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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 223, 00-11-16Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 223, 16 November 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIA HAILS EU VOTE ON 1915 GENOCIDEIn a statement issued on 15 November, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ara Papyan said Yerevan "strongly welcomes" the European Parliament resolution adopted earlier that day calling on Turkey to normalize its relations with Yerevan and recognize as genocide the mass killings of Armenian in the Ottoman Empire 85 years ago, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. "We believe that this step will be a serious incentive for Turkey to soberly assess its past and embark on a dialogue with the Republic of Armenia," the Armenian statement said. The non-binding EU resolution constituted a broader assessment of Turkey's progress toward achieving full EU membership. LF[02] ANOTHER RUSSIAN APPEAL TO ARMENIAN PRESIDENT IN VARTANIAN CASEA Russian government Society for Friendship and Cooperation with Armenia has written to Armenian President Robert Kocharian in connection with the charges brought by the Armenian Prosecutor-General's Office against businessman Arkadii Vartanian, Noyan Tapan reported on 15 November. Kocharian is asked to exercise forbearance in the face of public protests against poverty. The appeal expresses confidence that Kocharian will succeed in "eradicating the true causes of the people's indignation and will display the constructive wisdom and Christian virtue typical of the sons of the Armenian people." LF[03] ARMENIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MEETS WITH HUNANIANMembers of the Armenian presidential human rights commission met on 13 November with Nairi Hunanian, the leader of the five gunmen who shot down eight senior officials in the Armenian parliament one year ago, "Aravot" reported on 15 November. The newspaper quoted commission member Vartan Harutiunian as saying that Hunanian was "calmer than I could imagine." He added that Hunanian "thinks of himself as an ideological fighter who happens to be in jail but is continuing his struggle." Hunanian said at the time of the murders that his purpose was to rid Armenia of officials "who drink the people's blood" (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 2. No. 43, 28 October 1999). LF[04] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, IMF DISCUSS ECONOMIC SITUATIONPresident Kocharian met in Yerevan on 15 November with an IMF delegation to review the country's economic situation, including the planned budget for 2001, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau. But a press release issued by the presidential press service made no mention of any discussion of further IMF loans to Armenia. An IMF three-year $156 million loan program expired last year. Levon Barkhudarian, who was replaced on 14 November as economy and finance minister, had said on 25 October that the IMF and the Armenian government had reached agreement on a new three-year loan package worth approximately $120 million. Barkhudarian also said that the fund has approved the main indicators of the 2001 budget (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 October 2000). Armenpress on 15 November quoted Barkhudarian's successor, Vartan Khachatrian, as saying that the draft budget, which has been submitted to parliament, is unlikely to undergo major changes. LF[05] ARMENIAN PREMIER CALLS FOR CLOSER ECONOMIC TIES WITH CHINAAndranik Markarian told a visiting Chinese government delegation on 15 November that bilateral economic cooperation has been neglected while political cooperation has strengthened, ITAR-TASS reported. The two sides discussed future projects, including a joint venture to produce synthetic rubber in Armenia and cooperation in the energy and metallurgical sector. Markarian also invited Chinese participation in the tender to privatize 13 large factories and thanked the delegation for the donation of 1,000 tons of wheat to offset the damage to Armenia's agricultural sector caused by this summer's drought. President Kocharian, who also met on 15 November with the Chinese officials, noted the potential for bilateral cooperation in the military-technical sphere, Noyan Tapan reported. LF[06] U.S. DEFENSE OFFICIAL VISITS AZERBAIJANU.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Walter Slocum met in Baku on 15 November with Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Safar Abiev and Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliev, Interfax and Turan reported. Abiev emphasized the importance Baku attaches to military cooperation with both NATO and the U.S. Guliev expressed concern at what he termed the expansion of Armenia's military capabilities, which, he said, is negatively affecting the balance of power in the region. Guliev noted that international arms inspectors have not monitored the situation in areas of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian troops, where, he said, much of Armenia's military hardware is deployed. LF[07] AZERBAIJAN ELECTION RESULTS SUBMITTED TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURTAzerbaijan's Central Election Commission submitted to the Constitutional Court on 15 November the final results of the 5 November parliamentary ballot, which opposition parties have rejected as falsified, Turan reported. The six opposition representatives on the 18-member commission refused to sign the final returns, which the Constitutional Court must endorse within 10 days. Also on 15 November, opposition representatives met with the Baku City administration but failed to reach agreement on the route for a march by some 10,000 people through the city on 18 November to protest the poll outcome. LF[08] KILLER OF AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT DEPUTY SPEAKER ARRESTEDAliyusif Tairov, who is suspected of having organized a series of murders in 1992-1994, including that of deputy parliament speaker Afiyaddin Djalilov, has been arrested in Baku, Interfax reported on 14 November, citing a statement released the previous day by the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry and Prosecutor-General's Office. Seven other men accused of the September 1994 murder of Djalilov, who many believed was President Heidar Aliev's illegitimate son, and other senior officials were sentenced in September to prison terms ranging from 13 years to life imprisonment. LF[09] SENTENCES IN AZERBAIJANI EMBEZZLEMENT TRIAL AGAIN POSTPONEDThe sentencing of two former Azerbaijani ministers of foreign economic relations and 14 other people found guilty of embezzling oil products worth $30 million in 1992-1993 has again been postponed, Turan reported on 15 November. Originally scheduled for 6 November, the sentencing was postponed first until 10 November and then to 15 November; it is now scheduled to take place on 20 November. On each occasion, the judges demanded more time to consider the verdict. The prosecutor-general has called for jail terms of 10-12 years for all the defendants (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 November 2000). LF[10] RESIDENTS OF GEORGIAN CAPITAL PROTEST ENERGY SHORTAGESSeveral thousand residents of Tbilisi's Vake district blocked traffic in the city for five hours early on 15 November to protest the planned reduction of electricity supplies to their homes to six hours a day, Caucasus Press and Interfax reported. President Eduard Shevardnadze promised that supplies will be increased to 13-15 hours daily. He blamed the shortfall on corruption within the energy sector and the government's inefficiency. LF[11] COPIES OF NEW BOOK INCRIMINATING KAZAKH PRESIDENT IMPOUNDEDKazakh National Security Ministry officials on 14 November confiscated a consignment of copies of a book on the December 1986 Almaty protests from a train bound from Moscow to the former capital, the book's author, Arken Uaqov, told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service the following day. Uaqov, who was sentenced to four years in a labor camp for taking part in the 1986 protests, describes in his book, which was published in Russia, the role Nursultan Nazarbaev played in repressing the demonstrations (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 November 2000). At that time, Nazarbaev was chairman of the Kazakh SSR Council of Ministers. LF[12] KAZAKH PARLIAMENT DEPUTY DEMANDS LIVE TV COVERAGE OF LAND LAW DEBATESerik Abdrakhmanov, who is a deputy to the lower house of Kazakhstan's bicameral legislature, called on 15 November for live television coverage of parliamentary debates, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. He argued that such coverage is needed to keep the population informed about the details of the new draft land law. Abdrakhmanov also expressed surprise that local media have ignored the hunger strike underway to demand that the draft law be published for public discussion and that the parliament also consider an alternative bill drafted by opposition parties (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 November 2000). He said he will join the eight hunger-strikers if their demands are not met. LF[13] LIMITED RAIL TRAFFIC BETWEEN TAJIKISTAN, RUSSIA RESUMESKazakhstan has agreed to the passage across its territory of three passenger trains bound from Dushanbe to Moscow via Kazakhstan, ITAR-TASS and Asia Plus-Blitz reported. The first train left the Tajik capital on 15 November, and the other two trains will depart on that route on 17 and 20 November. Kazakhstan halted transit last month to protest the lack of hygiene on Tajik trains and the number of passengers travelling without valid tickets (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 October 2000). Since then, Tajikistan has paid part of its $1.6 million debt to Kazakhstan for transit. LF[14] UZBEK OPPOSITION PARTY DENIES PARTY'S INVOLVEMENT IN TERRORISMSpeaking in Tashkent on 14 November, Otanazar Oripov, who is general secretary of the opposition Erk Party, denied that the party's chairman, Muhammad Solih, is one of the leaders of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, RFE/RL's bureau in the Uzbek capital reported. Oripov described the trial in absentia of Solih and several IMU leaders on charges of terrorist acts, including the February 1999 car bombings in Tashkent, as "a political show" staged by the Uzbek leadership. Oripov predicted that the trial "will polarize Uzbek society." But of 200 people polled by RFE/RL's Tashkent bureau, 99 percent expressed approval of the death sentences called for by the prosecution (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 November 2000), while only two people protested them. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[15] NATIONALIST PARTY, MODERATES RUNNING NECK AND NECK IN BOSNIAN ELECTIONSThe OSCE said on 15 November in Sarajevo that the Muslim nationalist Party for Democratic Action (SDA) has taken a slight lead in elections to the parliament of the Muslim-Croatian Confederation, AP reported. With 86 percent of the votes counted, the SDA had 26.8 percent of the vote, compared with 26.3 for the multiethnic Social Democratic Party (SDP). The nationalist Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) received 17.6 percent of the votes, and the reformist Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina of former Premier Haris Silajdzic 14.8 percent. In the election to the Bosnian parliament, the SDP had 27 percent compared with 26.6 for the SDA and 20.7 percent for the HDZ. The hard-line Serbian Democratic Party has 41.8 percent of the vote for the parliament in Republika Srpska, and its presidential candidate, Mirko Sarovic, is far ahead of pro-Western Srpska Premier Milorad Dodik. PB[16] U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UN CALLS FOR UNITED ARMY IN BOSNIARichard Holbrooke, the architect of the Dayton Peace accords, said on 15 November that NATO troops will be in Bosnia-Herzegovina as long as the country has three armies, AP reported. Holbrooke, speaking in New York ahead of a conference in Dayton to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the accords, said that Dayton "has become a shorthand word for peace." Bruce Hitchner, the organizer of the conference, said that "with three armies you have the greatest potential for future conflict." He said the leaders from the different ethnic groups in Bosnia will be called on to merge the three armies. Hitchner said such an undertaking will take a "huge commitment from the international community." The conference is to open on 17 November. PB[17] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT MENTIONS GOAL OF JOINING EUVojislav Kostunica told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 15 November that Yugoslavia's major foreign policy goal is to adhere to European norms and eventually join the EU, Reuters reported. Kostunica said Belgrade wants to "approach in a comprehensive manner a family of nations comprising the EU and then join it." Kostunica said "we are aware that none of the Balkan countries will be able to join the EU on [its] own, which makes it clear we have to develop good neighborly relations, free trade, and collective security structures first." Diplomats in Brussels said the same day that Serbia is likely to receive financial aid worth about 2 billion euros ($1.9 billion) over the next six years as part of EU efforts to stabilize democracy in the Balkans. Kostunica repeated his view that the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague not be the only place for suspects to be tried. He said "Milosevic is in many ways responsible to his own people...that's something that must be pointed out." PB[18] SERBIAN SECURITY SERVICE CHIEF REWARDED FOR AVERTING BLOODBATHRade Markovic, the head of Serbian state security, was removed from the EU's blacklist for travel in the West because he restrained security forces during the demonstrations that brought President Kostunica to power last month, Reuters reported on 15 November. Diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Markovic is being rewarded for his good behavior during the protests. The source said Markovic's removal from the list was suggested by Kostunica himself. Members of Kostunica's party were upset by Markovic and others' removal from the list (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 November 2000). Kostunica said in Strasbourg the same day that "I would be against a visa ban list--there are other ways to solve the problem." PB[19] U.S. TO TIE AID TO YUGOSLAVIA TO COOPERATION WITH UN TRIBUNALU.S. Balkan envoy James O'Brien said in Belgrade on 15 November that Washington will require Yugoslavia to cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague in order for it to receive U.S. assistance, Reuters reported. O'Brien said U.S. President Bill Clinton has earmarked some $100 million to Yugoslavia aimed at consolidating democracy. He said the first part of that sum will be granted without conditions, but that starting on 1 April 2001 there "will be some legally required conditions on our assistance." O'Brien said that in addition to cooperation with The Hague, Belgrade is expected to support the Dayton accords in Bosnia and to implement policies establishing the rule of law. O'Brien said that Croatia has been bold in cooperating with the war crimes tribunal and that the U.S. expects Yugoslavia to do the same. He added that bilateral diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Yugoslavia will be established soon. PB[20] MACEDONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MAKES GROUNDBREAKING BELGRADE VISITAleksandar Dimitrov said on 15 November that Macedonia and Yugoslavia are prepared to settle outstanding bilateral issues and work together to bring stability to the region, AFP reported. Dimitrov said after meeting with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic: "My visit to Belgrade comes in a new atmosphere which offers the possibility of settling the open issues" between the two countries. It is the first visit by a Macedonian government official to Belgrade in more than five years. Svilanovic said that the two countries have yet to define a common border, noting that this issue needs to be resolved so that economic issues can be addressed. Dimitrov and Svilanovic also discussed the division of property held by former socialist Yugoslavia. PB[21] SERBIAN MINISTER GOES TO KOSOVASerbian Co-Minister of Justice Dragan Subasic led a delegation to Prishtina on 15 November to discuss the issue of ethnic Albanian prisoners in Serbia, Reuters reported. The UN administrator for Kosova, Bernard Kouchner, said "this is just a beginning but, if promises are met, it will go a long way towards healing the wounds of all parties affected by this ongoing tragedy." The delegation met with UN officials, but Kosovar Albanian groups pressing for the release of the prisoners from Serbia refused to talk directly with Subasic and the other officials. Bexhet Shala, the secretary of the Council for Human Rights and Freedoms, said: "All ethnic Albanian political prisoners need to be released immediately...this is our permanent demand, and we cannot back off from it." Some 3,500 Kosovars are still missing, and nearly 1,000 are known to be jailed in Serbia. PB[22] OSCE CRITICIZES CROATIA FOR SLOW MOVEMENT ON REFUGEE ISSUESAn OSCE report issued on 15 November criticizes Croatia for failure to make greater progress on minority rights and reforms in the media and judiciary, Reuters reported. Bernard Poncet, head of the OSCE mission in Zagreb, said "despite government policies pointing to the right direction, progress has been modest and uneven." Poncet urged the government to focus on the return of the mostly Serbian refugees and the restitution of property. He said "a serious obstacle remains the passivity or obstructionism of many local authorities who hamper the well-intended government policies." An estimated 270,000 Serbs were displaced from Croatia during fighting in the 1991-95 war of Yugoslav succession. PB[23] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT TO DISREGARD ANTI-PRIVATIZATION MOTIONRomanian State Property Fund (FPS) chairman Radu Sarbu said on 15 November that the government believes the motion approved by the Senate the previous day will not prevent the FPS from continuing to privatize state-owned companies, Romanian media reported. The motion, proposed by the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), asked the government to suspend the privatization process until the next government is formed after the 26 November elections (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 November 2000). Premier Mugur Isarescu said the Senate's decision is "purely political" and must be followed by a law halting privatization. PDSR First Deputy Chairman Adrian Nastase said that if the government continues selling state companies, it will be "defying the parliament." He added that his party is not against the privatization process as a whole, but against "robbing the economy." ZsM[24] MOLDOVAN SPEAKER FEARS CRISIS AS NO ONE REGISTERS FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONParliamentary speaker Dumitru Diacov said on 14 November that in order to avoid a parliamentary crisis, a new Moldovan president must be elected by the parliament in the first round of voting on 1 December, ITAR-TASS reported. Diacov said the best solution will be for the parliament to elect an independent candidate. Diacov said he is against early parliamentary elections, as proposed by President Petru Lucinschi. Presidential candidates have until 25 November to register with a parliamentary commission, but no candidate has registered yet. ET[25] TWO KILLED IN BLAST AT BULGARIAN HOTELTwo men were killed in an explosion at a hotel in Sofia on 15 November, which Mayor Stefan Sofiyanski blamed on organized crime, dpa reported. Sofiyanski said "showing off" by organized crime organizations has been on the increase. Interior Minister Emanuil Yordanov said one of the victims in the blast, which took place at the Ambassador Hotel, was a foreigner. He added that the incident could be called a "terrorist" attack. PB[C] END NOTE[26] EU PROGRESS REPORTS PROVE SOURCE OF DIVISIONBy Ahto LobjakasThe EU progress reports released one week ago made a tentative attempt to rank accession candidates according to their economic prowess. But instead of helping matters, the reports have created discord within the ranks of the leading Eastern candidate states. The European Commission, which compiled the reports, attempted for the first time to list the 12 active candidate countries according to their perceived ability to withstand what was termed the "competitive pressure" of EU membership. The two non-Eastern candidates, Cyprus and Malta--both of which have fully fledged market economies--were ranked highest. Estonia, Hungary, and Poland followed closely with near-term prospects for membership. The Czech Republic and Slovenia--until now considered to belong to the first wave of candidates--were relegated to a third level; both are considered to have not completed all essential reforms. Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia followed, with Bulgaria and Romania bringing up the rear. The commission reports were meant to bring clarity and predictability to the accession process. But their main result so far appears to have been to shatter an already fragile unity among leading Eastern candidates. This was especially clear earlier this week, when negotiating teams from six candidate countries--Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia--gathered in Brussels. It was the first time that first- and second-wave negotiators turned up together, possibly intended as a sign from the commission that talk of "waves" is meaningless and that every country will be judged purely on its own merit. If so, that sign was received poorly by Slovenia, which, together with the Czech Republic, has taken exception to its relatively low ranking. Slovenia's chief negotiator Janez Potocnik says he does not doubt the objectivity of the commission, but he believes the criteria used in assessing economic performance were faulty. The EU gave relatively strong weight to factors such as how open an economy is, how much direct foreign investment it has attracted, and how many state assets it has sold off so far. Potocnik says other major structural factors, such as the share of agriculture in overall employment and the EU's share of a country's foreign trade, were ignored. He says Slovenia would score highly on both of those counts: "If you say [a country] is able to cope with the competitive pressures of the EU, of course you have to take into account all the structures of the economy...not only how much foreign direct investment [a country has attracted], how open [the economy is], [and whether it] has already privatized everything." Estonia, on the other hand, scores well on openness of the economy, foreign investment, and extensive privatization. Not surprisingly, Estonia has no fundamental problems with the commission's approach. The head of the Estonian delegation, Alar Streimann, says this is a long- standing attitude: "We have never questioned the objectivity and expertise of the [European] Commission in evaluating and assessing [candidate countries'] progress. This approach is also valid this year. [If] what they have found is positive, we are happy, if it is negative, we accept the criticism." Slovakia, for its part, was smarting from being described--together with Latvia and Lithuania--as a "medium-term" economic prospect. Slovakia's chief negotiator Jan Figel says this ignores his country's relatively high per capita gross domestic product, or GDP, which he says is a far better criterion of economic performance. According to Figel, Slovakia's per capita GDP for 1999 stood at nearly 50 percent of the EU average, while Estonia languished at about a third of the EU average, with Latvia and Lithuania even further behind. This was not an approach that found much support from the Latvian chief negotiator, Andris Kesteris: "There are lies, big lies and statistics. It is difficult to assess [real GDP levels] because if you visit [the] three Baltic countries and Slovakia, you wouldn't believe this statistic." Kesteris says he believes Latvia's relatively low GDP figure has more to do with what he calls "conservative" accounting methods than any real differences in living standards between Slovakia and the Baltic states. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Brussels. 16-11-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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