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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 222, 98-11-17Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 222, 17 November 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER ANNOUNCES CABINET RESHUFFLEArmen Darpinian told journalists in Yerevan on 16 November that he has asked President Robert Kocharian to replace the ministers of trade and industry, energy, health care, and the environment, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Darpinian said the new appointments will make the work of the government more efficient. At the same time, he denied persistent rumors that he is planning to resign, according to Interfax. Reviewing Armenia's economic performance for the first nine months of 1998, Darpinian said that GDP grew by 7 percent. He predicted that annual inflation will not exceed 3 percent, but he conceded that the Russian financial crisis has negatively impacted on the country's industrial sector and on supplies of fuel for Armenia's nuclear power station, which provides one third of the country's electricity, Noyan Tapan reported. LF[02] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES ELECTION LAW IN FIRST READINGLawmakers on 16 November approved in the first reading the draft election law drawn up by the majority Yerkrapah group, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The vote was 96 to 72. Under the bill, 80 of the 131 deputies in the new parliament would be elected in single-mandate constituencies. Eleven opposition parties that drafted an alternative law argue that the Yerkrapah variant would facilitate the falsification of voting results. They also object to its procedures for drawing up voter lists, forming electoral commissions, and voting by military personnel, according to Noyan Tapan. LF[03] ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN KURDS PROTEST OCALAN ARRESTHundreds of Armenian Kurds took part in a demonstration in Yerevan on 16 November that Kurdish organizations convened to protest the arrest four days earlier of Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan and to urge the Italian government to grant him political asylum, AFP reported. The demonstrators subsequently marched to the UN office, where they delivered a statement calling on Secretary-General Kofi Annan to recognize Kurdistan as part of a federal Turkish state. Also on 16 November, the Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement denying media reports that Armenia may offer Ocalan asylum, ITAR-TASS reported. More than 100 members of Moscow's Kurdish community began a hunger- strike on 14 November to protest Ocalan's arrest, according to Interfax. LF[04] AZERBAIJANI POLICE PROTEST VICTIMIZATIONIn a letter to the U.S. State Department, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry has denied that police used violence against participants in recent demonstrations in Baku, Turan reported on 16 November. The letter condemned as a "fabrication" a State Department statement deploring the beating of demonstrators by police in Baku on 7-8 November. It also appealed to the U.S. to be objective, and "not to remain indifferent to the violations of policemen's rights and insults to their honor and dignity." LF[05] GEORGIA DENIES ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN HELPED QUASH INSURRECTIONGeorgian parliamentary Defense and Security Committee chairman Revaz Adamia on 16 November denied allegations by Colonel Akaki Eliava that Armenia and Azerbaijan sent troops to help the Georgian armed forces suppress the mutiny in western Georgia last month, ITAR-TASS reported. Eliava led that revolt. The presidents of both countries expressed their support for Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze hours after the insurrection began. LF[06] KAZAKH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OUTLINES PROGRAMMeeting with journalists on 16 November in Almaty, former Customs Committee chairman Ganiy Qasymov said that if he is elected president, his first priority will be the economy, in particular development of Kazakhstan's smaller towns and payment of wage and pension arrears, Interfax reported. But he stressed that he does not dispute the merits of present incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev's economic development program. (Nazarbayev told campaign helpers in Aktyubinsk on 16 November that 50 percent of the national budget should be spent on social needs, according to Interfax.) RFE/RL's Almaty bureau reported that Qasymov spoke to the journalists in Russian and that his command of spoken Kazakh is so poor as to raise questions about how he managed to pass the proficiency examination mandatory for all presidential candidates. Appearing live on KTK-TV the previous day, Qasymov hurled a flower vase at a journalist who quoted him as saying earlier that he would never run against Nazarbayev for the presidency. LF[07] REJECTED CANDIDATE WANTS REFERENDUM ON EARLY POLLMels Eleusizov, head of Tabiyghat, the Kazakh Green party, also convened a news conference in Almaty on 16 November, RFE/RL's bureau there reported. Eleusizov had been refused permission to register as a presidential candidate because earlier this year he was sentenced to a three-day prison sentence for having participated in a meeting of an unregistered organization. Eleusizov condemned the presidential election campaign as undemocratic, and advocated holding a nationwide referendum to determine whether the electorate considers pre-term presidential elections necessary. LF[08] TURKMEN FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS PRESIDENT WILL GUARANTEE DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS"Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 14 November that former Turkmen Foreign Minister Avdy Kuliev has formed a Committee for National Salvation, which intends to campaign for the resignation of incumbent President Saparmurat Niyazov and for free and democratic parliamentary and presidential elections in late 1999 and 2002, respectively. That report sparked a protest by the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, which "Nezavisimaya gazeta" printed on 17 November. According to that statement, Niyazov himself has undertaken to reform Turkmenistan's political system and to ensure that both polls are democratic. LF[09] UZBEK PEACEKEEPERS IN TAJIKISTAN REDEPLOYEDThe Uzbek peacekeeping force stationed in southwestern Tajikistan along that country's border with Uzbekistan and Afghanistan has been moved to a new, undisclosed location, AP reported on 16 November, citing Interfax. No reason was cited for that move, which follows repeated Uzbek denials of Tajik accusations that Tashkent assisted the organizers of the failed revolt in northern Tajikistan earlier this month. Also on 16 November, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced it will resume operations in the Karategi region of Tajikistan, ITAR-TASS reported. The Red Cross halted its operations there following the July murder of four UN personnel. LF[10] MOSCOW TO EXTRADITE UZBEK DISSIDENT?A 60-year- old Uzbek academic may be extradited to Uzbekistan to stand trial on charges of attempting to overturn the country's constitutional order, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 14 November. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of five to 10 years. Tashkent issued an order for the arrest of Aliboy Yulyakhshiev in 1995 in connection with his role in organizing the shipment of the opposition newspaper "Erk" from Kyiv, where it is printed, to Uzbekistan. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] BOSNIANS FAIL TO SIGN AGREEMENT WITH CROATIARepresentatives of the mainly Muslim and Croatian Bosnian federation failed to arrive in Zagreb on 16 October as planned to sign an agreement on bilateral relations. Federal President Ejup Ganic told "Oslobodjenje," however, that he recently informed Bosnian Ambassador to Croatia Hasan Muratovic and U.S. General Jacques Klein, who is a deputy to the international community's Carlos Westendorp, that Ganic needed several more days to discuss the agreement with Bosnian legislators before signing the pact, which both sides recently initialed. The U.S., in particular, has actively encouraged both sides to conclude such an agreement since 1994, when Washington brokered an end to the Croatian-Muslim conflict in Bosnia. The text deals with bilateral relations, including Bosnian use of Croatia's port of Ploce, which is Bosnia's natural outlet to the Adriatic, and Croatian transit rights through Bosnia's Neum region, which cuts the Croatian Dalmatian coast into two. PM[12] KLEIN BLASTS MUSLIMS FOR NO-SHOWKlein said in Zagreb on 16 November that the Muslims' failure to attend the signing ceremony is the result of internal party divisions and personal feuds within the Muslim Party of Democratic Action, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. He added that the Muslim leaders' behavior is "irresponsible and a disservice" to their voters. "This situation calls into question the desire of federation government officials to negotiate in good faith, their capability to engage in coherent international negotiations, and their concern for their citizens," he added. Richard Sklar, who is President Bill Clinton's special envoy for questions involving relations between Bosnia and Croatia, told Bosnian Television that the Bosnian officials have tarnished their own reputation at a time when the international community is "pouring billions of dollars" into the reconstruction of Bosnia. He added that the Bosnians must sign the text without any further changes. PM[13] MUSLIM-CROATIAN RELATIONS IN JEOPARDY?Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said in Zagreb on 16 November that the Muslim leaders' failure to appear casts serious doubt on their credibility as negotiating partners, "Slobodna Dalmacija" reported. Granic added that the Muslims' behavior could have long-term repercussions on their relations with the Croats of Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as with Croatia and the international community. He ruled out any further changes in the agreement. In Sarajevo, Bosnian Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic, who is a Croat, said that the Muslims' refusal to go to Zagreb will have a negative effect on Croatian-Muslim relations within Bosnia. He added that the time has come for Zagreb to review its relations with Bosnia across the board. PM[14] UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO REBUKE BELGRADEPeter Burleigh, who is acting U.S. ambassador to the UN, said in New York on 16 November that the council will shortly adopt a resolution criticizing Yugoslavia for its failure to allow representatives of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal to conduct investigations in Kosova. He added that the text also rebukes Belgrade for failing to surrender three indicted war criminals to The Hague. Unnamed diplomats told Reuters that Russian envoys succeeded in making the language in final text of the resolution far less harsh than some Western countries had wanted. PM[15] OSCE, MILOSEVIC DIFFER ON AGREEMENTWilliam Walker, who will head the OSCE's civilian monitoring mission in Kosova, told reporters after he met with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade on 16 November that he and his host had a "difference of opinion on the question of full compliance...a difference of interpretation" regarding the terms of the agreement that Milosevic negotiated with U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke in October. Referring to a recent incident in which Yugoslav troops in Kosova reportedly fired over monitors' heads, Walker added that he has not accepted either that version of the incident or the Yugoslav account, which claimed that the Yugoslav vehicles had backfired (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 November 1998). He noted that "we do not want weapons pointed at our vehicles and our verifiers." PM[16] SERBIAN MINISTER WARNS PUBLISHERSerbian Minister of Information Aleksandar Vucic has sent a letter to the Forum Publishing House in Novi Sad warning the publisher not to print newspapers registered in Montenegro lest his firm face a fine, the independent daily "Danas" reported on 17 November. After receiving Vucic's letter, Forum terminated its recent agreement to print the Montenegrin- registered daily "Dnevni Telegraf," which Vucic and other Serbian authorities banned from Serbia under a draconian media law in October. Slavko Curuvija, who is the editor of "Telegraf" and the banned weekly "Evropljanin," told "Danas" that both periodicals are printed in Montenegro and distributed in Serbia. He added that the authorities now realize that the media law was a mistake and that they will soon try to find a face- saving way to modify it. PM[17] ALBANIAN PEASANTS BLOCK KUKES WATER SUPPLYArmed peasants of the village of Kolesian, between Kukes and Peshkopia, occupied the local waterworks on 13 November and shut off pipelines to Kukes to protest what they called the government's indifference to their economic plight. The peasants ended the blockade on 17 November after the government pledged to increase its support for the remote region. The blockage caused havoc at the local hospital and other medical facilities. Observers believe that the incident has a political background, dpa reported. The ruling Socialist Party accused the peasants, mostly supporters of former President Sali Berisha, of trying to create chaos and instability on the eve of the 22 November constitutional referendum. The situation threatened to spin out of control when peasants of another village cut off electricity to Kolesian over the weekend in revenge for the interruption of water supplies. FS[18] ALBANIA'S GJINUSHI CLARIFIES STAND ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENTParliamentary speaker Skender Gjinushi said in Tepelena on 14 November that the draft constitution does not abolish the death penalty. He was in Tepelena to campaign for a "yes-vote" for the constitution in the upcoming referendum, "Albanian Daily News" reported. He said that "the Penal Code determines when a person should receive capital punishment" and stressed that the draft constitution does not explicitly ban the death penalty. The draft says only that "the life of every person is protected by law," he noted. There is strong popular support for maintaining the death penalty, while the Council of Europe has repeatedly urged Albania to abolish it. FS[19] DENMARK GRANTS $17 MILLION TO IMPROVE ALBANIAN JUDICIARYA Danish government delegation visiting Tirana on 16 November pledged to grant $17 million to help improve Albania's judicial system. Justice Ministry spokesman Agim Neza told the ATSH news agency that the delegation visited prisons and met with prosecutors and local government representatives in the northern cities of Burrel and Peshkopia to assess the needs of the judicial system. Denmark planned to support Albania's legal system in the early 1990s but canceled the project after doubts emerged about the government's readiness to respect the independence of the judiciary. Instead, it decided at the time to support 17 smaller projects, mostly NGOs, with a total of $7.5 million. Observers noted that the latest Danish decision to allocate $17 million suggests Copenhagen believes the current government is more committed to the independence of the judiciary than was its predecessor. FS[20] CLUJ MAYOR OFFICIALLY JOINS GREATER ROMANIA PARTYGreater Romania Party (PRM) chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor on 16 November officially appointed Cluj Mayor Gheorghe Funar secretary-general of the extremist formation, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Tudor expressed confidence that the PRM will be backed by at least 25 percent in the elections scheduled for 2000. At the same time, he said he hopes the ballot will take place earlier. MS[21] ROMANIA SLIGHTLY REDUCES FOREIGN DEBTRomania's medium- and long-term foreign debt totaled $8.3 billion at the end of August, down $31 million on the August 1997 level, dpa reported, citing National Bank figures. In 1999 Romania is scheduled to service a debt of some $2.2 billion, but international rating agencies are doubtful about its debt service capability. On 16 November, the Thomson BankWatch agency reduced the rating of Bancorex, one of the two banks slated for privatization this year, citing delays in restructuring that may affect the bank's capacity to meet its obligations. MS[22] MOLDOVA STARTS BUILDING DANUBE OIL TERMINALAt a 15 November ceremony attended by Premier Ion Ciubuc, the foundation stone was laid for the building of the Giurgiulesti oil terminal on the River Danube, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported on 16 November. The construction of the terminal was made possible due to the agreement reached between Ciubuc and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in early August, which gave Moldova access to the disputed territory on the river's banks in exchange for a section of the road connecting the Ukrainian cities of Odessa and Izmail (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 August 1998). MS[23] GERMAN ALLIANZ BUYS MAJORITY STAKE IN BULGARIAN INSURERThe Munich-based Allianz AG, Europe's largest insurance group, has acquired a 51 percent stake in the Bulgarian insurance group Bulgarian Holding Ltd, dpa reported on 16 November. Allianz refused to divulge the price of the deal. MS[24] BULGARIA, IRAN SEEK TO BOOST TRADEBulgaria and Iran on 13 November signed agreements aimed at encouraging bilateral trade and investment, Reuters reported. Transportation Minister Wilhelm Kraus and his visiting Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Hojjati, signed the agreements after a meeting of a joint economic commission on agriculture. Kraus told Reuters that the two countries wish to achieve a trade turnover volume of at least $100 million (not including oil imports from Iran) in 1999, compared with $68 million this year. MS[C] END NOTE[25] MOST VOTERS STAY HOME IN CZECH LOCAL ELECTIONSby Jolyon NaegeleCzech voters were asked to cast ballots in local and Senate elections on 13- 14 November. But most voters chose to stay home. Nationwide voter turnout was just over 42 percent for communal elections and less than 46 percent for Senate elections. Admittedly, this represents a gain of more than seven percentage points in public interest in the Senate, compared with the Czech Republic's first elections to the upper chamber of the parliament two years ago. But turnout for local elections was down a whopping 20 percentage points on the communal elections four years ago. Some 180,000 candidates competed for 62,000 seats on municipal councils in 6,880 communities. As in 1990 and 1994, so-called independent candidates won the biggest share of local council seats, although they gained only 11 percent of the vote overall. The opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS) of former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus gained the biggest portion of the local vote of any party--more than 24 percent--and won the largest share of seats in every major city in the country. In Prague, it won 21 out of 55 seats on the municipal council, taking first place in each of the city's 10 electoral districts. Since the ODS lacks a majority on the municipal council, which elects the mayor, the political future of Prague Mayor Jan Koukal, who heads the ODS's party organization in Prague, is now in doubt. Unless the ODS strikes a deal with the Social Democrats (CSSD), Koukal may be forced out of office. None of the 27 Senate races was won in the first round. One-third of the 81- seat upper house is elected every two years for a six-year term. The ODS will field candidates in 22 of the 27 run-off races to the Senate on 20-21 November, with 13 ODS candidates having placed first in last week's voting. The center-right four-party coalition-- composed of the Freedom Union, the People's Party, the Civic Democratic Alliance, and the Democratic Union-- will have 14 candidates in the run-offs, 10 of whom took first place in the first round. The Social Democrats (CSSD) will have 15 candidates in the next round, of whom only three took first place. The Communists will have three candidates, and one independent will be running. The ODS and CSSD are thus guaranteed a majority in the Senate and have a good chance of achieving the three- fifths majority required to make constitutional changes. Those being discussed include changing the way the lower house of the parliament is elected by abolishing the proportional representation system in favor of a "first- past-the-post" system. This reform is generally perceived as benefiting large parties at the expense of smaller ones and contributing to political stability. The pro-CSSD daily "Pravo" wrote on 16 November that potential Social Democrat supporters stayed at home, having fallen victim to apathy following the opposition agreement signed after last June's general elections. The deal allowed the CSSD to form a minority government tolerated by the ODS and assured the ODS the speakership of the Senate. "Pravo" adds that the lackluster performance of Milos Zeman's government in its first three months in office--marked, it wrote, by unfulfilled promises, lack of direction, and nepotism-- did little to attract undecided voters. Similarly, the mass-circulation daily "Mlada fronta Dnes" noted that the four-party coalition did unexpectedly well. This, the newspaper says, "did not arise in the name of a struggle against the Left but mainly out of defiance against the unnatural, albeit omnipotent contractual pact between the CSSD and the ODS." But a commentary in "Lidove noviny" says the four- party coalition can be credited with having nominated more distinguished personalities than its rivals, thereby managing to attract undecided voters from both the Right and Left of the political spectrum. Klaus, for his part, said the low turn-out was due to the elections having been the second ballot this year. His deputy, Libuse Bensesova, blamed the poor turnout on the elections being held in the fall, when, she says, Czechs are in a worse mood than in the Spring and when short days hamper campaigning. Zeman's CSSD did poorly in the local elections. He said he was particularly mortified by the outcome in the Senate vote, saying victory there had been within reach. Never one to mince words, Zeman announced that "heads must fall." Zeman also accused those who did not vote of being "cowards" and ascribed the Social Democrats' failure in Prague to "the citizens of the capital being convinced that a megalomaniac poster...was enough reason to vote for the ODS." This was a reference to a controversial huge photo of Klaus displayed on a billboard on the former site of the world's largest statue of Stalin. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague. 17-11-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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