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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 82, 98-04-29Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 82, 29 April 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT ORDERS RESUMPTION OF RFE/RL BROADCASTSInformation Minister Sirus Tabrizli told RFE/RL on 28 April that Heidar Aliev has ordered the Ministries of Communications and Information to resume the retransmission of RFE/RL Azerbaijani-language broadcasts on medium wave as soon as possible. Tabrizli said Aliev had been unaware of the decision to cease retransmission, which was protested last week by the U.S. State Department. LF[02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH ALIEV ...Following a 90-minute meeting in Moscow on the evening of 28 April, Robert Kocharian and Aliev issued a statement affirming their shared commitment to achieving a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict through negotiations under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group, Russian agencies reported. They also expressed their readiness to continue to observe the cease-fire agreement signed in May 1994. Kocharian termed the exchange of views "fruitful," while Aliev said they intend to continue meeting "as need be," according to ITAR-TASS. LF[03] ...AND YELTSINEarlier that day, Kocharian had his first meeting with Russian President Yeltsin, who congratulated him on his election as president last month. Yeltsin expressed the hope that bilateral relations "will become stronger," adding that the August 1997 bilateral treaty on friendship and cooperation could be amended "if there are questions of principle." Also on 28 April, the tripartite Armenian-Azerbaijani-Russian commission, created in July 1997 to investigate Russian arms deliveries to Armenia, met under the chairmanship of Russian acting Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Rybkin. No details of the proceedings were disclosed. Azerbaijan Defense Minister Safar Abiev told ANS press on 27 April that Azerbaijan will insist that those arms be returned and will raise the issue of alleged secret negotiations between the Russian and Armenian Defense Ministries on deliveries of S-300 missiles to Armenia. LF[04] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CONFIRMS DEFENSE, ENERGY MINISTERSLawmakers on 28 April voted by an overwhelming majority to endorse the candidacy of David Tevzadze, whom Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze had proposed as defense minister the previous day. Addressing the parliament, Tevzadze, a philosophy and philology graduate who was born in Sukhumi, argued that Georgia needs "a small but mobile and capable army." He also said that the presence of Russian military bases in Georgia is "a political question" that he would avoid, Caucasus Press reported. The same day, the parliament confirmed 42-year-old physicist Teimuraz Georgadze as fuel and energy minister, despite his lack of experience in that sector. A former businessman, Georgadze has served for the past six months as governor of Mtskheta and Tianeti, according to Interfax. LF[05] CIS SUMMIT ENDORSES ABKHAZ SETTLEMENT PLANThe CIS presidents on 28 April endorsed Georgian-Russian proposals for resolving the Abkhaz conflict, an RFE/RL correspondent in Moscow reported. The plan, approved by Georgia, makes the lifting of current economic sanctions on Abkhazia contingent on the successful repatriation to Abkhazia's southernmost Gali Raion of ethnic Georgians forced to flee during the 1992-1993 war. It also provides for the establishment in Gali of a Georgian-Abkhaz administration with Russian, UN, and OSCE representation. Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba has said that provision is unacceptable. The summit also extended until 31 July the mandate of the CIS peacekeeping force currently deployed along the internal border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. Two Abkhaz were killed in Gali Raion on 28 April, Interfax and Caucasus Press reported. LF[06] DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL MEETS IN UZBEKISTANThe Democratic Opposition Coordination Council met in Kokand last week, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reported. The council appeared to have disbanded last month, when its chairman, Shukrullo Mirsaidov, announced his retirement from politics and the council's dissolution. Representatives from opposition parties such as Erk, Birlik and the Free Peasant's Party took part in the meeting; most were from the regions of the Fergana Valley, Andizhan, Namangan, and Fergana. The council called for stronger unity among opposition forces but also for cooperation with the government and adherence to the country's constitution. It also stressed that it will not condone radical or extremist activities. Though invited to the meeting, the People's Democratic Party, Adolat, and the Homeland Progressive Party did not send representatives. BP[07] SOME HOSTAGES FREED IN TAJIKISTANTajik special forces freed three hostages on the evening of 28 April, according to ITAR-TASS. The three were taken hostage in the Tursun Zade area last week by a group of outlaws. Meanwhile, the fate of three Interior Ministry officers taken hostage on 23 April remains a mystery. Authorities believe the officers are being held in the Kofarnikhon region. United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri has dispatched representatives to the area to negotiate the release of these hostages. BP[08] DEATH TOLL RISES IN TAJIKISTANThe search for victims of rains and accompanying landslides that hit Tajikistan last week continues, Interfax reported on 29 April. The bodies of more than 100 people, most from central Tajikistan, have been found; they were victims of the largest landslide in years to hit the village of Navdi in the Garm region. There are still 50-60 people missing, many of whom are believed buried in their houses. Poor weather and inaccessibility to villages are hampering rescue efforts. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] TENS OF THOUSANDS OF KOSOVARS MARCH IN PRISHTINASeveral tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians took part in a protest march for peace and independence in the Kosovar capital on 28 April, RFE/RL reported. Some demonstrators carried U.S. and Albanian flags or pulled a float displaying the U.S., Albanian, and Serbian flags around a conference table. The organizers of this latest demonstration wanted to underscore the Kosovars' demand for independence through foreign mediation on the eve of the Contact Group meeting in Rome. A BBC commentator said that the presence of the U.S. flags in the march reflects the fact that "the Americans are the only ones the Albanians trust." Kosovars have been holding daily peaceful protest marches for nearly three weeks. PM[10] FRESH SERBIAN ARMS TO KOSOVABelgrade's military used a lull in fighting on 28 April to send "fresh tanks, ammunition and military supplies" to Kosova, "The Daily Telegraph" reported. The paramilitary police also reinforced their "scores of checkpoints" in the Decan area near the Albanian border. "At Serbian checkpoints, police warned journalists that they could become targets if tough economic sanctions are imposed on Yugoslavia," the London daily added. PM[11] MORE INCIDENTS ON ALBANIAN-KOSOVA BORDERSome twenty unidentified soldiers exchanged fire with Albanian forces near Qafe Prushi in the Has Mountains on 28 April, according to Albanian border guards quoted by "Koha Jone." The attackers withdrew after a two-hour exchange in which nobody was injured. The previous day in Tropoja, police arrested two federal Yugoslav soldiers. Interior Minister Perikli Teta said the men are "Serbian agents," but the soldiers claim they are "Yugoslav soldiers in pursuit of a terrorist group" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 April 1998). Meanwhile, the police chief in the border town of Kruma urged citizens to stay clear of the frontier with Yugoslavia. The government recently placed the army and police on maximum alert. FS[12] UCK CALLS FOR ALBANIAN HELPThe shadowy Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) said in a statement in Prishtina on 28 April that Kosova is "in a state of war." The UCK called "on liberation forces to join us in a common front against the enemy." The statement added that Albania is the "fatherland" of all ethnic Albanians and is "obliged to assist its occupied part." The UCK warned the Kosovar civilian leadership to stop "spreading defeatism and anarchy" and to take a tougher stand against Belgrade. Albania is too weak militarily and politically to engage in a war in Kosova. Tirana and the Kosovar civilian leadership are both under heavy U.S. political pressure to continue their moderate policies in regional affairs. PM[13] ALBANIA REFUTES RUSSIAN CHARGEA spokesman for the Albanian Foreign Ministry said in Tirana on 28 April that Russian charges that Albania is playing host to Kosovar "terrorist training camps" are "baseless" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 April 1998). The spokesman added that there have never been any such camps on Albanian soil and that Tirana questions why Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov chose to make the charge on the eve of the Contact Group meeting. Speaking in Moscow, Primakov also demanded that the Albanian authorities "seal" their borders to prevent alleged arms smuggling to Yugoslavia or Macedonia. He added that Kosovar secession would be against "Serbian interests, historical justice, and stability" and could lead to a war "worse than the one in Bosnia." Primakov said that imposing new economic sanctions on Belgrade would be counterproductive to the establishment of a political dialogue in Kosova. PM[14] MILOSEVIC BACKER SAYS MONTENEGRO BACKS CONSPIRACYIvan Markovic, the deputy chairman of the United Yugoslav Left led by Mira Markovic, who is the wife of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, has accused Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic and parliament speaker Svetozar Marovic of being party to what he called a foreign-led conspiracy against Yugoslavia. Ivan Markovic charged that the "anti-Yugoslav oligarchy" in Podgorica is working closely with "Albanian secessionists and terrorists" to "destabilize and split up the Republic of Serbia," "Politika" wrote on April 29. His statements are the latest in a verbal row between some of Milosevic's supporters and opponents over his invitation to Momir Bulatovic, who is Milosevic's loyalist and Djukanovic's enemy, to attend national day festivities in Belgrade on 27 April. Milosevic invited neither Djukanovic nor Marovic to the celebration, nor did he request that Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic or Prime Minister Milorad Dodik attend. PM[15] ALBANIANS MARCH IN SKOPJESome 7,000 ethnic Albanians staged a protest in the Macedonian capital on 28 April to demand the release from prison of Rufi Osmani, the mayor of Gostivar. He is serving a sentence for failing to obey a court order to take down an Albanian flag during the riots on 9 July and also for inciting national, racial, and religious hatred (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 April 1998). PM[16] TOUGH TALK ON REFUGEE RETURNRepresentatives of the international community said in a statement following a conference on refugee return in Banja Luka on 28 April that "conditions for safe and guaranteed return [of refugees] must be fully established in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia this year. All relevant government authorities can no longer avoid their responsibility towards this end." Carlos Westendorp, who is the international community's chief representative in Bosnia, singled out the Croatian authorities for special criticism and warned that Zagreb could face sanctions unless it does more to speed up the return of refugees, "Oslobodjenje" wrote. He added that refugees must be allowed to return to the Republika Srpska immediately, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[17] ALBANIAN PYRAMID SCHEME OWNER IMPRISONEDA Tirana court on 28 April ordered the jailing of VEFA owner Vehbi Alimucaj and seven of his close collaborators, "Albania" reported. Police then arrested Alimucaj and four of the others. The Tirana Prosecutors' Office charged Alimucaj with "large scale fraud and theft." The prosecutors claim that he withdrew a total of $140 million from VEFA bank accounts over several years and gave the money to his collaborators. Investigators have not been able to find those funds, which VEFA's investors claim is theirs. Alimucaj faces up to five years in prison if found guilty. FS[18] ALBANIAN SOCIALISTS CRITICIZE PRIME MINISTERMeeting in Tirana on 28 April, several members of the Socialist Party leadership strongly criticized Fatos Nano over the formation of his new cabinet, "Gazeta Shqiptare" reported. They complained that Nano's procedures in appointing the government were not transparent and that Nano did not consult the party leadership. Some leaders also complained that no northern Albanians are included in the new government (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 April 1998). FS[19] ROMANIAN PREMIER MEETS WITH IMF OFFICIAL AGAINPrime Minister Radu Vasile on 28 April said after a new meeting with Poul Thompsen, IMF chief negotiator for Romania, that negotiations with the fund will resume after the parliament approves this year's budget. Vasile said a new stand-by loan for 1998 is envisaged but that the possibility of receiving a three-year stand by loan has not been ruled out. The current $430 million stand-by loan runs out next month. The fund has approved only two tranches, withholding the rest due to the stalling of the economic reform process, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS[20] BABIUC ON 'CIGARETTE-SMUGGLING AFFAIR"Defense Minister Victor Babiuc says he has no intention to resign over the "cigarette-smuggling affair." He pointed out that on the day of the smuggling, he had not yet been sworn in and that he therefore sees no reason why he should accept responsibility for what happened. Babiuc also said he is "eagerly awaiting" to learn what a number of officers on the staff of the Bucharest military airport have threatened to make public. In a fax sent to several newspapers on 28 April, the officers threatened to reveal details about ongoing smuggling, which, they claim, has involved several high ranking officials. They say they would do so if the commander of the military airport, Ioan Suciu, is not freed from detention "within 48 hours." The signatories say Suciu has been "implementing orders, as he did many times in the past." MS[21] TRANSDNIESTER REFERENDUM ON JOINING RUSSIA- BELARUS UNIONA non-binding referendum on joining the Russia-Belarus union is being conducted in the separatist republic from 25 April to 15 May, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau and BASA-press reported. The referendum was called by the Movement for Joining the Russia-Belarus Union, which was set up last month. The leader of the movement is Igor Smirnov's deputy, Aleksandr Karaman, but observers note that the plebiscite is taking place while Smirnov himself is undergoing medical treatment in Moscow. MS[C] END NOTE[22] HUNGARY'S ELECTIONS: THE DILEMMA OF THE RIGHTby George SchopflinThe most striking aspect of the 10 May elections in Hungary is that the Hungarian Socialist Party (HSP), the communist successor party and the dominant member of the ruling coalition, looks well set to retain its strong position. The HSP gained an absolute majority in 1994 and has governed in a somewhat uneasy coalition with the liberal Free Democrats since then. Its strong position is in contrast to the losses suffered by other ex-communist parties in Poland and Lithuania. Opinion polls have shown the HSP doing well, but not well enough to gain an absolute majority. Some earlier polls estimated its strength at about 40 percent, but more recent surveys suggest support for the party is dwindling somewhat. The level of backing for the HSP has been declining since the party launched its election campaign in February, and the main opposition party--the Young Democrats--Hungarian Civic Party (FIDESZ), has been pulling ahead. The Free Democrats seem likely to pass the 5 percent hurdle that Hungary's election law prescribes, and so does the populist Smallholders' Party. One the key difficulties in trying to assess the relationship between popular support and likely representation is the complexity of the Hungarian electoral system, generally regarded as the most intricate in Europe. In short, there are individual constituencies, regional lists, and a national list. In individual constituencies, two rounds of voting take place and successful candidates must either receive an absolute majority in the first round or a relative majority in the second. Generally, few candidates manage to gain the 50 percent plus one that is required in the first round, meaning that the second round is decisive. For the regional lists, Hungary is divided into 20 electoral districts and parliamentary mandates are distributed according to the proportion that each party list receives in each electoral district. The votes cast for party lists that failed to gain any mandates in that electoral district are then counted to make up the national list. The underlying principle is that elections should produce consensual government with a solid majority, while excluding small parties from the parliament. On this basis, the system has worked well: it has ensured stable government and kept out marginal groups. The system, however, does not in itself explain the success of the HSP. To understand why it has done so well electorally, the nature of the opposition and the particular dilemma of the Right under post-communism must be examined. The problem of the Right is defining what being right-wing should mean--what precisely a post-communist conservative is actually trying to conserve? The past in Hungary, as elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, is a communist one. Those best fitted to conserve the communist past are the former Communists, hence post-communist conservatism is driven toward anti- communism. But in Hungary, Kadarism gave much of the population its access to economic gains. The communist past is not that unpopular. The transition towards the market has been as troublesome in Hungary as in other post-communist states and a measure of nostalgia for the Kadarist "soft dictatorship" lingers on, leaving the HSP as the beneficiary. This has placed the Right in an awkward position, because the only slot in the political spectrum that it can fill is the nationalist one. In Hungary, nationalism automatically means fostering links with the ethnic Hungarians of the neighboring states and creates both domestic and international friction. Hungarian opinion has largely written off the ethnic Hungarians as a political issue in domestic affairs and prefers to see Hungarian integration into all-European structures rather than disputes with Hungary's neighbors. Again, the HSP has been the beneficiary. The dominant party of the right in 1990 was the Hungarian Democratic Forum (HDF), which lost the 1994 elections, at least partly because it misjudged the voters' attitude to the national question. During the last four years, the HDF has self-destructed, as have the Christian Democrats. That has left the populist Smallholders and FIDESZ. The Smallholders, led by the able, demagogic Jozsef Torgyan, will certainly return to the parliament, though not as well represented as has once appeared. Probably, they will gain some 10-15 percent of the vote. FIDESZ, which has been improving its showing in recent weeks, has sought to re-position itself as a modern party that cares for the interests of the nation. It has aimed to mop up the supporters of the HDF, to gain backing from those dissatisfied with the last four years of HSP government, and to capture some of the center ground that the former Communists occupied so successfully in 1994. The fate of FIDESZ will be a key indicator in resolving the dilemma of the meaning of conservatism in Hungary. The author is the director of the Centre for the Study of Nationalism, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London. 29-04-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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