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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 77, 97-07-21Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 77, 21 July 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT IN U.S.Eduard Shevardnadze met with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington on 18 July and discussed Georgia's role in the transportation of Caspian oil. Clinton expressed support for routing a major export pipeline from Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan via Georgia, according to the "Financial Times" on 21 July. U.S. officials told Shevardnadze they want part of the oil transported to the Georgian port of Supsa to be shipped to Ukraine for pumping to Western Europe. Clinton praised Shevardnadze's role in furthering democratization and market reform in Georgia and the country's commitment to the defense of human rights. The two presidents issued a written statement pledging "to work together actively to expand cooperation throughout the foreign policy, security, economic and commercial spheres."[02] NEW PROPOSAL TO RESOLVE ABKHAZ CONFLICTAlso at their 18 July meeting, Shevardnadze and Clinton called for the resumption of talks on Abkhazia under the aegis of the UN and with the participation of Russia and the Western states that constitute the "Friends of Georgia" group, Reuters reported. Shevardnadze told journalists the next day that he believes Russia has "exhausted its potential" for mediating a solution to the conflict but should continue to participate in negotiations. He added that Russian troops could also participate in a new peacekeeping force under UN auspices, according to ITAR-TASS. At a press conference on 19 July, Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev argued that the Russian peacekeepers should remain in Abkhazia after their mandate expires on 31 July. Abkhaz Prime Minister Sergei Bagapsh rejected the proposed replacement of Russian peacekeepers by a UN force, which, he said, Tbilisi would try to use to enforce a Bosnian-type settlement of the conflict, Interfax reported.[03] AZERBAIJAN PROPOSES AMENDMENTS TO KARABAKH PEACE PLANAzerbaijan has proposed additions to the latest peace plan submitted by the co-chairmen of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe's Minsk Group to the leaderships of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh in May, Russian agencies reported. The co-chairmen met in Baku on 18 July with Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev. Azerbaijani presidential adviser Vafa Gulu-zade said Azerbaijan will never give up the towns of Lachin (located outside Karabakh but currently under Armenian control) and Shusha but that it will agree to the continued use of the Lachin transit corridor, which is the sole overland link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Aliev expressed optimism that a solution to the conflict will be reached this year, while the U.S. co-chairman said the impetus for resolving the conflict must come from the involved parties and that the mediators can only contribute to the process.[04] SPLIT IN ARMENIAN RULING PARTY IMMINENT?Eduard Yegoryan, chairman of the parliamentary commission on state and legal affairs, told journalists in Yerevan on 18 July that he intends to form a new parliamentary faction, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Yegoryan said he has resigned from the ruling board of the Armenian Pan- National Movement, to which he was elected on 13 July, and that he no longer considers himself a member of the movement. He said he is ready to cooperate with any opposition party, and will do everything in his power to prevent the movement from winning the next parliamentary and presidential elections. Yegoryan said that more than one-third of the APNM's members support him, Noyan Tapan reported.[05] TAJIKS EXCHANGE PRISONERS...The Tajik government and United Tajik Opposition (UTO) began exchanging war prisoners on 18 July, according to RFE/RL correspondents in Tajikistan. But while each side was supposed to exchange 50 men, the government handed over only 48 prisoners and the UTO 49. Unspecified "technical reasons" were cited for the deficit. The two sides plan more exchanges soon, but a group called the Parents Committee of War Prisoners from the Leninabad Region is also negotiating for the release of government soldiers held by opposition field commanders. A spokesperson for the committee told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that they have already negotiated the release of more than 100 POWs and reunited them with their parents in northern Tajikistan.[06] ...BUT SOME PROBLEMS REMAINAccording to RFE/RL corespondents in Tajikistan, a bomb went off in Dushanbe near the State Opera House on 17 July. Slight damage was reported to the theater, but no one was injured. The following day, Russian border guards wounded and then detained two men who tried to smuggle more than 36 kg of opium across the Afghan border into Tajikistan. The two smugglers were given covering fire from the Afghan side of the border. Border guards have seized more than 800 kg of drugs along the Tajik-Afghan border so far this year.[07] UZBEK PRESIDENT CRITICIZES KARAKALPAK OFFICIALSIslam Karimov visited the Karakalpak Autonomous Republic in Uzbekistan on 17 July, Interfax reported. Karimov told an extraordinary session of the local parliament that the region's leadership is responsible for a "gigantic cash deficit." Karimov pointed out that gross income in Karakalpak fell by 16 percent and agricultural output by 22 percent during the past three years. He added that targets for cotton and rice production have not been met. Karakalpak parliamentary speaker Ubaniez Ashirbekov was sacked and replaced by an official recommended by Karimov. Karakalpakia is likely the poorest region in Uzbekistan and suffers considerably from the ecological effects of the shrinking Aral Sea.[08] KYRGYZ PARTIES ADVOCATE JOINING RUSSIA-BELARUS UNIONEleven political parties and movements issued a statement on 18 July calling for Kyrgyzstan to join the union between Russia and Belarus, Interfax reported. "The Union of Russia and Belarus has become a reality, despite the titanic resistance mounted by those who worked for the destruction of the USSR," the statement said. It also noted that such a union is the only way to avoid "further economic and political disintegration in the sovereign republics." Among the statement's signatories are the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, the Agrarian Labor Party, the Popular Movement for Union and Brotherhood of Peoples, and the Slavic Fund. Usen Sydykov, the leader of the Agrarian Labor Party, said the head of the new union should be Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, whom he described as a "man of strong will and firm hand."[09] TURKISH PRESIDENT IN KYRGYZSTANSuleyman Demirel on 18 July wrapped up his two-day official visit to Kyrgyzstan, Turkish media and RFE/RL correspondents reported. Demirel told the Issyk-Kul 97 Forum that the revival of the silk route will link "spiritual values" between Europe and Asia. He also stressed the important geopolitical role Central Asia has played but said only "constitutional democracy" can ensure that all ethnic groups in the region have equal rights or the "guarantee of the right to be different." Demirel also met with Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev and discussed bilateral relations.[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PRESIDENT REMAINS DEFIANT...Biljana Plavsic said in Doboj on 20 July that she is "relieved" by the governing Serbian Democratic Party's (SDS) decision the previous night to expel her from the SDS. She added that she will now have more time and energy to devote to the presidency. She also shrugged off the party's call for her to give up that office in favor of Vice President Dragoljub Mirjanic. Asked about Radovan Karadzic's role in corruption, Plavsic said that "nothing happens [on the black market] without his knowledge." Western media reported on 19 July that Plavsic had told the German weekly "Der Spiegel" that she is willing to use the army and police to arrest Karadzic. She charged that her predecessor "murders his own people" and has let himself "be dragged into the criminal underworld."[11] ...WHILE HER ENEMIES KEEP UP PRESSUREThe official Pale news agency SRNA said that top officials from the police and army met in Bijeljina on 20 July and gave their backing to Plavsic's opponents. No independent confirmation of the story is available. The Pale media have previously misrepresented the views of the army, which has generally sided with Plavsic. The police, however, are the most important armed force in the Republika Srpska, and they are loyal to Karadzic. BETA, meanwhile, reported that Pale Television charged Plavsic is trying to ingratiate herself with Western governments and the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. The station claimed she knows that the court has indicted her for war crimes and is trying to "save her own head [by offering up] the heads of some other Serbs."[12] RELATIONS BETWEEN NATO, BOSNIAN SERBS TENSESome 11 French and Italian armored personnel carriers assembled together about 50 yards from the home of Radovan Karadzic in Pale on 19 July while a NATO helicopter hovered overhead. A NATO spokesman in Sarajevo later claimed, however, that "there is no unusual patrolling activity in Pale." In recent days, explosions took place near the homes or vehicles of SFOR or UN personnel in Doboj, Mrkonjic Grad, and Prijedor. The Vienna daily "Die Presse" wrote on 18 July that SFOR is on special alert after receiving a written threat signed by a group calling itself the Black Hand. The group dubbed SFOR "an occupying army" and said the peacekeepers would "go home in coffins." The original Black Hand was a Serbian nationalist group founded in 1911 with strong links to the Serbian army. It was involved in the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914.[13] UN OFFICIAL SAYS TUDJMAN WILL LET SERBS GO HOMEBill Richardson, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said in Vukovar on 20 July that Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had told him the previous day that Serbian refugees with Croatian citizenship may return home. Richardson said that the U.S. welcomes Tudjman's comments and that "Croatia's behavior will be a test of its readiness to be integrated into Western institutions," an RFE/RL correspondent reported from the eastern Slavonian town. Meanwhile in Zagreb, Jaksa Muljacic, the Croatian ambassador to the Netherlands, told state-run television that Croatia will not honor a ultimatum from the Hague- based war crimes tribunal. The court has given Croatia one month to supply key documents in the case of Gen. Tihomir Blaskic and for Defense Minister Gojko Susak to appear in The Hague. Muljacic said that the court does not have the authority to issue such demands to sovereign states.[14] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS SAY BERISHA IS STALLINGThe Socialist Party said in a statement on 20 July that President Sali Berisha is deliberately avoiding convening the new parliament, in which the Socialists and their allies have a large majority. The text also charged that Berisha refuses to say when he will resign, although he has promised to leave office. The Socialists added that Berisha's delays threaten to upset the timetable for a series of international gatherings aimed at drafting plans for foreign assistance to Albania. The Socialists, furthermore, threatened to call a session of the parliament themselves if Berisha does not do so. AFP said that Berisha is reluctant to step down before he has tried all possible means to block his arch-rival Fatos Nano from becoming prime minister. The Socialists argue that Berisha has no role in determining the composition of the next government.[15] ALBANIAN ELECTION COMMISSION ANNOUNCES FINAL RESULTSThe Central Election Commission stated on 19 July in Tirana that the Socialists won 100 out of the 155 mandates in the 29 June ballot. The Socialists allies took 17 seats, thereby giving the new coalition more than the two-thirds majority it needs to change the constitution. Berisha's Democrats have 27 seats. Meanwhile, the first Italian peacekeepers to leave Albania returned home on 19 July after bad weather prevented their leaving the previous day. Killings and kidnappings are reported to continue unabated in the south. In one recent incident, gangs crossed into Greece and kidnapped Greek farmers, whom the gangs then held for ransom. Albanian police said in Gjirokaster on 21 July that Greece has closed the main border crossing at Kakavia.[16] SWISS PROTEST ROMANIAN ESPIONAGE ACTIVITIESThe Swiss Foreign Ministry has protested espionage activities carried out by Romania (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 and 18 July 1997), the independent news agency Mediafax reported on 19 July. President Emil Constantinescu has instructed Radu Boroianu, Romania's ambassador-designate to Bern, and the Ministry of Justice to collaborate with the Swiss authorities. He said that if evidence is produced of involvement by the Romanian Intelligence Service, those responsible will be dismissed. The Romanian Foreign Ministry on 18 July said it is willing to cooperate with the Swiss authorities. Foreign Minister Adrian Severin told Mediafax the next day that the ministry is conducting an inquiry into the case, stressing that the ministry and the presidential office are "in no way" involved in it.[17] ROMANIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS APPEAL AGAINST TREATY WITH UKRAINEThe Constitutional court on 18 July rejected an appeal against the treaty with Ukraine submitted by half of the judges at the Supreme Court (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 1997). The Constitutional Court said the appeal was made after President Constantinescu had promulgated the law on the treaty previously ratified by the parliament. Also on 18 July, the Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by a group of deputies and senators against a law recently passed by the parliament on the reorganization of the judiciary system. The court ruling that the law was in line with the basic document.[18] BILINGUAL SIGNS TAKEN DOWN IN ROMANIAThe Targu Mures prefect on 19 July ordered that six signs in both the Hungarian and Romanian languages be taken down. The prefect acted on the orders of the government after unidentified persons painted the colors of the Romanian national flag on the signs, which had been put the previous day. The government says the signs have first to be approved by the local government council. The Executive Committee of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania said on 20 July that the dismantling of the signs "is in violation of international accords signed by Romania" and "gravely affect the process of the country's democratization." In line with a recent government ordinance, bilingual signs are allowed where ethnic minorities make up 20 percent or more of the population.[19] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS NEW DEPUTY CHAIRMANThe parliament on 18 July elected Andrei Diaconu as its new deputy chairman. Diaconu, who represents the Agrarian Democratic Party of Moldova, was elected with the support of the Socialist Unity-Edinstvo faction, which is the second-largest group in the legislature. Socialist Unity-Edinstvo conditioned its support on the dismissal of former Deputy Chairman Dumitru Diacov, a supporter of President Petru Lucinschi. Diacov's dismissal was approved by the legislature one day earlier (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 18 July 1997), Infotag and BASA-press reported. In other news, the Moldovan Ecologist Party on 18 July joined the Democratic Convention of Moldova opposition alliance, which was formed in June by the Party of Revival and Accord and the Popular Christian Democratic Front. The three parties appealed to the opposition to unite before the parliamentary elections scheduled for 1998.[20] CHISINAU ACCUSES TIRASPOL OF PROCRASTINATIONAnatol Taranu, the head of the Moldovan delegation to negotiations with the breakaway region of Transdniester, has accused Tiraspol of procrastinating on reaching an agreement based on the memorandum signed in Moscow in early May. Taranu told Infotag on 18 July that the Transdniester authorities are attempting to circumvent the basic principle of the memorandum, which recognizes Moldova's territorial integrity. He also said that while Chisinau has agreed that negotiations be based on a draft proposed by the presidents of Russia and Ukraine and by the OSCE representatives in June, Tiraspol has "still not given a clear answer" on that issue. He also said Tiraspol's representatives rejected Chisinau's proposal that the two sides' experts meet twice a week, instead of once, in order to step up the negotiations.[C] END NOTE[21] MORE THAN A VOICE BUT LESS THAN A VETOby Paul Goble.The first organizational meeting of the NATO-Russia Joint Council suggests that Moscow is likely to have more than a voice but less than a veto in future decisions by the Western alliance. The 18 July session seems certain to exacerbate rather than end the debate between those like U.S. President Bill Clinton who argue that the council gives Russia a say but not a veto in NATO affairs and others, like former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who believe Moscow has gained an effective, if not explicit, veto. The body's inaugural session had to be delayed by one day because the Western alliance refused to give into a Russian demand for a modification of the 27 May Founding Act that established the council. That accord calls for body to have three co-chairmen--the NATO secretary-general, a representative of Russia, and a representative of NATO member countries selected on a rotating basis. Russian ambassador Vitalii Churkin argued that there should be only two co- chairmen, one representing the alliance and another representing Russia. NATO members refused to comply, lending support to the claim that Russia will not have a veto in the council. But at the same time, the alliance did concede that the chairmanship would rotate among the three chairmen from one session to the next. As a result of that concession to Moscow, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana chaired the first part of the meeting, the NATO member representative (in this case, the Belgian ambassador) the second, and the Russian ambassador the third. Critics who argue that the NATO-Russia Founding Act gives Moscow a veto over the alliance's actions are likely to see this diplomatic arrangement as a confirmation of their position. But the outcome of the 18 July meeting fails to fully vindicate the position of either side. Rather, it suggests the new council will give Russia more than simply a voice but not a genuine veto if NATO leaders are prepared to stand their ground. There are three reasons for drawing this intermediate conclusion. First, the NATO countries are very publicly committed to making the council work. Confident that NATO members will not want to be blamed for any breakdown in the talks, Russia will seek to expand its influence by making demands. Second, the likelihood that NATO will seek to adapt its position so as to avoid antagonizing Russia will extend not only to those issues that NATO agrees to include on the agenda of the council but also to those that NATO leaders may feel should not be discussed there. At the next meeting of the council on 11 September, NATO and Russia are scheduled to discuss Bosnia. When talking about that issue with Moscow, NATO countries will find it hard to exclude military issues that they have said will not be discussed by the joint council. As a result, Russia will gain influence over matters in which, according to the Founding Act, it has no say. Moreover, Moscow will be able to extend its voice on issues NATO might refuse to discuss in the joint council by linking agreement on something discussed there to a NATO concession on matters that the council had never had before it. And the expectation that the Russian government will do that is likely to become an implicit part of the calculations of NATO planners. That too will mean that Russia's voice will only grow with time. Third, as the procedural debate makes clear, NATO can block or simply ignore Russian demands if the alliance is united and if its most important members indicate they are prepared to stand up to Moscow on any issue-- large or small. This last point illustrates that Russia does not have the simple veto that President Boris Yeltsin and Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov have claimed. But the certainty that Russia will exploit divisions within the alliance and the desire of many of NATO members to reach agreement almost certainly means that the council will give Russia a much larger and more influential voice than the text of the Founding Act suggested. Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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