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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 1, No. 179, 97-12-15Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 1, No. 179, 15 December 1997CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN COURT SENTENCES OPPOSITION ACTIVISTSThe Supreme Court on 12 December concluded handing down prison sentences in the trial of 31 members and supporters of the opposition Dashnak party (HHD), which was suspended by President Levon Ter-Petrossyan in December 1994. The defendants were arrested in July 1995 and brought to trial in March 1996 on charges of publicly calling for the overthrow of the Armenian government. Initial charges of plotting a coup, terrorism, and high treason were dropped because of lack of evidence. The key defendant, Vahan Hovanissian, received a four-year prison sentence. The court found four other defendants guilty of the murder of two policemen during their arrest and handed down a death sentence to one of them (see "End Note" below). LF[02] ARMENIAN INDEPENDENT UNION HOLDS FOUNDING CONGRESSAt its founding congress in Yerevan on 12 December, the Federation of Independent Labor Unions (AAMD) announced that its objectives are to create new jobs, protect workers' rights, and promote private pension funds, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The AAMD will represent the interests of workers from various sectors of the economy, including some journalists and other workers in the mass media. It harshly criticized the official Confederation of Labor Unions of Armenia for what it considers too close ties with the government and disregard of workers' rights. In a statement published in "Azg" on 11 December, the confederation accused the government of preventing it from protecting workers' rights. It also harshly criticized the cabinet's new draft law on social insurance. LF[03] GEORGIAN PIPELINE TO BE COMPLETED BY OCTOBER 1998The 388.5 kilometer pipeline carrying early oil from the Caspian basin across Georgia will be completed by October 1998, officials at the Georgian International Oil Corporation told ITAR-TASS on 13 December. PG[04] THREE CENTRAL ASIAN PRESIDENTS MEETAskar Akayev and Islam Karimov, the presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan met with their Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in the new Kazakh capital, Akmola, on 12 December, RFE/RL correspondents and ITAR-TASS reported. The leaders of the three countries that compose the Central Asian Union signed a protocol establishing three international consortia for energy and water resources, food production, and minerals and raw materials. At the same time, they expressed dissatisfaction that trade between their countries is down on 1996 levels. BP[05] TURAJONZODA TO RETURN TO TAJIKISTANAli Akbar Turajonzoda, formerly the head Muslim cleric of Tajikistan and currently the deputy leader of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), is expected to return to Tajikistan soon, RFE/RL correspondents reported on 15 December. Turajonzoda, who remained in Tehran despite the fact that UTO leader Said Abdullo Nuri returned to Dushanbe in September, has been expected to receive a post in the new coalition government. In meetings with Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and Nuri on the sidelines of the recent Organization of the Islamic Conference session in Tehran, Turajonzoda was offered and accepted the post of first deputy prime minister. Turajonzoda is reportedly waiting for the official announcement of his new appointment before returning. BP[06] SHAKE-UP WITHIN TAJIK PARLIAMENTAt a 13 December session of the parliament, President Rakhmonov received the legislature's approval to remove eight deputies from their posts and bring charges against them, RFE/RL correspondents and ITAR-TASS reported. All those sacked allegedly were linked to attempts to overthrow the government. Among them was Yakub Salimov, the former chairman of the Customs Committee who is wanted for his role in attacks on government forces led by mutineer Colonel Mahmud Khudaberdiyev in 1996-1997. Rakhmonov told the parliament that if all lawmakers were subject to "intensive" investigation, "half of the seats in the deputies' hall would be empty." BP[07] NAZARBAYEV SUPPORTS USE OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGEPresident Nazarbayev on 13 December said that the citizens of Kazakhstan should continue studying and using both Russian and Kazakh, ITAR-TASS reported. Nazarbayev said he favored "careful introduction" of Kazakh as the state language. He added by the year 2030, Kazakhstan will be "one of the Eurasian centers" and therefore knowledge not only of Kazakh and Russian but also of English will be important. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[08] ROW OVER YUGOSLAV CITIZENSHIP FOR BOSNIAN SERBSYugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic and Momcilo Krajisnik, the Serbian member of the Bosnian joint presidency, signed an agreement on dual citizenship in Belgrade on 13 December. The pact allows Bosnian citizens to hold Yugoslav citizenship as well. In Sarajevo, however, an adviser to Alija Izetbegovic, the Muslim member of the joint presidency, told an RFE/RL correspondent that no agreement on dual citizenship can be legally binding until Sarajevo and Belgrade establish diplomatic relations. Hanns-Heinrich Schumacher, a deputy to High Representative Carlos Westendorp, said on 14 December that the Milutinovic-Krajisnik document is invalid because Krajisnik has no authority to sign international agreements on behalf of Bosnia. Krajisnik said in Pale the previous day that the Serbs in the joint Bosnian parliament will not agree to the proposed law on Bosnian citizenship unless the measure takes into account his agreement with Milutinovic. PM[09] HAGUE'S ARBOUR SLAMS FRENCHLouise Arbour, the chief prosecutor at the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, told "Le Monde" of 13 December that France is deliberately hampering the court's work. She also charged that most indicted war criminals live openly in areas of Bosnia under French SFOR control. Arbour objected to Paris's recently announced policy of not allowing French officers and soldiers to testify in person before the court but to communicate with that body only in writing. The French Foreign Ministry, for its part, denied that Paris is obstructing the court's work and pointed out that France has long been active in peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia. PM[10] BOSNIAN CROATS PROTEST TO TUDJMANPreporod, the leading Bosnian Croat cultural society, sent a letter from Sarajevo to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on 12 December to protest what it called the growing number of arrests and deportations from Croatia of Bosnian Muslim miners. The letter said that many of the Muslims have lived in Croatia for 20 years but have not yet been able to clarify their legal status, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Zagreb. The Croatian Interior Ministry replied in a statement that it will examine each of the Muslims' cases individually and rule on them according to the law. PM[11] CROATIAN CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES ANGER SLOVENIAThe lower house of parliament on 12 December passed a package of constitutional amendments that Tudjman proposed in November (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 December 1997). But the final version of the law names some 10 ethnic minorities, which Tudjman's proposal did not. Slovenes, however, are not included among those named. In Ljubljana, Deputy Prime Minister Marjan Podobnik on 13 December called the exclusion of the Slovenian minority unexpected and disturbing, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. Podobnik said Zagreb's move will prompt Ljubljana to reconsider its support for Croatian membership in European bodies. On 12 December, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek led a delegation to Zagreb to sign a free trade agreement. It is Croatia's first such pact with a member of the Central European Free Trade Association and its first step toward membership in that body. PM[12] SLOVENIA NOT TO BAR EX-COMMUNISTSThe parliament voted by 57 to 22 on 12 December to defeat an opposition- backed measure to bar former Communists from public office. The measure was aimed at President Milan Kucan and at Premier Drnovsek. PM[13] NEW REGIME IN FORCE ON CROATIAN-SERBIAN FRONTIERAs of 14 December, residents of eastern Slavonia require a Croatian passport with a Yugoslav visa or a special border pass to enter Serbia. Previously, the mainly Serbian population could cross the frontier with only an identity card. The Croatian police have recently issued some 4,000 special border passes. PM[14] PRISTINA STUDENTS DEMAND POLITICAL UNITYRepresentatives of some 900 students at the underground Albanian-language University of Pristina have presented a petition to the leaders of the eight main Kosovar political parties, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Pristina on 12 December. The students demanded that the parties sink their differences and unite as a first step toward promoting the broad unity of all Kosovars. PM[15] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT TO CUT 15,000 STATE JOBS...Prime Minister Fatos Nano said after a meeting with IMF representatives in Tirana on 13 December that his government wants to raise public sector wages by 20 percent but also cut 15,000 jobs in that sector next year The government also hopes to help create 73,000 new jobs in the private sector. Of the 267,000 people currently employed by the government, some150, 000 work in the government administration. Albania has 162,000 registered unemployed, while another 155,000 families receive welfare payments. The average monthly salary in the state sector is $55, according to "Gazeta Shqiptare." FS[16] ...BUT EXPECTS ECONOMIC STABILIZATIONAlso on 13 December, spokesman Ben Blushi said that the government expects to reduce inflation from 40 percent in 1997 to 20 percent the following year. It also hopes to increase GDP growth from 7.5 percent to about 10 percent. By consolidating and streamlining the collection of taxes and customs duties, the government expects to reduce the budget deficit to $170 million, down from $333 million in 1997. Blushi added that customs revenues have increased from $10 million last year to $28 million for the period September-10 December 1997 alone, partly owing to higher tariffs. FS[17] BERISHA ACCUSED OF SMUGGLINGFormer Finance Minister Genc Ruli told "Koha Jone" of 13 December that former President Sali Berisha ran smuggling operations from 1992 to 1997. Ruli added that the secret service (SHIK) was at the center of smuggling activities across Albania. Ruli claims that Berisha appointed SHIK officers as heads of the customs and tax police, adding that he "institutionalized smuggling in [the hands] of SHIK and a gang linked to it." In 1995, Berisha accused Ruli of involvement in smuggling, but the parliament refused to lift his immunity so that he could be prosecuted. The following year, Berisha purged Ruli and party leader Eduard Selami from the Democratic Party. FS[18] HUNGARIAN ALLIANCE TO REMAIN IN ROMANIAN GOVERNMENTThe Council of Representatives of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) on 14 December decided against leaving the cabinet, an RFE/RL correspondent in Cluj reported. UDMR chairman Bela Marko said the decision is conditional on the implementation of agreements reached by the Hungarian formation and the other coalition partners. The UDMR has also said that the continuation of its participation in the governing coalition is conditional on a "firm decision" by its members to "put an end to the nationalist anti-Hungarian campaign that has been on going as of late." The UDMR "cannot be a member of a coalition that tolerates exacerbating nationalism and shrinking the rights of national minorities." Finally, the UDMR has demanded that George Pruteanu, the chairman of the Senate's Education Commission, be replaced. MS[19] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT ON RELATIONS WITH RUSSIAEmil Constantinescu says Romania "acknowledges Russia's great power status and respects Russia's interests." In an interview with "Pravda" cited by Mediafax on 14 December, Constantinescu said that Russia's interests "do not contravene" those of Romania and that the reason for Bucharest's quest to join Euro-Atlantic structures is "not a threat coming from Russia.". He said developing good bilateral relations with Moscow continues to be a "fundamental component" of Romanian foreign policy. MS[20] ROMANIAN CIVIC MOVEMENT SUES FORMER PRESIDENTThe Civic Alliance movement on 12 December announced it is suing former President Ion Iliescu, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Alliance chairwoman Ana Blandiana said the movement will ask the parliament to lift Iliescu's immunity. The decision follows Iliescu's testimony at the trial of miners' leader Miron Cozma. Iliescu had said that, in September 1991, the alliance asked the miners to return to the center of Bucharest from the railway station, where they had gathered in order to leave the capital (see also "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 December 1997). Meanwhile, Iliescu on 12 December said his Party of Social Democracy in Romania may initiate the process of "presidential suspension" if President Constantinescu continues to "infringe on the principle of the separation of powers." MS[21] TIRASPOL SAYS ROMANIA WANTS ANNEXATION OF MOLDOVASeparatist Foreign Minister Valerii Litskay says the "danger" of a Romanian annexation of Moldova is still not over. In an interview with Tiraspol television on 12 December, Litskay said it is "alarming" that Romania, which he claimed "will join NATO in the next five years," has not yet signed a basic treaty with Moldova but has signed such treaties with Hungary and Ukraine, BASA-press reported. Tiraspol Supreme Soviet chairman Grigorii Marakutsa told journalists in Tiraspol the next day that the separatists oppose the State Duma's ratification of the Moldovan- Russian treaty because the document makes no mention of its "political and economic prerogatives." He said a new treaty must be worked out and that Transdniester will demand Moldova accept full integration into CIS political and military structures, join the Russia-Belarus union,. and renounce "unification" with Georgia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan. MS[22] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT ON EU ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIPPetru Lucinschi has sent letters to EU leaders requesting their support for starting negotiations on Moldovan associate membership, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported on 12 December. Lucinschi wrote that Moldova hopes to eventually become a full member of the union but realizes that this is a "complicated and lengthy process." He noted that the application for associate membership is proof that Moldova has "firmly stepped on the path of full integration into Europe." MS[23] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES NEXT YEAR'S BUDGETLawmakers on 12 December approved the 1998 budget by a vote of 120 to 52 with four abstentions, RFE/RL's Sofia bureau reported. The budget envisages a deficit of 610 billion leva ($343 million) or 2.7 percent of GDP. Annual inflation is projected at 16.4 percent. MS[C] END NOTE[24] FATE OF ARMENIA'S DASHNAKS UNCERTAIN AFTER CLOSE OF TRIALby Emil DanielyanThe end of the trial of 31 members and supporters of the banned Dashnak party (HHD) has led to further uncertainty about prospects for the party's reinstatement. On 12 December, the popular and prominent Dashnak leader Vahan Hovannisian was sentenced to four years in prison, having been found guilty of calling for the "violent overthrow of the government." Armenia's Supreme Court also found four defendants guilty of murdering two policemen during their arrest. It handed down a death sentence to one of the four and prison terms ranging between two-and-a-half and seven years to 18 other defendants. All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Hovannisian described the trial as the "political punishment" of his party. Most of the defendants withdrew the pre-trial "confessions" they had made shortly after court proceedings were launched in March 1996, saying those confessions were extracted by torture and psychological pressure. The opposition and human rights groups in Armenia have repeatedly condemned the "case of the 31" as politically motivated, citing what they consider to be breaches of the due process of law. Article 65 of the criminal code, which envisages punishment for an "organized group" that makes "public calls" to topple the government, leaves significant room for interpretation. Hovannisian's lawyer argued that his client simply expressed his political convictions during "private conversations." According to the attorney, the 31 defendants cannot be considered an organized group because most of them did not know one another before their arrest. Without discounting the fate of the dozens of defendants involved, it can be said that the trial's significance lies in its implications for the Dashnak party and for Armenian politics in general. The 12 December verdict may either pave the way for the HHD's re- legalization or put that process on hold for another few years. Neither this latest trial nor the previous Dashnak- related trial (the so- called "Dro trial") have found any link between the HHD and the alleged conspirators and terrorists. Hovannisian and the 30 other defendants were arrested in July and August 1995 on charges of plotting a coup that would have involved the assassination of Armenia's power ministers. At the time, the government of President Levon Ter-Petrossyan announced it had foiled a major Dashnak conspiracy. Later, the state prosecutors dropped the coup charges, replacing them with accusations of having called for the overthrow of the government. They were unable to prove that the 31 were members of an organized group. Eleven defendants were set free during the trial for lack of evidence. As for other defendants, the court was unable to establish any links between them and the murder of the two policemen, for which Tigran Avetisian received the death penalty. The trial of the 31 thus followed the pattern of the Dro trial, with the authorities implicating the leaders of the Dashnak party and the court unable to establish a connection. In fact, it was the accusations of harboring the clandestine subversive group called Dro that resulted in the ban on the HHD in December 1994. Now that the Dashnak leadership has been cleared of criminal charges, there seems no major obstacle to its re- legalization. But it is noteworthy that Hovannisian, who has already been in jail for some two-and-a-half years, will not complete his term until after the next parliamentary elections, slated for July 1999. This may suggest that the authorities do not want either him or his party participating in the vote. Under Hovannisian's leadership, the Dashnaks would present a strong challenge to Ter- Petrossyan's party. The authorities are becoming increasingly reluctant to carry out political reform. Moreover, their closed-door dialogue with the Dashnaks, which began in April, is unlikely to prove successful as long as Hovannisian is in jail. However, there is a facing-saving option for the authorities and the HHD: namely, to pardon Hovannisian by presidential decree, as has been urged by the country's leading intellectuals and prominent public figures, including supporters of the government. It is thought that such an option would promote "national unity" ahead of possible international pressure on Armenia to recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict. With their strong branches in the Diaspora (and in the U.S. in particular), the Dashnaks may be able to help the Armenian government avoid international isolation. Indeed, they have recently hinted about a possible meeting with Ter-Petrossyan in the near future. If such a meeting does take place, it would doubtless play an major role in determining the fate of Armenia's oldest party. The author contributes regularly to RFE/RL. 15-12-97 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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