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Voice of America, 00-02-27Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>CONTENTS
[01] KOSOVO ATTACK (S&L) BY STEFAN BOS (BUDAPEST)DATE=2/27/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-259616 INTERNET=YES CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Yugoslavia is preparing to send more police to the southern region of Serbia near the border of Kosovo province, where ethnic Albanians reportedly ambushed a Serbian police patrol. Belgrade says a Serbian policeman and an ethnic Albanian were killed and three police officers wounded in a shootout following the ambush. Stefan Bos reports from Budapest that Serbian officials have accused Albanians in Kosovo of mounting a campaign of terror. TEXT: The Interior Ministry of (the Yugoslav Republic of) Serbia says a group of what it describes as "Albanian terrorists" entered Serbia from Kosovo late Saturday, and attacked a Serbian police patrol with automatic weapons and hand grenades. Serbian officials say the incident ocurrred near the village of Konculj, 280-kilometers southeast of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade. The Interior Ministry says the police patrol returned fire, killing (Fatmir Ibisi) a member of the Kosovo Protection Force, which is made up of soldiers of the officially disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army. On the Serb side, a policeman (Slavisa Dimitrijevic) was reportedly killed and three other police officers were wounded by the Albanian attackers. Yugoslavia's state-run television network showed footage of a police van riddled with bulletholes. Since NATO peacekeepers were deployed in Kosovo in June, the boundary area has seen an increase of ethnically motivated incidents. /// REST OPT FOR LONG VERSION ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [02] TURKEY/KURDS (L-ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)DATE=2/26/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-259599 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Lawyers for three Kurdish mayors arrested for their alleged links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or P-K-K, say their clients deny all the charges. As Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara, four mayors from the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party were suspended from their duties Friday and are being held at a maximum security prison in the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. TEXT: In comments published in the pro-Kurdish
newspaper, Ozgur Bakis, Mayor Feridun Celik of
Diyarbakir, who was suspended from his duties together
with the mayors of neighboring Agri, Bingol and Siirt
over alleged links with the P-K-K, denied charges he
had met with a senior P-K-K military commander in
Europe.
Mr. Celik said he was blindfolded during four days of
interrogation at police headquarters in Diyarbakir and
subjected to physical harassment. If convicted, the
mayors could face more than four years in jail.
The arrests have provoked strong protests from
European governments. And western diplomats in the
capital, Ankara, acknowledge that the crackdown on
leaders of the pro-Kurdish group known as Hadep does
not help Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
On Friday, Hadep leader Ahmet Turan Demir told a news
conference the P-K-K should be allowed to operate as a
political party now that it has called off its 15-year
armed struggle for an independent Kurdish state carved
out of southeast Turkey.
Demir and at least 12 other Hadep officials, including
the mayor of Agri, were sentenced to nearly four years
in prison by a Turkish court Thursday for staging a
hunger strike in 1998 in support of condemned P-K-K
leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Ocalan was sentenced to death on treason charges by a
Turkish court last year. But the Turkish government
agreed to postpone the execution pending a review by
the European Court in Strasbourg.
Since his arrest over a year ago, Ocalan has sought to
transform his campaign for Kurdish rights into a
political movement.
P-K-K rebels are accused of killing hundreds of
innocent civilians, including women and children,
during their insurgency. Both Turkey and the United
States have labeled the P-K-K a "terrorist group."
According to Turkish analysts, the crackdown on Hadep
shows the government is not willing to allow
advocacy of Kurdish rights by legitimate political
groups either. Some 37 Kurdish mayors won office on
Hadep's ticket during nationwide elections last year.
The party is facing closure, however, on charges of
acting as a "political front" for the P-K-K.
Party officials deny the charges but make no secret of
their sympathy for Ocalan and his movement. (Signed)
[03] GERMANY/ELECTION (L-ONLY) BY JONATHAN BRAUDE (BERLIN)DATE=2/27/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-259615 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Exit polls in elections in Germany's northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, suggest the ruling Social Democrat-Green Party coalition will stay in power. They also indicate Christian Democrats Union leader Volker Ruehe will find it that much harder to campaign for the opposition party's national chairmanship. Jonathan Braude reports from Berlin. TEXT: These are not the final figures, but the
outcome, is clear - Heide Simonis, Schleswig-
Holstein's Social Democrat chief minister, will serve
another four-year term. Early results give her party
more than 41-per-cent of the vote.
Her coalition partner, the environmentalist Green
Party - which feared it might fail to make it into
parliament this time - did well enough to stay in the
coalition. The Green Party won more than seven-
percent, which makes it the fourth largest party.
And the Christian Democratic opposition stays in the
opposition. Its 35-percent result is not only too
small to give it a majority even in coalition with the
Liberal Free Democrats, it is also proof of the damage
done by the slush-funds scandal that has destroyed the
party's popularity nationwide since November.
And that, according to his earlier statements, will
also be enough to stop the C-D-U's Schleswig-Holstein
leader, Volker Ruehe, from running for the party's
national leadership.
But that may not be his final word. Commentators say
one reason for his poor showing in Schleswig-Holstein
has been his frequent changes of mind during the
national leadership campaign.
The favorite to win the national chairmanship when the
party votes in April is the C-D-U's general secretary,
Angela Merkel. (SIGNED)
[04] AUSTRIA-SCHUESSEL BY STEFAN BOS (VIENNA)DATE=2/26/2000TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT NUMBER=5-45526 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel says there was no other alternative than the formation of a new Austrian government including the controversial, far-right, Freedom Party. Mr. Schuessel made the remarks in an interview with V-O-A news following weeks of protests against Austria's new government coalition. As Stefan Bos reports from Vienna, the Austrian chancellor also called on the European Union and the United States to end the diplomatic isolation of his country. TEXT: /// Schuessel Act ////// End Act ////// Opt ////// Schuessel Act ///... deal with our past, to offer something, to offer compensation to the Nazi forced labor, to do something regarding Holocaust-related issues what previous governments did not do. /// End Act ////// Begin Opt ////// Riesspasser Act ////// Sub-Opt ////// End Opt ////// Schuessel Act ////// End Act ///NEB/SB/JP 26-Feb-2000 10:21 AM EDT (26-Feb-2000 1521 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |