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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 52, 98-03-17Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 52, 17 March 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] NO CLEAR WINNER IN ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL BALLOTWith less than 20 percent of the votes counted, none of the 12 candidates appears to have won the 50 percent necessary to avoid a runoff on 30 March, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Prime Minister and acting President Robert Kocharian gained some 40 percent of the vote., Soviet-era Communist Party First Secretary Karen Demirchyan 27 percent, and current Communist Party leader Sergei Badalian 16 percent. The remaining 17 percent of the vote is divided among the other nine candidates. PG[02] SIX CANDIDATES CONDEMN HANDLING OF ARMENIAN VOTEMeanwhile, six of the 12 candidates, including Demirchyan and Badalian, issued a statement condemning the way officials subordinate to Prime Minister and acting President Robert Kocharian conducted the elections, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Even before the first results were announced, the six said the ballot "cannot be considered free and fair regardless of the results." They claimed that Kocharian supporters had cast fake ballots in numerous districts. PG[03] SHEVARDNADZE BLASTS MOSCOWGeorgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in his weekly radio address on 16 March criticized Russia for failing to extradite former Georgian Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, who fled to Moscow after Georgian authorities accused him of having organized an attempt on Shevardnadze's life in 1995. Tbilisi authorities have indicated they suspect people linked to Giorgadze of also being involved in an attack on the Georgian leader's motorcade last month. Shevardnadze noted that "Russian officials have done everything to let the perpetrators of the two attacks...find refuge there." In comments clearly directed at the Kremlin, Shevardnadze said "the most astounding and offending fact is that the top Russian leadership, to this day, has failed to express its opinion on the suspects." He added that "I don't think the Russian leadership would benefit from certain forces attempting to create for Russia the image of a nation sponsoring terrorists." PG[04] AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA EXCHANGE FIREThe Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told ITAR-TASS on 16 March that Azerbaijani and Armenian forces exchanged fire in two locations the previous day. In the first incident, Armenian forces fired machine guns and grenades into Azerbaijan from Armenia's Idzhevan district. In the second, Azerbaijani forces fired into Armenian territory from Nakhichevan. There has been no comment on either attack from Armenia. PG[05] CENTRAL ASIAN CUSTOMS UNION MEETSThe prime ministers of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan met in Bishkek on 17 March, RFE/RL correspondents reported. Russia and Tajikistan sent observers to the meeting, at which six documents were signed. Agreement was reached to form a consortium on hydro-energy resources,. but an accord on migrant workers was not signed. Kazakhstan reaffirmed its intention to barter coal for water supplies from Kyrgyz reservoirs, and Uzbekistan again promised deliveries of natural gas for Kyrgyz water deliveries. The presidents of the three countries are to meet in Tashkent on 26 March. BP[06] KYRGYZSTAN SETS UP HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONMember of parliament Tursunbai Bakir-uulu said at a 16 March news conference that a presidential commission to protect human rights has been created, AFP reported. Bakir-uulu will be the chairman of the 13-member commission. He added that the creation of the commission was necessary as President Askar Akayev was "inundated with complaints about officials." BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[07] U.S. SAYS MILOSEVIC WON'T BUDGESpeaking in Ljubljana on 16 March, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott said Belgrade's offer of conditional talks with the Kosovars was "cynical" and deliberately designed to fail. A State Department spokesman said in Washington that "there is no sign that [Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic] is reversing course" on his tough Kosovo policy. The spokesman added that the Contact Group foreign ministers, who are to meet in Bonn on 25 March, will consider freezing Yugoslav assets abroad if Milosevic does not withdraw special police forces, stop armed attacks on civilians, admit independent observers to Kosovo, and negotiate seriously with the Kosovars (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 March 1998). PM[08] WASHINGTON WANTS MOSCOW'S BACKING ON KOSOVOThe State Department spokesman added in Washington on 16 March that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told her Russian counterpart, Yevgenii Primakov, in a telephone conversation that Milosevic should not be allowed to "think that there are differences between the [Contact Group] countries on the basic point, [which is that] the blame for this crisis and this violence rests squarely on the shoulders of the leadership in Belgrade; and that if [the Yugoslav leaders] don't change course, the result will be even further alienation from the international community, less integration into the international economy, less integration into the European economy." The spokesman added that Albright got the impression Primakov will give Milosevic "the kind of reinforcing message that we hoped for" when the two men meet in Belgrade on 18 March. PM[09] ALBANIA, U.S. FOR KOSOVO TALKS WITHOUT PRECONDITIONSTalbot and Prime Minister Fatos Nano, meeting at Tirana airport on 16 March, called for Serbian-Kosovar talks without preconditions. Talbot said the U.S. considers it possible that the Serbs and Kosovars will reach an agreement on autonomy for the province, "Koha Jone" reported. Nano did not offer any ideas of his own on Kosovo but stressed it will be important for the Contact Group countries to agree to implement "effective sanctions that stop the advance of violence and war in the Balkans." He added that Albania will seek to coordinate its Kosovo policy with Macedonia and Montenegro. Nano stated that "the solution of the Kosovo question is closely linked with the democratization of the region and in particular of Serbia." FS[10] KINKEL URGES ALBANIANS TO SEEK DIALOGUEGerman Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel criticized the Kosovar leadership for refusing to participate in the conditional talks that Belgrade has offered (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 March 1998). He told Bonn's "General Anzeiger" of 16 March that "it is most important now to start a dialogue, even if not all the demands of the Kosovo Albanians will be fulfilled. They should not stage any militant actions, nor should they make demands for independence. There is no support for this in the international community." Kinkel added that Milosevic's paramilitary police "must be stopped from unjustifiable bloody assaults." Also in Bonn, a Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed reports from Germany's Kosovar community that one of the men killed in the recent Serbian assault on the Drenica region had been deported to Yugoslavia from Germany shortly before. Federal and most state authorities support continued deportations despite the recent violence. PM[11] KOSOVAR LEADER DERIDES "CARNIVAL"Fehmi Agani, one of the chief Kosovar political leaders, told RFE/RL from Pristina on 16 March that the Serbian authorities are engaged in a daily propaganda exercise by offering talks with conditions that they know the Kosovars cannot accept. Agani added that the daily routine has come to resemble a "carnival." He also said that the Italian Roman Catholic foundation that brokered the 1996 Kosovar-Serbian education agreement is keeping channels open to both Serbs and Kosovars in the hope of launching serious talks. PM[12] IS SERBIA PREPARING NEW CRACKDOWN?Belgrade's official Tanjug news agency reported on 17 March that unidentified persons slightly injured a policeman in a hand-grenade attack near Pec the previous day. There was no independent confirmation of the incident. The Serbian authorities used a similar shadowy incident involving Kosovars and police as a pretext to launch the well-prepared assault that began on 28 February and left more than 80 dead. PM[13] KOSOVAR OPPOSITION WANTS ELECTION POSTPONEDRepresentatives of the opposition Parliamentary Party of Kosovo and the Forum of Albanian Intellectuals of Kosovo called for postponing the shadow- state's parliamentary and presidential elections, slated for 22 March. Speaking in Pristina on 16 March, the opposition leaders said it would be "amoral" to hold a vote under current circumstances. PM[14] FRANCE TO LET OFFICERS TESTIFY IN HAGUEFrench Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said in The Hague on 16 March that French officers who served in Bosnia will be allowed to testify in person before the war crimes tribunal. He stressed, however, that French officers "must not be treated like suspects" when they appear before the court. To date, Paris has allowed officers to testify only in writing. Vedrine announced the policy change after meeting with Louise Arbour, the court's chief prosecutor. She has long been critical of France's refusal to let its officers testify in person. PM[15] CROATIAN JOURNALISTS WANT PUBLIC TELEVISIONRepresentatives of Forum 21, an independent union of radio and television journalists, sent a proposal on 16 March to the parliament calling for the transformation of state-run radio and television (HRT) into a public broadcasting corporation. Among the reforms recommended by the journalists was the reduction of the number of broadcasting channels and changing the composition and prerogatives of the Radio and Television Council, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from Zagreb. Forum 21's proposals would give a large degree of control over HRT to the editors and journalists, "Slobodna Dalmacija" reported. HRT is widely regarded as loyal to the governing Croatian Democratic Community. PM[16] POLICE EVICT ALBANIAN EX-JUDGEPolice on 16 March evicted Rustem Gjata, who the previous day was dismissed as head of the Constitutional Court, from his office. Gjata said the eviction was "typically communist" and "supported by the Serbs and Greeks." He said he will try to return to his office at a later date, "Republika" reported. FS[17] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY TO SUE NEW POLITICAL FORMATIONThe National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) will contest in court the right of the newly founded Romanian National Party (PNR) to its name, RFE/RL's Bucharest Bureau reported on 16 March. Chairman Ion Diaconescu and deputy chairman Ion Ratiu told journalists in Bucharest on 16 April that the new formation has usurped the name of the party set up in Transylvania in the 19th century to represent the interests of the Romanian majority under the Austrian-Hungarian empire and that the PNR's name is "part of the PNTCD legacy". The National Peasant Party was set up in 1926 through the merger of the PNR and the Peasant Party. Ratiu said it is an "insult" that "former Communists" headed by Virgil Magureanu, the former director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, are using the PNR's name. MS[18] ROMANY PROTEST IN BUCHARESTThe Austrian ambassador to Romania on 16 March joined Roma protesting in front of the embassy's building in Bucharest against racial stereotypes and discrimination. The protesters staged what they called a " Dance of the Black Swans" in protest against widespread allegations in the media that Roma killed and roasted swans in the park of the Schonbrunn Castle in Vienna in 1991. There are no swans in the Schonbrunn park, and the Austrian journalist who had authored the report later retracted it. The Roma are marking the European Week for Struggle against Racism. MS[19] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT WARNS AGAINST 'RADICALS'In his weekly address to the nation on 16 March, President Petru Lucinschi warned Moldovans not to back "radical political formations" in the 22 March elections, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Lucinschi did not specify whom he considered "radical," but on previous occasions, he has singled out the Democratic Convention of Moldova (CDM). Lucinschi said the "radicals" will "sow hatred and strife" and will "again call people to the barricades" (an allusion to the 1992 military clashes with the separatists, when Mircea Snegur, now a CDM co-chairman, was Moldovan president). By backing "moderate forces," Lucinschi said, the voters will allow the country to continue along the "good road" started in 1997. MS[20] CAMPAIGN IN TRANSDNIESTER TO JOIN RUSSIA-BELARUS UNIONAleksandr Karaman, vice president of the separatist Transdniester region, is heading a movement to join the Russia-Belarus union. Local labor and veteran soldier associations, such as the United Council of Labor, the Union of Transdniester Defenders, the Association of Afghan Veterans, and the Transdniester Cossacks, belong to that movement. Karaman told BASA- press on 16 March that a drive for collecting signatures in support of joining the union has started. He expressed confidence that most of the population will back joining the union since it will be "politically and economically" beneficial to the Transdniester. MS[21] BULGARIA CLOSES LAST PIRATE CD FACTORIESThe Interior Ministry on 16 March announced that the last four companies producing pirate compact discs have been closed down under the new copyright laws, AFP reported, The announcement comes after repeated threats from the U.S. that it will start trade sanctions against Bulgaria if the makers of counterfeit CDs were not closed by end of March. In other news, Pope John Paul II on 15 March beatified Evgeni Bosilkov, a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who was sentenced to death and executed by the communist regime in 1952. Bosilkov saved Jews during World War Two and was committed to promoting dialogue with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, AFP reported.[22] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT TAKES STRIKERS TO COURTTransportation Minister Wilhelm Kraus on 16 March told BTA that the government is suing railway engineers and will dismiss some of them because the state has sustained losses of some $25,000 owing to a series of one- hour strikes over the last three days. The strikers are demanding wage increases of up to 400 percent, whereas the government is offering only 20 percent. MS[C] END NOTE[23] THE DECLINE OF UZBEKISTAN'S POLITICAL OPPOSITIONby Yaqub TuranPolitical opponents of the Uzbek government have recently suffered a series of setbacks that are seriously undermining their operations. Perhaps the most serious was the appointment on 4 March of Usmon Khudaykulov as presidential national security adviser. Khudaykulov, previously first deputy at the Prosecutor-General's Office, has the reputation of a "hard-liner." His appointment suggests the government may become much tougher in its dealings with the opposition. Also on 4 March, Muhammed Salih, who had been in self-imposed exile in Turkey since 1992, was asked by Turkish police to leave the country. Salih ran for the presidency against current Uzbek President Islam Karimov in 1991. One year later, the opposition party Erk, which he chaired, was banned in Uzbekistan, prompting Salih to leave the country. Members of Erk are now concerned that Uzbek security forces may attempt to spirit Salih away from Romania, to where he fled, since relations with that country are not as important for Uzbekistan as those with Turkey. Such fears may well be justified, as the Uzbek security has a record of cross-border clandestine operations. In January, for example,. Uzbek security agents crossed to neighboring Kyrgyzstan, arrested Zakirjan Normatov in Osh, and brought him back to Tashkent without so much as notifying the Kyrgyz government. Observers suggest Salih's deportation may be aimed at smoothing relations between Uzbekistan and Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz is due in Tashkent later this month. In another development, Uzbek police issued a summons for questioning to two imams, Abid Nazarov and Yoldash Ergashev. known as Obidkhan Qori and Tolqun Qori, respectively. Uzbek Deputy Interior Minister Kutbuddin Burhanov said the two were being charged with promoting Wahhabism and teaching it to the country's youth. Wahhabis are being investigated in connection with violent events in the eastern Uzbek city of Namangan last December. Wahhabis, an Islamic sect, are blamed for having instigated those events. Nazarov is known to be an Islamic "purist" and is originally from Namangan. He was already at odds with the Uzbek authorities as recently as last summer, when an attempt was made to evict him from his house. Previously, Nazarov had been relieved of his post as imam at the Tokhtabai Mosque. Both Nazarov and Ergashev are currently in hiding. But the most ominous recent development for the political (rather than religious) opposition figures was Shukrullo Mirsaidov's 6 March announcement that he is retiring from politics. Mirsaidov was one of the leaders of the Democratic Opposition Coordination Council and a former Uzbek vice president. He set up the council in 1992 after his office as vice president was abolished. His aim was to coordinate the efforts of opposition groups, or what was left of them after most opposition party and movement leaders had fled the country. Still, the council's very existence has been used by President Islam Karimov as proof that democratic opposition can exist in his country. In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, Mirsaidov said that he has decided to leave politics and that the council, largely ineffective for the past year, now officially ceases to exist. He blamed opposition groups for that decision, saying they are so busy quarreling among themselves that "it is impossible" to coordinate their activities. He went on to say that the leaders of those groups were "out of touch with reality and indifferent toward the majority of Uzbeks faced with enormous hardship and economic problems." And in an apparent about face, Mirsaidov added that the "Uzbek government has laid down the foundations for establishing a democratic and legal state and for implementing reform programs aimed at setting up a free, market-oriented economy." Mirsaidov's comments virtually amount to an epitaph for Uzbekistan's political opposition. Many have long regarded it as ineffective, with its leaders scattered throughout Europe and the U.S. But opposition groups now have little chance of preparing to contest presidential elections in the year 2000. Moreover, the opposition's apparent decline may only open the door wider to religious opponents of the government. The religious revival in the country is strongly in evidence and, combined with the growing public discontent over low living standard, may acquire an anti- government momentum. The author is the director of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service. 17-03-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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