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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 159, 96-08-16
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 159, 16 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SHEVARDNADZE CLIPS WINGS OF ANTI-SEMITE.
[02] DASHNAK ATTEMPTS TO REGISTER.
[03] ARMENIAN EMBASSY IN GERMANY UNDER SCRUTINY.
[04] BELGIAN FIRM BUYS FORMER KAZAKHSTANI STATE ENERGY COMPANY.
[05] RUSSIA CUTS OFF ENERGY TO NORTHERN KAZAKHSTAN.
[06] CORRECTION:
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] WILL KEY PLAYERS BOYCOTT BOSNIAN ELECTIONS?
[08] OSCE PENALIZES RULING BOSNIAN SERB PARTY.
[09] SARAJEVO AIRPORT REOPENS FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS.
[10] IS AN "OIL WAR" LOOMING BETWEEN SERBIA, MONTENEGRO?
[11] BELGRADE, BUDAPEST RESTORE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.
[13] MACEDONIA SAYS CANCELED MEETING WITH GREECE WAS NOT PLANNED.
[14] FURTHER REACTIONS TO AGREEMENT ON HUNGARIAN-ROMANIAN TREATY AGREEMENT.
[15] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT ON INTEGRATION INTO EUROPEAN STRUCTURES.
[16] BULGARIANS GET INFO FROM STATE MEDIA BUT DON'T TRUST IT.
[17] ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER CALLS FOR "CIVIL BOYCOTT."
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] SHEVARDNADZE CLIPS WINGS OF ANTI-SEMITE.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze reacted indignantly to an anti-Semitic
article printed in the paper Noy, Segodnya reported on 15 August.
Shevardnadze took the article, which described Jews as "vampires and sadists,"
to task during his weekly radio address. Western agencies reported that the
paper's editor has been charged with inciting hatred, a crime which carries a
maximum three-year prison sentence. He has also been fined, and the paper has
been suspended from publication. -- Lowell Bezanis
[02] DASHNAK ATTEMPTS TO REGISTER.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Dashnaktsutyun (ARF), has applied to be
registered once again as a political party with the Justice Ministry, Noyan
Tapan reported on 14 August. The ARF, Armenia's largest opposition party, was
banned in January 1995, following allegations that it had a clandestine wing,
known as Dro, which was involved in drug trafficking and political
assassinations. The ARF's candidate in the presidential election, Vahan
Hovannessyan, has been arrested on charges of organizing a coup and acts of
terrorism, according to Noyan Tapan on 15 August. Efforts to demonstrate that
the Armenian ARFF is independent of its diaspora strongholds are likely to be
met with skepticism in Yerevan and abroad. -- Lowell Bezanis
[03] ARMENIAN EMBASSY IN GERMANY UNDER SCRUTINY.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vahan Papazian has announced plans to establish a
commission that will examine the work of the consular section of Yerevan's
embassy in Bonn following allegations raised in the German journal Focus
that it was involved in extorting money from Armenians in Germany, ITAR-TASS
reported on 15 August. The Armenian ambassador in Germany denied the
accusations. -- Lowell Bezanis
[04] BELGIAN FIRM BUYS FORMER KAZAKHSTANI STATE ENERGY COMPANY.
The Kazakhstani government has sold Almatyenergo, the former state energy
company and the main provider of both electricity and heat to Almaty, to the
Belgian company Tractebel for $5 million, Kazakhstanskaya pravda reported on
14 August. Tractebel also pledged to boost output by 30% and spend $270
million to upgrade Almatyenergo's several power stations and electricity grid.
The government had feared that the indebted and capital-starved Almatyenergo
would be unable to provide the capital with electricity and heat during the
coming winter. The same day, ITAR-TASS reported that the U.S. company A.E.S.
had concluded a similar deal for the Ekibastuz power station. -- Slava Kozlov
in Almaty
[05] RUSSIA CUTS OFF ENERGY TO NORTHERN KAZAKHSTAN.
Citing unpaid bills, Boris Syutkin of Russia's Unified Energy System announced
on 15 August that his company has temporarily ceased delivering electricity to
certain regions of northern Kazakhstan, ITAR-TASS and Radio Rossii reported
the same day. Syutkin said Kazakhstan owes the company $420 million for
earlier deliveries. Syutkin also criticized Kazakhstan for failing to fulfill
its part of a deal to deliver coal to a Russian power station, claiming that
no more than 40% of contacted coal had reached the Troitsk power station this
year. Western Kazakhstan will not be cut off as regions in that part of the
country have been making regular payments to Russian power stations. -- Bruce
Pannier
[06] CORRECTION:
In an item in OMRI Daily Digest, issue no. 158, vol. 2, Natik Aliev,
president of the Azerbaijani oil company SOCAR, was incorrectly identified as
President Heidar Aliev's son. Ilham Aliev, vice president of SOCAR is
President Aliev's son.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[07] WILL KEY PLAYERS BOYCOTT BOSNIAN ELECTIONS?
U.S. officials said that Haris Silajdzic, former Bosnian prime minister and
leader of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, plans to boycott the 14
September vote. He fears that the ballot will be manipulated by the dominant
nationalist parties of the Muslims, Serbs, and Croats and will serve to
legitimize the partition of the country along ethnic lines. Silajdzic called
it "ratification of genocide," AFP reported on 15 August. The previous day,
parliamentary speaker Miro Lazovic said his Social Democratic Party and its
anti-nationalist coalition of five parties is also considering a boycott.
Meanwhile, in Sarajevo, the International Crisis Group, composed of former
prime ministers, foreign ministers, and other public figures, called for the
elections to be postponed and for a new Dayton-style agreement to be worked
out, Oslobodjenje wrote on 16 August. President Alija Izetbegovic condemned
attacks by his supporters on opposition rallies, Dnevni avaz said.
Belgrade's Vreme added that the most recent such incident, in Gradacac,
could trigger a mass boycott of the vote by the opposition. -- Patrick
Moore
[08] OSCE PENALIZES RULING BOSNIAN SERB PARTY.
The OSCE Election Appeals Subcommittee on 13 August decided that the ruling
Serb Democratic Party (SDS) in Doboj, Republika Srpska, is guilty of having
denied humanitarian aid to refugees unless they agree to vote in their new
settlements in the upcoming Bosnian elections, Reuters reported on 15 August.
The subcommittee levied a $25,000 fine against the SDS and demanded a public
apology from its list of candidates in Doboj. It also noted that election
rules had been violated in the Serb-held town of Modrica. Meanwhile, OSCE
Chairman Flavio Cotti has cast serious doubt on how free and fair the Bosnian
elections will be, AFP reported on 14 August. Cotti expressed his "greatest
concern" over freedom of movement, the return of refugees, and prevailing
attempts to create ethnically pure states. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] SARAJEVO AIRPORT REOPENS FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS.
U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Bosnian President Alija
Izetbegovic on 15 August presided over the opening of the Sarajevo airport to
commercial flights for the first time since 1992, international and local
media reported. The first such flight was to Turkey. The airport was a major
battlefield during the Bosnian war and hundreds of lives were lost there.
Christopher said he had come to Sarajevo to witness "Bosnia's summer of hope"
ahead of the September general elections, AFP quoted him as saying. In an
televised address to the nation, he appealed to Bosnian voters to support the
landmark elections. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] IS AN "OIL WAR" LOOMING BETWEEN SERBIA, MONTENEGRO?
Montenegrin police on 15 August blocked a convoy of 53 Serbian trucks
transporting oil to Montenegro, local media reported. This move seemed to be
in retaliation for an earlier incident in which Serbian police officials
blocked oil shipments from private Montenegrin firms. At issue was likely oil
prices. Montenegro has protested that local refineries--notably at Pancevo, in
Serbia--are dictating prices higher than those demanded by facilities in other
countries. The political consequences of an "oil war" between the two
republics are difficult to predict. -- Stan Markotich
[11] BELGRADE, BUDAPEST RESTORE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.
Full diplomatic relations have been restored between Belgrade and Budapest,
Nepszabadsag reported on 16 August. Hungarian Ambassador Janos Toth
presented his credentials to federal President Zoran Lilic on 15 August.
Belgrade's ambassador, Balsha Shpadiyer, had presented his credentials earlier
this year. Hungary withdrew its ambassador following the 1992 imposition of
sanctions against Serbia-Montenegro but had maintained contacts at the level
of charge d'affaires. -- Stan Markotich[12]
KOSOVO LOCAL AUTHORITIES SEEK TO ENFORCE LAW BANNING SALES OF LAND TO
ALBANIANS.</strong> Tanjug reported on 13 August that the ban on the sale of
real estate to ethnic Albanians in Kosovo is widely being ignored. This
prompted local politicians in Istok to put the issue on the agenda of the
local municipal assembly and to appoint a commission to investigate sales of
land. Malisa Perovic, president of the Istok Municipal Assembly, has now
decided to publicize the names of Serbs who have sold land to Albanians and to
call on the Serbian government to assist in enforcing the law that stipulates
the ban. She also alleged that senior military officials, former and present
government ministers, and other high ranking officials have been involved in
selling land to Albanians. -- Fabian Schmidt
[13] MACEDONIA SAYS CANCELED MEETING WITH GREECE WAS NOT PLANNED.
Sources within the Macedonian Foreign Ministry said that a meeting between the
foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece, Ljubomir Frckovski and Theodoros
Pangalos, in September in New York, was not planned "so there is nothing to
cancel," MIC reported on 15 August. Pangalos on 13 August had canceled what he
described as a scheduled meeting after Frckovski said Macedonia would refuse
to negotiate its name. The Macedonian source said there had been the
possibility of a meeting between Frckovski and Pangalos but "it was not
formally prearranged." Meanwhile in Greece, Antonis Samaras, leader of the
small nationalist Political Spring party, called on the government to stop all
negotiations with Macedonia. He claimed that the government was about to reach
a compromise on the name issue and was causing a fuss that "convinces nobody."
-- Stefan Krause
[14] FURTHER REACTIONS TO AGREEMENT ON HUNGARIAN-ROMANIAN TREATY AGREEMENT.
The Hungarian government, responding to the announcement that Bucharest
and Budapest is ready to sign the bilateral treaty, said on 15 August that
an improvement in Hungarian-Romanian relations would be beneficial for
Hungary. But former Hungarian Foreign Minister Geza Jeszenszky was quoted by
Reuters as describing the treaty as "meaningless." The Hungarian Democratic
Forum commented that the treaty agreement runs counter to the interests of
Hungarians in both Hungary and Romania. Meanwhile, in an interview with
Adevarul, Romanian President Ion Iliescu said that including a mention of
Council of Europe Recommendation No. 1201 in an annex to the treaty is not
tantamount to recognizing collective rights or territorial autonomy based on
ethnicity. However, the Socialist Labor Party, a former member of the ruling
coalition, rejected any reference to the controversial recommendation. --
Dan Ionescu
[15] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT ON INTEGRATION INTO EUROPEAN STRUCTURES.
Mircea Snegur has called again for his country's integration into European
structures, local agencies reported on 15 August, quoting an interview with a
British publication. Snegur said that joining those structures would provide
guarantees for consolidating Moldovan statehood and implementing democratic
and economic reforms. He promised that his administration would work out a
coherent program for cooperation with the EU, the Council of Europe, and the
Western European Union. Snegur's main opponents in the fall presidential
election--Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli and Parliamentary Speaker Petru
Lucinschi--are widely seen as favoring closer relations with the CIS and
Russia rather than with Western Europe. -- Dan Ionescu
[16] BULGARIANS GET INFO FROM STATE MEDIA BUT DON'T TRUST IT.
According to a poll published in Standart on 16 August, the vast majority of
Bulgarians living in Sofia and Plovdiv receive information on domestic affairs
from the state media. Some 74% of respondents said state TV was their main
source of information on events in Bulgaria and another 10% said state radio.
Only 9% get their information from newspapers and 3% from private radio
stations. At the same time, 56% of respondents said the news coverage and
commentary of the state media is politically biased. -- Stefan Krause
[17] ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER CALLS FOR "CIVIL BOYCOTT."
Fatos Nano, in an interview with Koha Jone on 15 August, called for a "civil
boycott of President Sali Berisha's illegal regime." Nano said he hoped that
Berisha could be forced to the negotiating table, thereby increasing the
chances of a change of government. He called on other opposition parties to
continue their boycott of the parliament, adding that his goals are to approve
a new constitution and to reach agreement on a date for early parliamentary
elections. Nano also said that there are serious disagreements within the
Socialist leadership over reform of the party's statute and program. He has
demanded that all references to Marxism be dropped from the program and that
long-time communist officials be removed from the party leadership. A
Socialists party congress is scheduled for 24 August. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Jan Cleave
News and information as of 1200 CET
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media
Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in
Prague, Czech Republic.
For more information on OMRI publications please write to info@omri.cz.
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