December with Richard Matzke, president of Chevron Overseas, but the two men failed to agree on terms for the sale of part of Kazakhstan's 25 percent stake in the joint venture to develop the Tengiz oil field, Interfax reported. Chevron is the senior partner in that consortium, with a 45 percent stake. The proposed sale has generated serious disagreements within the Kazakh leadership. LF [10] MONGOLIAN PRESIDENT VISITS KYRGYZSTANVisitingBishkek on 4-6 December, Natsagiyn Bagabandi held talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Askar Akaev, Prime Minister Amangeldi Muraliev, and the speakers of both chambers of the Kyrgyz parliament, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. The two presidents signed a joint declaration pledging to strengthen bilateral relations. Akaev told journalists that the two countries espouse similar approaches to democratic and economic reform and intend to expand economic ties, especially in agriculture, according to Interfax. LF [11] TAJIK GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION REACH AGREEMENTON ELECTION LAWGovernment and opposition representatives on the Commission for National Reconciliation on 3 December finally reached agreement on the number of deputies to be elected to each chamber of the new Tajik parliament, Asia Plus-Blitz and RFE/RL's Dushanbe correspondent reported. The lower chamber will consist of 63 deputies and the upper chamber 33 senators. Disagreement over the optimum number of deputies was one of several issues that delayed approval of the new law, which was to have been completed by 20 November (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 and 29 November 1999). President Imomali Rakhmonov told United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri on 3 December that completion of the draft law was "the most difficult stage" in laying the groundwork for free and democratic local elections which are scheduled for February 2000, Interfax reported. LF [12] OSCE CRITICIZES PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS INUZBEKISTANOSCE official Madeleine Wilkens told journalists in Tashkent on 6 December that the Uzbekistan failed to guarantee that the parliamentary poll the previous day was free, fair, equal, and transparent, Reuters and Interfax reported. She added that local authorities interfered in the nomination of candidates and that local election commissions were neither unbiased nor independent. Central Electoral Commission spokesman Sherzod Kudratkhodjaev rejected that criticism, however. He pointed out that some local officials failed to win election, and he cited observers from Russia and Moldova as saying they registered no procedural violations, according to ITAR-TASS. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] EU OIL TRUCKS REACH NISAll 14 trucks carrying EUheating oil had arrived in Nis by 7 December after Yugoslav customs officials held them up at the Macedonian border for almost two weeks (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 1999). One truck drove directly to the heating plant, but customs officials told the rest to proceed to the customs office at the airport. It is unclear whether the Serbian authorities have ceased efforts to delay the delivery of the oil to opposition-run Nis and Pirot municipal heating plants or whether the cat-and- mouse game has simply entered a new phase. Nis Mayor Zoran Zivkovic added: "This is not a good sign." EU Belgrade representative Michael Graham told Reuters: "I'm extremely cautious after what happened over the last 13 days." He suggested that the Serbian authorities may have allowed the trucks to enter the country in order to "cause confusion" at an ongoing meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. PM [14] EU EXPANDS TRAVEL BAN FOR YUGOSLAV ELITEThe EUon 6 December expanded its list of Yugoslav citizens banned from receiving EU visas from 305 to 688 persons. Several individuals on the original list were dropped from the new one. Brussels first imposed the visa ban in 1998 as a form of embargo directed at Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, his family, top government officials, businessmen, media figures, and others believed closely tied to the regime. It is widely believed in Serbia that the visa ban has proven particularly irritating to the elite. PM [15] SERBIAN COMMUNISTS THREATEN MEDIA LAWSUITSIvanMarkovic of the United Yugoslav Left (JUL) said in Belgrade on 6 December that his party will soon take legal measures against unnamed media that "daily insult patriots because they refuse to betray their country or serve NATO purposes." JUL is headed by Mira Markovic, who is the wife of Milosevic. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj's Radical Party recently announced that it plans lawsuits against the independent dailies "Danas" and "Blic" as well as against Studio B Television. Hounding independent media with costly lawsuits has been a frequent practice in recent years in Serbia and to a lesser extent in Croatia and Bosnia. PM [16] MONTENEGRO, SERBIA 'COOPERATE' IN CURRENCYCRACKDOWN?In a rare display of apparent cooperation between the authorities in Belgrade and Podgorica, police in Montenegro and Serbia have arrested an unspecified number of black-market currency dealers in several municipalities, Reuters reported on 6 December. Montenegrin government economist Dimitrije Vesovic said, however, that the Montenegrin and Serbian authorities acted for different reasons. He denied that the arrests were coordinated. Vesovic argued that Belgrade wants to shore up the value of the dinar, while Podgorica seeks to prevent Montenegro from being flooded with increasingly weak dinars. In Serbia, the dinar is officially valued at 6 to 1 German mark, although the black market rate in recent months has been more than double that. Montenegrin Television reported on 7 December that the official exchange rate in that republic is now 20 to DM 1. PM [17] KOSOVA ARCHBISHOP CRITICIZES SERBIAN PATRIARCHSerbian Orthodox Archbishop Artemije said in a statement on 6December that Patriarch Pavle "turned his back" on the Serbian people by attending a reception that Milosevic held on 29 November to mark the Day of the Republic. Artemije added: "After all that Mr. Milosevic did to the Serbian people in the past 10 years--and not only to the Serbian people--and after the tragedy he created in [Kosova] for both the Albanian and the Serbian people...your decision to respond to his call and kiss Milosevic's feet...astonished and raised doubts among the honorable clergy and the majority of the Christian Orthodox people." AP noted that Artemije's letter confirms long-standing rumors of a deep political rift within the Orthodox hierarchy. Artemije added that the division "no longer can or should be hidden. The truth is more important than anything." PM [18] ROBERTSON APPEALS FOR MONEY FOR KOSOVANATOSecretary-General Lord Robertson said at the UN in New York on 6 December that if the international community "makes a very small investment [in Kosova] now, it will save a colossal amount of money later if it all goes wrong." He stressed that "there's a very thin line between success and failure in [Kosova], and we're walking that line at the moment," AP reported. He concluded that "the problem that we are faced with is that a very small investment now could make all the difference, but for the lack of it, we are risking a security challenge that will cost the international community much more." Robertson seeks money for the UN-backed police force and the civilian administration (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 December 1999). PM [19] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT CONDEMNS VIOLENCE AGAINSTSERBSPresident Rexhep Meidani of Albania said in Bucharest on 6 December that recent incidents in which Kosovars attacked elderly Serbs should be "condemned." He added, however, that "there is a great difference between these isolated incidents...and those which were provoked by state policy of Milosevic in Kosova against the Albanians," AP reported. In Prishtina, OSCE human rights monitor Gerard Stoudmann said that the recent OSCE report on violence in Kosova suggests that "there are clear hints of degrees of organization behind the current violence" against Serbs (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 7 December 1999). OSCE chief representative Daan Everts called for an investigation of the possible involvement of the leadership of the former Kosova Liberation Army in the violence, Reuters reported. PM [20] ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER CALLS FOR OPENBORDERSFatos Nano said in Tirana on 6 December that ensuring freedom of movement throughout the region is the best way to deflect nationalist calls for establishing a "greater Albania." Nano stressed that the solution to the ethnic Albanians' problems in the Balkans is not to redraw borders but to "make them irrelevant," Reuters reported. Nano said he wants to "create new ways of co-existence--first of all among [ethnic] Albanians--so that we are seen as emancipated, democratic, and a factor for stability in the Balkans...so no one will maltreat us as in the past or look down on us." The former prime minister added that he is "convinced that Kosova will become integrated into Europe faster than Serbia and at the same pace as Albania and other Balkan countries, such as Macedonia and Bulgaria." Observers note that one of many obstacles to promoting Balkan cooperation is the existence of tough visa requirements between many of the countries of the region. PM [21] NATO CONFISCATES BOSNIAN SERB WEAPONSSFORpeacekeepers seized an unspecified quantity of weapons from a Bosnian Serb military storage depot near Zvornik on 6 December. NATO troops took the weapons to an unnamed location, where officials of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal will inspect them in conjunction with investigations into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. SFOR will return the weapons to Zvornik after the inspection. PM [22] OSCE SAYS 'SOME' VOTE-RIGGING IN MACEDONIAOSCEchief election monitor Mark Stevens told Reuters in Skopje on 6 December that "whilst the [5 December presidential] election proceeded smoothly in some polling stations, it is clear that in others serious breaches of the law occurred" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 1999). He noted that there were some improvements to correct the irregularities that took place during the 14 November ballot. He added: "However, in other polling stations, there was widespread ballot-stuffing and multiple voting, resulting in voter turnout figures which in some instances appear unrealistic." It is unclear whether the OSCE or Macedonian Supreme Court will call for yet another round of voting. PM [23] EIGHT JUDGES JOIN TOP CROATIAN COURTParliamentaryspeaker Vlatko Pavletic swore in eight individuals as new justices of the 11-member Constitutional Court in Zagreb on 6 December. Critics have charged that the appointments mark an attempt by the governing Croatian Democratic Community to pack the top legal body with party loyalists, some of whom are little known in the legal profession (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 October 1999). PM [24] BULGARIAN, ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTERS DISCUSSCOOPERATIONRomanian Defense Minister Victor Babiuc and his visiting Bulgarian counterpart, Georgi Ananiev, agreed on 6 December that their countries will form a political-military working group, according to a BTA report, cited by the BBC. The ministers said the working group will help facilitate the implementation of the Balkan Stability Pact. Babiuc and Ananiev also agreed to establish a system for the regular exchange of planning and defense information. VG [25] ROMANIAN RAILWAY STRIKE CONTINUESAfter threehours of talks on 6 December, striking railway workers failed to find common ground with railway management on ending a strike, Rompres reported. The action began on 6 December after unions rejected an offer of a 20 percent wage increase from Transportation Minister Traian Basescu (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 1999). Basescu has reportedly ordered the Romanian Airlines Tarom to provide air transport to railway travelers, saying the company would receive compensation from the state that was originally earmarked for the railways, according to Hungarian Radio. VG [26] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT SIGNS LAW ON SECURITATEFILESEmil Constantinescu on 6 December signed a law on public access to the files of the former communist Securitate. The law was passed by the parliament in October (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 October 1999). In other news, a tribunal in Bucharest has approved the registration of the Party of National Reconciliation. Paul of Romania, the nephew of former Romanian King Carol II, had applied to register that group, Rompres reported on 6 December. VG [27] COUNCIL OF EUROPE CALLS FOR COMPROMISE ONMOLDOVAN CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGESThe president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Lord Russell- Johnston, has called on the Moldovan president and parliament to establish a special commission to resolve their dispute over changes to the constitution, BASA-Press reported on 6 December. Johnston, who was visiting Moldova, said the dispute should be resolved as quickly as possible because it could threaten democracy and have "terrible economic consequences." President Petru Lucinschi is pushing for constitutional changes that would give the president greater powers, while a group of parliamentary deputies have launched a separate initiative for a strong legislature. VG [28] BULGARIA, TURKEY AGREE TO RE-EXAMINE COMMONHISTORYBulgarian Education Minister Veselin Metodiev and his visiting Turkish counterpart, Metin Bostancioglu, agreed on 6 December to form a joint Bulgarian-Turkish education committee for reviewing history text books in both countries, BTA reported. Historians from both countries will exchange opinions on the textbooks used in Bulgarian and Turkish schools. Bulgarian academics are expected to complete an analysis of Turkish texts on the history of the Ottoman Empire by January 2000. The joint committee will then consider the views of the expert groups in both countries. Bostancioglu stressed that two countries have many things in common, adding "nobody is going to obliterate anybody else's history." VG [29] MULTINATIONAL PEACEKEEPING EXERCISE BEGINS INBULGARIAThe Multinational Peace Force of Southeastern Europe on 6 December began a peacekeeping exercise in Plovdiv, BTA reported. The exercise involves military representatives from Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, and Bulgaria as well as observers from the U.S. and Slovenia. The agency noted that representatives from Albania, who are also supposed to take part in the exercise, were not present for the opening. VG [C] END NOTE[30] YABLOKO PLAYS UP CONCRETE ACHIEVEMENTSBy Laura BelinPerhaps the biggest problem facing Yabloko leader Grigorii Yavlinskii is his image as a talker who is unable or unwilling to take responsibility for running the country. During a heated live television debate on 25 November, former Prime Minister Anatolii Chubais repeatedly invoked that image. "You cannot imagine how I envy you," Chubais taunted the Yabloko leader at one point. He said Yavlinskii stood on the sidelines for years, criticizing those in power but never shaping his own policy. Chubais also talked of Yavlinskii's rejection of several offers of high government posts, painting a picture of a party that is all talk and no action. During the last week, Yabloko has begun to air television commercials that seek to dispel that image. The new ads, which appear regularly during both free and paid air time, emphasize that candidates on the Yabloko ticket have solid policy achievements and are ready to put their plans into action. One commercial alludes to the benefits of the law on production-sharing agreements, which is designed to attract foreign investment in projects to extract natural resources. The Yabloko faction drafted that law and worked hard to secure its passage. But the campaign ad does not mention "production- sharing agreements," a term that would be unfamiliar to most Russians, nor does it make any reference to foreign investment. Instead, it shows Yavlinskii talking with a group of voters. One man asks, "Grigorii Alekseevich, will we live better than we do now?" Yavlinskii replies, "In our country we have everything we need in order to live better. On 30 July the Sakhalin-2 [oil well] project started to operate. That provided jobs for 2,500 people. Two schools and a hospital have been built. Those people have already begun to live better, thanks to just one of Yabloko's laws. We have many laws like that. Everything we've thought up will work." At the end of the commercial, a voice- over says, "Yabloko--for a decent life." A similar commercial shows an elderly man asking, "When will you start to think about pensions?" Yavlinskii replies that thanks to Aleksei Arbatov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, the parliament passed a law to increase pension payments to veterans. But the current authorities are not implementing that law, Yavlinskii noted. "That's why we need to be in power...so that our laws can start to work, so that we can prove that there is money in the country, and it's possible to give it to the people. So that we can manage to help you." Yet another new commercial shows a woman asking, "Grigorii Alekseevich, when will things get better?" Yavlinskii replies that if his party gets into power, they will reduce expenditures on the presidential administration in the very first month, which will free up money for health expenditures, student stipends, and soldiers' pay. Yavlinskii also promises that Yabloko would strengthen the state and borders and would not allow stolen money to be spirited abroad. "Paradise won't arrive right away," he concludes. "But every day we will try to achieve stability and calm, and it will be better." Three other new advertisements feature former Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, the number two candidate on Yabloko's party list. One shows Stepashin speaking to the camera: "The time has come when decent and honest people should be together." It concludes with a voice-over: "Honesty in the organs of power, order in the country. Yabloko." The other two new commercials end with the same slogan but include more information about Stepashin's accomplishments during his brief stint as prime minister this past summer. An interviewer asks, "Sergei Vadimovich, you were prime minister for three months. Was it possible to achieve anything in that time?" Stepashin replies, "It was possible, and we managed to do it. We paid salaries on time. We fully settled pension arrears, and the defense industry commission was created. The war waged by NATO and the US against Yugoslavia, as well as what's happening today in Chechnya and Dagestan, allow us to draw one conclusion: our country will be respected when it is strong. I think that reviving the military-industrial complex is one of the main tasks facing the country today." In another commercial, the interviewer asks Stepashin when order will be restored in the country. Stepashin answers that it will happen only when "professionals" are in power." Criminals have not yet been destroyed," he says. "They are straining to get into power, and our task is to get in their way. Because 'order' is not just a calling. Order and law are professions." In the last parliamentary elections, in 1995, Yabloko received just under 7 percent of the vote. The new commercials suggest that the party's leaders are using their campaign resources to directly confront their weak points and aim for a larger share on 19 December. The author is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oxford. She is currently in Moscow compiling the "RFE/RL Russian Election Report." 07-12-99 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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