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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 11, 97-04-15
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 11, 15 April 1997
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA REJECTS AZERBAIJAN'S CLAIM ON ZOD.
[02] BAKU COURT SENTENCES ISLAMISTS.
[03] AZERBAIJAN CENSORS CUT ARTICLE ON DETAINED FORMER INTERIOR MINISTER.
[04] NO TALKS BUT MORE DETENTIONS IN TAKJIKISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] OPERATION ALBA GETS UNDERWAY.
[06] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT TIGHTENS GRIP ON PARTY.
[07] ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER BACKS INTERVENTION FORCE.
[08] TUDJMAN'S PARTY STILL STRONGEST IN CROATIA.
[09] VOTING ENDS IN EASTERN SLAVONIA.
[10] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS SAY THEY ARE UNITED.
[11] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT BLASTS SECRET SERVICE.
[12] ROMANIAN SENATE APPROVES BANK PRIVATIZATION BILL.
[13] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH OPPOSITION LEADERS.
[14] BULGARIAN STATE OIL REFINERY TO BE PRIVATIZED.
[15] BULGARIAN ELECTION UPDATE.
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIA REJECTS AZERBAIJAN'S CLAIM ON ZOD.
An Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman has rejected as "unfounded" an
Azerbaijani claim that 70% of the Zod gold deposits, located close to
Armenia's frontier with Azerbaijan, are on Azerbaijani territory and that
Armenian exploitation of the deposits is therefore "illegal," Armenian
agencies reported on 11 April. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofik
Zulfugarov reportedly made the claim early last week, and an unidentified
geologist quoted by Turan on 10 April backed his statement. The U.S.-
Armenian joint venture Global Gold Armenia plans to double the annual
output of the Zod and Meghradzor mines to 18 metric tons by 2000, which
would make Armenia the world's 13th largest gold producer.
[02] BAKU COURT SENTENCES ISLAMISTS.
Following a seven-week trial, a Baku court yesterday sentenced four members
of the banned Islamic Party of Azerbaijan to 10-11 years in prison on
charges of treason. Public prosecutor Bahram Zahidov told Turan last week
that the men have given written testimony that they collaborated with, and
received funding from, Iranian intelligence "in the name of the victory of
Islam in Azerbaijan." Reuters, however, quotes party leader Alikram Aliev
as denying in court any involvement with the Iranian security services and
claiming that the trial was "a provocation set up by the KGB." A fifth man
received a two-year sentence for preparing false passports for the other
accused.
[03] AZERBAIJAN CENSORS CUT ARTICLE ON DETAINED FORMER INTERIOR MINISTER.
Azerbaijani parliamentary chairman Murtuz Alesqerov has threatened to
revoke the mandates of deputies who signed an appeal calling for the
release of former Interior Minister Iskander Hamidov from solitary
confinement. An article reporting that 20 deputies (both opposition and pro-
government) have requested clemency for Hamidov because of his failing
health was scheduled to appear in Zerkalo on 12 April but was cut by the
censors, according to the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan. Hamidov, head
of the nationalist Grey Wolves, was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment in
1995 for large-scale theft of state property. Although Zerkalo routinely
appears with blank spaces where censors have cut material deemed
inappropriate for publication, President Heidar Aliev continues to insist
there is freedom of the press in Azerbaijan.
[04] NO TALKS BUT MORE DETENTIONS IN TAKJIKISTAN.
RFE/RL's Dushanbe bureau have confirmed that Tajik President Imomali
Rakhmonov spoke on the telephone yesterday with United Tajik Opposition
(UTO) leader Abdullo Nuri. Rakhmonov told Nuri that the government is
committed to negotiations with the UTO, but he admitted that eight of its
members are being detained in Moscow in connection with terrorist attacks
on Russian servicemen in Tajikistan. Last week, peace talks in Tehran broke
up following reports of their detention. Meanwhile, two members of the
opposition were detained in southern Tajikistan on the weekend, and another
two were taken into custody in the Faizabad region sometime last week.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] OPERATION ALBA GETS UNDERWAY.
The deployment of an Italian-led multinational force in Albania began today
at dawn. A French naval ship arrived in the western port city of Durres,
and its marine commandos secured the port. More troops and a shipment of
400 tons of food aid are also due today in Durres. Meanwhile, the first of
six Italian military aircraft carrying paratroopers has landed at Tirana's
airport. An advance unit of about 100 Italian troops arrived in Albania on
Friday. The total force will number about 6,000 and will seek to secure aid
deliveries.
[06] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT TIGHTENS GRIP ON PARTY.
At a meeting of the National Council of President Sali Berisha's Democratic
Party late Sunday, the majority firmly rebuffed 13 dissidents who had
challenged his control over the party. The council also sacked three
leading dissidents from the party presidency: former Finance Minister
Dylber Vrioni and former Deputy Prime Ministers Dashamir Shehi and Bashkim
Kopliku. Berisha's position was further strengthened by the naming of his
closest aide, Genc Pollo, as secretary-general of the party.
[07] ALBANIAN SOCIALIST LEADER BACKS INTERVENTION FORCE.
Fatos Nano says the Italian-led mission is necessary to stabilize Albania.
Nano was speaking to RFE/RL's Russian Service by telephone yesterday. He
said the multinational force has his full backing and that political trends
in the country are moving against President Sali Berisha, whom he blames
for much of the current crisis. Nano was prime minister in one of the post-
communist transition governments in 1991 but until recently was imprisoned
for embezzlement. His backers and many foreign human rights organizations
say the charges against him were politically motivated.
[08] TUDJMAN'S PARTY STILL STRONGEST IN CROATIA.
Unofficial results of Croatia's local and parliamentary elections on 13
April show voters endorsed the status quo, with the largest group backing
the nationalist Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) of President Franjo
Tudjman. The unofficial results, obtained by an RFE/RL correspondent in
Zagreb, show the HDZ has increased its majority in the upper house of
parliament. They also show that Tudjman's party has a slight lead in
elections for the crucial Zagreb City Council, controlling 24 out of 50
seats. The opposition has won other key cities, such as Rijeka, Osijek,
Split, and Dubrovnik.
[09] VOTING ENDS IN EASTERN SLAVONIA.
UN spokesmen, U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith, and local Serb
leader Vojislav Stanimirovic all said in Vukovar on Monday that the vote in
eastern Slavonia was largely free and fair. UN officials nonetheless
blasted Croatian authorities for not delivering enough ballot papers and
for irregularities in the voting lists. Polls closed early yesterday
evening after a second day of voting in Croatia's last Serb-held area.
First results in the vote for local and county offices are due later today.
The Serbs put forward a united slate, but the Croatian vote is likely to be
split between several parties.
[10] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS SAY THEY ARE UNITED.
Vuk Draskovic, Zoran Djindjic, and Vesna Pesic of the Zajedno coalition say
the "crisis of confidence" is now behind them and that they will stick to
cooperation agreements they signed earlier, an RFE/RL correspondent
reported from Belgrade. The three leaders met yesterday in the Serbian
capital to discuss their differences, which recently became public.
Djindjic had objected to Draskovic's decision to run as a joint
presidential candidate in the Serbian parliamentary and presidential
elections due by the end of the year.
[11] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT BLASTS SECRET SERVICE.
Speaking in Podgorica yesterday, Momir Bulatovic attacked the State
Security Service (SDB) and called for an urgent session of the parliament
to look into what he called its "violations of human rights and citizens'
freedoms." An RFE/RL correspondent in Podgorica says this is the latest
episode in the dispute between Bulatovic and some members of his party and
of the government over ties to President Slobodan Milosevic. Bulatovic
recently tried unsuccessfully to sack three ministers, including SDB chief
Vukasin Maras.
[12] ROMANIAN SENATE APPROVES BANK PRIVATIZATION BILL.
The Senate yesterday approved the bill on the privatization of banks, an
RFE/RL correspondent in Bucharest reported. The bill, which will now be
debated by the Chamber of Deputies, frees three-quarters of the banking
system from state control. Ninety percent of the shares of each bank to be
privatized will be offered for sale to Romanian or foreign investors, and
the remaining 10% will be retained by the State Property Fund. Only leading
international banks and financial institutions will be allowed to acquire
more than 20% of the shares in a single bank. The bank privatization bill
is one of the major pieces of legislation stipulated by the IMF and the
World Bank as a condition for loans.
[13] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH OPPOSITION LEADERS.
At his own request, Emil Constantinescu yesterday met with parliamentary
opposition leaders to discuss laws aimed at promoting economic reforms and
ways to prevent social unrest after the passage of the legislation,
RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. At the meeting, the opposition
protested what it called the government's "political cleansing" policies in
the public economic sector. Neither Ion Iliescu, former president and
leader of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, nor Corneliu Vadim
Tudor, leader of the Greater Romania Party (PRM), attended the meeting,
opting instead to send their deputies. Iliescu said he will participate in
such discussions only if his party is invited to a separate meeting with
Constantinescu or if all parliamentary parties are present. Tudor, a former
Ceausescu "court poet," is currently in Libya attending a poetry festival.
[14] BULGARIAN STATE OIL REFINERY TO BE PRIVATIZED.
The Bulgarian caretaker government yesterday approved a Privatization
Agency proposal to sell up to 75% of the Neftochim oil refinery, located in
the Black Sea port city of Burgas. RFE/RL's correspondent in Sofia reported
that the only known bidder for the state-owned refinery to date is the
Russian company Rossinvestneft. Neftochim's assets are estimated to be
worth more than $9 million, but the company has debts totaling nearly $6
million. Meanwhile, caretaker premier Stefan Sofiyanski has left for Moscow
to resume talks on the construction of transit pipelines on Bulgarian
territory and Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria (see RFE/RL Newsline, 9 and
11 April 1997).
[15] BULGARIAN ELECTION UPDATE.
Ahmed Dogan, leader of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms
(DPS), yesterday canceled an election rally in the DPS stronghold of
Kardzhali. The move was in protest against police raids the same day on
properties belonging to Elzhan Rashid, one of the country's wealthiest
ethnic Turk businessmen, RFE/RLÕs local corespondent reported. Police
seized firearms, counterfeit foreign currency, and a substance believed to
be heroin. Rashid himself was beaten after he put up resistance. Dogan
denounced the police action as a Òprovocation against ethnic peaceÓ aimed
at discrediting ethnic Turk businessmen on the eve of the 19 April
parliamentary elections. Dogan said many corrupt businessmen in Kardzhali
were protected by groups close to the United Democratic Forces and the
Socialists.
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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