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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 45, 98-03-06Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 45, 6 March 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ALIEV APPOINTS KARABAKH NEGOTIATOR AS FOREIGN MINISTERAzerbaijani President Heidar Aliev on 5 March appointed Tofiq Zulfiganov as foreign minister, ITAR-TASS and local agencies reported. A Middle East specialist by education, Zulfiganov was deputy foreign minister responsible for negotiations with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group on the Karabakh question. The post of foreign minister had been vacant for the last month following the sacking of Hasan Hasanov over his involvement in a financial scandal. PG[02] BAKU REPORTS ANOTHER ARMENIAN ATTACKThe Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on 5 March said gunfire from Armenia's Indezhavanskiy Raion had been directed at Azerbaijani positions, ITAR-TASS reported. According to officials in Baku, this is the ninth such attack by Armenian forces on Azerbaijani positions in the last month, but there has been neither confirmation nor comment by Armenia. PG[03] SOUTH OSSETIA WARNS TBILISI OVER ARMED INCURSIONSixteen Georgian soldiers from a military intelligence training center in the west Georgian town of Gori carried out an armed raid on a village in Georgia's breakaway Republic of South Ossetia, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 5 March. The attackers, who used armored vehicles, were driven back by an armored detachment from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's peacekeeping force. The South Ossetian leadership has condemned the incident as a "blatant provocation aimed at...sabotaging the Georgian-Ossetian peace process. " It warned that South Ossetia will take "adequate measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity" in the event of further such incursions. LF[04] GEORGIA TO OPPOSE CIS PLANS BUT SHEVARDNADZE TO ATTEND SUMMITGeorgian State Minister Niko Lekishvili told ITAR- TASS on 5 March that the Georgian government will object to many of the proposals for tighter integration within the CIS that are to be discussed at a Moscow meeting of prime ministers of CIS countries on 6 March. But Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagarishvili announced the same day that President Eduard Shevardnadze will attend the CIS summit on 19-20 March. Following last month's failed assassination attempt against him, Shevardnadze has been under intense domestic pressure not to go to that meeting. PG[05] GEORGIA PREPARES TO TAKE OVER GUARDING ITS BORDERRezo Adamia, the chairman of the Georgian parliamentary Commission for Defense and Security, told journalists on 4 March that Georgia is to set up an International Council for Security, which will include U.S., German, and Swiss representatives, Caucasus Press reported. One of the council's first priorities will be to establish an exclusively Georgian border force along Georgia's frontiers. Under a 1992 agreement, those frontiers are jointly guarded by Georgian and Russian border troops. LF[06] ANOTHER DEMONSTRATION IN BISHKEKBetween 800 and 1,000 people, mostly pensioners, demonstrated outside the government building in Bishkek on 5 March, RFE/RL correspondents reported. They were demanding that pensions be standardized. Currently, those who retired before 1994 receive only 40 percent of the sum given to those who retired after that date. A small group of demonstrators were invited to talk with the chairwoman of the National Social Fund and the head of the department on social issue. They were told that Prime Minister Apas Jumagulov signed a draft law on standardizing pensions that day and submitted it to the parliament. This was the third such demonstration during the past six weeks. BP[07] PROTEST OVER NIYAZOV'S U.S. VISITA U.S.-based human rights organization has sent a letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton protesting the scheduled 23 April visit of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov to the White House. Human Rights Watch criticized Niyazov for establishing "one of the most repressive and abusive governments in the world." It said Turkmenistan "denies virtually every civil and political right" to its citizens. The organization pointed to the detention dissidents in psychiatric hospitals, illegal elections, the lack of freedom of assembly, the beating of dissenters and journalists, and the death of some dissidents while in custody. BP[08] KAZAKH OPPOSITION LEADER LOCATED IN ALMATY JAILMadel Ismailov, the leader of Almaty City Workers Movement, has been located in a central Almaty jail, RFE/RL correspondents reported on 5 March.. The leaders of another opposition group, Azamat, had been searching for Ismailov since he disappeared on 27 February, following the founding conference of the opposition People's Front movement (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 4 March 1998). Officials at the prison said that Ismailov's name had been misspelled in their records and that, for this reason, they had wrongly claimed he was not being held there. Ismailov's wife briefly visited him on 5 March and said he seemed to have been beaten. BP[09] UZBEK AUTHORITIES CLARIFY CHARGES AGAINST IMAMSDeputy Interior Minister Kutbuddin Burhanov told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that the two imams wanted for questioning are accused of promoting Wahhabism with the goal of overthrowing the government (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 March 1998). The government blamed Wahhabis for unrest in the eastern city of Namangan last December. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] KOSOVARS FLEE "MASSACRES"...Hundreds of ethnic Albanians, primarily women and children, fled the Drenica area west of Pristina on 5 and 6 March in the wake of a massive Serbian assault (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 March 1998). Serbian special police units on 5 March attacked Prekaz and several other villages in which the clandestine Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) has many supporters. Police barred journalists, Red Cross representatives, and others from entering the region. The Serbs used heavy artillery, helicopter gunships, and armored vehicles in what Kosovar spokesmen in Pristina called "massacres" that led to 50 deaths. Several hundred Albanian women held a protest march in front of the U.S. cultural center in Pristina. On 6 March, Kosovar shadow-state President Ibrahim Rugova charged Serbian authorities with carrying out a campaign of "ethnic cleansing." PM[11] ...WHILE SERBIA CONTINUES TO "CLEANSE TERRORISTS"A Serbian Interior Ministry spokesman told BETA on 6 March that the police "are continuing the action to cleanse the region of Albanian terrorists." Police closed off the road linking Kosovska Mitrovica and Srbica, where the UCK has widespread support. The previous day, the ministry said in a statement that the armed action resulted in the death of 20 "terrorists" and two policemen. The authorities also said that police captured a "known leader" of the UCK and found an arms cache and underground hospital facilities. There has been no independent confirmation of the claims made by either side. PM[12] ALBANIA READY TO MOBILIZEAn Albanian Defense Ministry spokesman said in Tirana on 6 March that the army is "on high alert in the northern area of the country because of the recent tense situation in Kosovo and an increase in Serbian troops along the Albanian border." The previous day, Defense Minister Perikli Teta told the parliament that "the army has taken all measures called for in a conflict situation [and that] it is ready to mobilize the reservists if the situation demands." He added that the army will "prepare its contingency plans and take measures in order to be ready should acts of violence or ethnic cleansing take a turn for the worse." At the same emergency session of the legislature, Interior Minister Neritan Ceka said that the "police and the army have taken measures to deal with any extension of the conflict." PM[13] BERISHA ASKS CLINTON TO "DRAW LINE"Former President Sali Berisha and legislators from his Democratic Party ended their six-month boycott of the parliament on 5 March in what Berisha called a display of national unity in the face of the Kosovo crisis. "It is a sign to show that the Albanians must act like a single nation," Berisha added. The former president said he would like U.S. President Bill Clinton to tell Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that Washington will not tolerate violence in Kosovo. Such a clear statement "would be crucial to save the stability of this region. Otherwise a very large and terrible conflict could come in the southern Balkans." Berisha added that the Kosovars "will defend themselves if they are left with no other options.... They asked for a peaceful solution and they have now got massacres. This is a very dramatic situation." PM[14] ALBANIA URGES WEST TO "LEARN FROM BOSNIA"Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said in Paris on 5 March that diplomatic possibilities for ending the Kosovo crisis have not been exhausted and pleaded for the U.S. and EU to "intervene urgently." Milo stressed that the West should act decisively in exerting diplomatic pressure on Belgrade and not equivocate as it did in Bosnia during the first years of that conflict. PM[15] PENTAGON SAYS NO PLANS FOR BALKAN FORCEA State Department spokesman said in Washington on 5 March that the U.S. has withdrawn a package of concessions it recently made to Milosevic as a reward for his support for moderate Serbian leaders in Bosnia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 February 1998). The official added that "the repression that is taking place [in Kosovo] is totally unacceptable to the international community and will have the most severe consequences." A Pentagon spokesman said, however, that the U.S. is "concentrating on diplomacy" and has no concrete plans to increase its 250-strong armed contingent in Macedonia. Those troops are part of a UN force that seeks to prevent armed conflict from spreading to the southern Balkans. PM[16] COOK LEAVES BELGRADE EMPTY-HANDEDBritish Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in Belgrade on 5 March that he failed to persuade Milosevic to restore Kosovo's autonomy. Also in the Yugoslav capital, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic commented that Serbia "alone is competent" to deal with the problem. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadii Tarasov spoke of the need "to fully rule out any extremist manifestations and threats.... A civilized dialogue must be conducted [and] the problems of the Albanian population must be resolved in the framework of the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia," Interfax reported. PM[17] MONTENEGRO CALLS FOR DIALOGUEThe government in Podgorica said in a statement on 5 March that "it is necessary to establish a dialogue urgently to solve the Kosovo problem. Terrorism and use of force by the state do not lead toward a solution but can only intensify the situation with the risks of unforeseeable consequences and the inevitable internationalization [of the crisis]." The Montenegrin authorities appealed to their Serbian counterparts to pay attention to "serious warnings by the international community and risks of new sanctions" and come up with a "responsible approach" to the problem. Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic recently called on Milosevic to restore Kosovo's autonomy (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 February 1998). PM[18] WESTENDORP FIRES HERZEGOVINIAN MAYORCarlos Westendorp, the international community's chief representative in Bosnia, sacked Pero Raguz, the hard-line Croatian mayor of Stolac, on 5 March. A spokesman for Westendorp said that Raguz refused to let Muslim refugees go home despite repeated warnings from Westendorp to let them do so. PM[19] ALBANIAN PYRAMID BOSS UNDER HOUSE ARRESTVehbi Alimucaj, president of VEFA Holding, was put under house arrest on 6 March. The move came after a state-sponsored foreign auditing company filed a law suit against him for allegedly obstructing the auditors' work (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 March 1998). PM[20] ROMANIAN COALITION PARTIES DIG IN HEELSThe Democratic Party's National Council on 5 March released a statement saying the present crisis can be solved "within 10 days" by "forming a new government, working out a different government program, and the new cabinet's assuming responsibility for the 1998 budget." National Liberal Party leader Mircea Ionescu-Quintus said the budget must be submitted to the parliament by Victor Ciorbea's cabinet, after which a "change [of premier] is possible." National Peasant Party Christian Democratic leader Ion Diaconescu said his party has "no grounds" to change Ciorbea as premier. He added that it cannot be ruled out that President Emil Constantinescu will again ask Ciorbea to form a government if the legislature dismisses the cabinet by not approving its budget proposal, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS[21] ROMANIAN COURT RULES ON CONFLICT WITHIN NATIONALIST PARTYThe Bucharest Municipal Tribunal on 5 March ruled that "all actions" taken since last November by Gheorghe Funar, the former chairman of the Party of Romanian National Unity (PUNR), were "illegal." The tribunal said the decisions to hold a rival National Convention of the PUNR in Cluj on 22 November 1997 and a rival PUNR Extraordinary National Convention one week later had violated both the PUNR statutes and legislation on political parties. The 29 November meeting had invalidated the decision of the PUNR earlier that month to expel Funar. Also on 5 March, the "Funar wing" in the PUNR and the extremist Greater Romania Party called for a general strike to protest the "treacherous" cabinet headed by Ciorbea. MS[22] UNEMPLOYMENT IN ROMANIA NEARS 1 MILLIONMore than 970,000 people, or 9.7 percent of the work force, are currently unemployed, the Labor and Social Protection Ministry announced on 5 March. MS[23] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT APPEALS TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ON ELECTORAL LAWPetru Lucinschi on 5 March asked the Constitutional Court to invalidate the provision in the electoral law establishing a 4 percent threshold for both political parties and independent candidates (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 February 1998). He said the law discriminates against independent candidates and therefore violates the Moldovan Constitution as well as international legislation on human rights. A spokesman for the court told BASA-press that the Constitutional Court will debate the presidential appeal early this month. Elections are scheduled for 22 March. MS[C] END NOTE[24] ALIEV'S VISIT TO TURKEYby Lowell BezanisAzerbaijani President Haidar Aliev's recent visit to Turkey highlighted the tempestuous between those two countries. But contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not so much past betrayals and current suspicions that threaten to sabotage that relationship as the diverging national interests of the two countries. The latest low in Azerbaijani-Turkish relations was precipitated by the publication of lengthy extracts from an investigation commissioned by Turkish Premier Mesut Yilmaz into a security scandal. The so-called Susurluk report--which shed some light on the links between Turkey's ultra- nationalists, the state security apparatus, and drug king-pins--upset Aliev because it revealed that the web of corruption involved Azerbaijan (as well as Turkmenistan). The Susurluk revelations, including that of the sizable gambling debts Aliev's son has amassed in Turkey, are not new, however. For several years, it has been an open secret that some of Turkey's big-time heroin traffickers have set up money-laundering operations on each side of the Caspian Sea. As for Turkish involvement in the March 1995 coup attempt against Aliev, the Azerbaijani president himself had publicly identified one of the Turkish plotters at the time. The Susurluk report did, however, provide an excuse for Aliev to sack his foreign minister, Hasan Hasanov, for his alleged involvement in transforming a Turkish-funded diplomatic guest house into the Hotel Avrupa, which was furnished with a casino. That Aliev did not simultaneously fire others believed to have been involved in the Avrupa scandal suggests Hasanov was a scapegoat. Piqued by the Susurluk revelations, Aliev threatened to cancel his planned visit to Turkey, but President Suleyman Demirel reportedly persuaded him not to do so. In the event, Aliev accomplished several important objectives. First, he delivered a stern warning to the Turks that anything harmful to the reputation of Azerbaijan--not to mention its president and his immediate family members--is totally unacceptable. Even before Aliev arrived in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz had sought to effect damage control, asserting that the Susurluk allegations about Aliev's family were based on unreliable sources. While Aliev had reportedly vented his anger on Yilmaz, his warm interaction with Demirel reinforced the perception of a special relationship between the two presidents. Second, in posing as an aggrieved ally, Aliev dashed any hopes his domestic opposition may have had about finding support in Turkey in the runup to the October presidential elections. Aliev made it clear he will not tolerate Turkish meddling on his turf. Although Aliev will almost certainly be re- elected, he still effectively guaranteed that Turkey's ultra-nationalists, some Turkish Azerbaijanis active in Ankara and Istanbul, Azerbaijani "traitors" allegedly hiding in Turkey, and other supporters of ousted President Abulfaz Elchibey and former Parliamentary Speaker Rasul Guliev will be encouraged to be on their best behavior. In practice, this suggests the Turkish printing presses that ran off Elchibey's election posters back in 1992 will remain silent in the coming months. Beyond doubly underscoring the notion that complete fealty is the price of good relations with Azerbaijan, Aliev parlayed the visit into a reminder to Ankara that the tables are turned. His message was that it is now Turkey that is in the role of supplicant, not Azerbaijan. This reversal of roles is tied to one issue: pipelines. Long before the geopolitical environment was ripe for such a maneuver or oil volumes necessitated it, Ankara declared its determination to see the construction of a main export pipeline to carry Caspian crude from Baku across Turkey to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. That Baku-Ceyhan pipeline remains, in the minds of both Turkish citizens and politicians, a barometer of Turkey's status as a player in the region. But whereas Turkey wants a pipeline, Baku first and foremost wants to sell its oil on the international market. Detailed discussions about the comparative merits of various export routes, the crude oil volumes necessary for making them commercially viable, tariff rates and so forth are only now beginning. But those talks must include not only possible transit countries but also those companies involved in so-called exploration plays in various sectors of the Caspian Sea, as well as on shore in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. All the players, including Ankara and Baku, are trying to drum up support for options offering maximum economic and political dividends. One small part of that effort was Aliev's recent visit to Istanbul to remind the Turks of their obligations and to extract from them the concessions he needs to get his oil to Western markets. The author is a Washington-based specialist in Turkish and Central Asian affairs. CORRECTION: The second sentence of the third paragraph of the "End Note" in "RFE/RL Newsline," Vol. 2, No. 36, 26 February 1998, should have read as follows: "In all fairness, it should be noted that Armenia has tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to persuade the Minsk Group to upgrade Karabakh's status to a full party to the peace talks for the entire duration of the negotiating process." 06-03-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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