RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 149, 99-08-03

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 149, 3 August 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] FORMER ARMENIAN PREMIER BLAMES PRESIDENT OVER CONTROVERSIAL

[02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR EXPEDITING CONSTITUTIONAL

[03] NEW KARABAKH DEFENSE MINISTER APPOINTED

[04] IRANIAN PROVINICIAL GOVERNOR VISITS AZERBAIJAN

[05] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT PROCLAIMS LIMITED AMNESTY

[06] TURKMENISTAN RESUMES TALKS WITH BRIDAS?

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[07] SERBIAN BISHOP WANTS MILOSEVIC TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES

[08] EX-GENERAL SAYS ARMY, POLICE WILL BACK SERBIAN OPPOSITION

[09] SERBIAN ECONOMISTS CALL FOR PROTEST, TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT

[10] POLICE END VOJVODINA FARMERS' PROTEST

[11] SERBIAN COURTS INVESTIGATING WAR CRIMES?

[12] ETHNIC ALBANIANS FLEE SERBIA

[13] KOUCHNER ESTIMATES 11,000 IN KOSOVA'S MASS GRAVES

[14] UN SETS UP KOSOVA CUSTOMS CONTROLS

[15] POST OFFICE, UNIVERSITY REOPEN IN PRISHTINA

[16] YUGOSLAV, MACEDONIAN MINISTERS MEET

[17] MONTENEGRO PREPARES TO LAUNCH OWN CURRENCY

[18] PROTESTS AGAINST BOSNIA-CROATIA BORDER DEAL

[19] CROATIAN RIGHTS GROUP WANTS BETTER TREATMENT OF SERBS

[20] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY DEMANDS STOP TO 'WITCH HUNT'...

[21] ...WHILE DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS ARMY SUBJECTED TO

[22] ROMANIAN NATIONALIST PARTY RESPONDS TO ALLY'S DESERTION

[23] BULGARIAN MEDIA COUNCIL SEEKS RULING ON DISMISSING RADIO

[C] END NOTE

[24] CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS CROATIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] FORMER ARMENIAN PREMIER BLAMES PRESIDENT OVER CONTROVERSIAL

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan on 30

July, Hrant Bagratian denied any share of the responsibility

for the creation of the telecommunications monopoly ArmenTel

or the activities of its former monopoly shareholder Trans-

World Telecom, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Bagratian

pointed out that ArmenTel acquired full ownership of the

country's telecommunications network only in July 1997, when

current Armenian President Robert Kocharian was prime

minister, and that Kocharian endorsed the company's

privatization in December 1998. An ad hoc commission formed

by Kocharian earlier this year said on 27 July that TWT's

acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Armenia's telephone

network several years ago violated Armenian law. Commission

chairman David Vartanian accused Bagratian, who served as

prime minister from 1993-1996, of complicity. LF

[02] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR EXPEDITING CONSTITUTIONAL

Kocharian on 30 July chaired the first meeting of a

newly-created commission charged with amending the country's

constitution, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. That

commission, which is headed by Justice Minister David

Harutiunian, replaces a larger body created in spring 1998

and disbanded last month. Defining the aim of the proposed

amendments as ensuring "balanced relations" between the

branches of government, Kocharian instructed the new

commission to draft and present its proposals by the end of

the year. Parliamentary speaker Karen Demirchian has

similarly expressed his intention of establishing a

parliamentary commission to draft amendments to the

constitution. Demirchian favors limiting the powers of the

president and augmenting those of the legislature. LF

[03] NEW KARABAKH DEFENSE MINISTER APPOINTED

Ghukasian released General Samvel Babayan from the post of

defense minister of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-

Karabakh on 2 August and appointed Major-General Seiran

Ohanian to replace him, Noyan Tapan reported. Latent tensions

between Ghukasian and Babayan resurfaced last month after

Ghukasian sacked the enclave's Prime Minister Zhirair

Poghosian and his entire cabinet (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29

June and 12 July 1999). Ghukasian also appointed Bako

Sahakian as interior minister, replacing Artur Aghabekian. In

recent years Sahakian had served as the Moscow representative

of the Armenian Interior and National Security Ministry. LF

[04] IRANIAN PROVINICIAL GOVERNOR VISITS AZERBAIJAN

Mohammedzade, head of the Iranian province of Eastern

Azerbaijan, which borders on Azerbaijan's exclave of

Nakhcihevan, held talks in Baku on 2 August with

parliamentary speaker Murtuz Alesqerov and President Heidar

Aliev, Turan reported. Aliev stressed Baku's interest in

developing closer relations with Iran, noting at the same

time Azerbaijan's displeasure at Iran's flourishing relations

with Armenia. Aliev added that, unlike some opposition

forces, the Azerbaijani leadership does not consider that the

presence of a multi-million ethnic Azerbaijani minority in

Iran justifies Baku's interference into Iran's domestic

political affairs. Aliev is scheduled to visit Tehran and

Tabriz, the capital of Eastern Azerbaijan, next month. But

State Foreign Policy Adviser Vafa Guluzade told Turan on 3

August that Iran's refusal to extradite to Baku former

Azerbaijani Interior Ministry special forces member Mahir

Djavadov could torpedo Aliev's visit. LF

[05] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT PROCLAIMS LIMITED AMNESTY

Nazarbaev has issued a decree amnestying some 13,000

prisoners, most of whom are suffering from TB, RFE/RL's

Kazakh Service reported on 2 August. Deputy Interior Minister

Bulat Baizharov had said in early June, when the parliament

passed the amnesty law, that some 20,000 prisoners, or 25

percent of the prison population, would be freed (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 4 June 1999). But the parliament reduced the

number of persons eligible for early release. LF

[06] TURKMENISTAN RESUMES TALKS WITH BRIDAS?

reported that the Turkmen government has resumed secret

discussions with the Argentinean oil and gas company Bridas

that are believed to focus on Bridas's participation in the

proposed construction of a gas export pipeline from

Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan. Ashgabat and Bridas

began such talks in 1994, and in February 1996 Bridas signed

an agreement with the Afghan government on the construction

and operation of such a pipeline. But following disagreements

between Bridas and the Turkmen leadership, in 1997 the latter

granted the U.S. companies Delta and Unocal the exclusive

right to form a consortium to build the pipeline. Unocal then

withdrew from that consortium in late 1998 (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 8 December 1998 and 26 January 1999). LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[07] SERBIAN BISHOP WANTS MILOSEVIC TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES

6,000 people attended a rally organized by the opposition

Alliance for Change in Valjevo on 2 August. Serbian Orthodox

Bishop Artemije, who is the leading Serbian cleric in Kosova,

called on all Serbs to sink their political differences until

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resigns. The bishop

added that "we lost Kosova only when Milosevic tried to solve

the problem with force." In response to a speaker who called

on Milosevic to go to Kosova, Artemije replied: "Don't send

him to Kosova again.... Send him to The Hague," Reuters

reported. A BBC journalist said the next day, however, that

Artemije refused to tell him which war crimes he thinks

Milosevic committed. Artemije was, moreover, equivocal when

the reporter asked whether Milosevic should be tried in

Serbia or in The Hague. PM

[08] EX-GENERAL SAYS ARMY, POLICE WILL BACK SERBIAN OPPOSITION

and a former general, told the same rally in Valjevo on 2

August that "the police and the army will be with us, don't

worry," Reuters reported. He made the remarks after at least

two buses of riot police arrived from Cacak and took up

positions near the rally. The police did not intervene. This

was the first time that riot police have been present at any

of the alliance's rallies, the news agency added. PM

[09] SERBIAN ECONOMISTS CALL FOR PROTEST, TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT

group of Serbian economists, called for all opposition groups

to stage a joint rally in Belgrade on 19 August. Speaking in

Belgrade on 2 August, he appealed to participants to leave

their party flags home and carry only the Serbian ensign.

Dinkic added that representatives of the Serbian Orthodox

Church will soon start discussions with unspecified

"political leaders" about the G-17 plan for a nonpartisan

transitional government (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 July

1999). Dinkic stressed that it is "irrelevant" whether

Milosevic resigns before or after the transitional body takes

office. The plan calls for a one-year transitional government

to organize free and fair elections and to draft plans for

economic reform. PM

[10] POLICE END VOJVODINA FARMERS' PROTEST

heads the opposition Vojvodina coalition, said in Pancevo on

2 August that police forced a group of farmers to end their

blockade of the road leading north from Belgrade to

Zrenjanin. Police arrested an unspecified number of

protesters. The farmers sought the resignation of Yugoslav

Agriculture Minister Nedeljko Sipovic, RFE/RL's South Slavic

Service reported. PM

[11] SERBIAN COURTS INVESTIGATING WAR CRIMES?

said in Nis on 2 August that the district court is

investigating whether Igor Radocaj is guilty of murdering two

ethnic Albanians and stealing money from an ethnic Albanian

family. Radocaj is a Bosnian Serb who recently served with

Serbian forces in Kosova, where he allegedly committed the

crimes. Military police arrested him on 14 June. He is now in

a civilian prison. Reuters reported that this is the first

known investigation of war crimes by a Serbian court. It is

unclear why the court decided to investigate Radocaj. PM

[12] ETHNIC ALBANIANS FLEE SERBIA

have fled Serbia proper since the withdrawal of Serbian

troops from Kosova, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told Reuters

on 2 August in Prishtina. Most of the refugees come from the

municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja. Redmond

said that "the displaced persons have told the UNHCR that

Yugoslav Army and paramilitary groups have started an

intimidation program, a campaign that has included

harassment, beatings, expulsions, looting, and threatened

murder.... [The displaced persons] claim that the

paramilitaries are threatening to abuse Albanian women and

some said that one woman was violated by paramilitaries in

their presence." Some refugees reported that Serbian troops

occupied their homes, cut telephone lines, and confiscated

cars at checkpoints. Questioned by UNHCR officials, Serbian

authorities in the three communities denied any campaign to

drive out Albanians. FS

[13] KOUCHNER ESTIMATES 11,000 IN KOSOVA'S MASS GRAVES

Bernard Kouchner told Reuters on 2 August that UN war crimes

investigators estimate that the mass graves in Kosova contain

the bodies of about 11,000 ethnic Albanians. Kouchner

acknowledged that his civilian UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)

is understaffed but said that the crime rate in Kosova is

diminishing. He stressed: "I am asking governments to send me

police. I spend two hours a day on the phone on such issues,

but in the rich world it is summer holiday time. They are not

listening very much." Kouchner added that NATO troops at road

checkpoints detain up to 15 Albanian citizens a day for

carrying weapons or for other offenses and send them back

across the border. With regard to the demilitarization of the

Kosova Liberation Army, Kouchner said "I am in charge, and

they know that." FS

[14] UN SETS UP KOSOVA CUSTOMS CONTROLS

told Reuters in Prishtina on 2 August that UNMIK has

installed customs controls on Kosova's borders with Macedonia

and Albania to collect urgently needed revenues and stop the

influx of uncontrolled and untaxed imports. UNMIK also hopes

to reduce the activities of Albanian gangsters operating

inside Kosova. The spokeswoman said that the "customs

services will contribute to the protection of public health

and safety and ensure the control of hazardous goods." FS

[15] POST OFFICE, UNIVERSITY REOPEN IN PRISHTINA

reopened Kosova's main post and telecommunications center in

Prishtina on 2 August, Reuters reported. UNMIK officials

estimate that they will have to invest about $5 million

before resuming full telecommunications services. Mail

services will start later this month. Elsewhere, professors

at Prishtina University held a ceremony to formally reopen

that institution, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. FS

[16] YUGOSLAV, MACEDONIAN MINISTERS MEET

Minister Zivadin Jovanovic met with his Macedonian

counterpart, Aleksandar Dimitrov, in Bujanovacka Banja in

southern Serbia on 2 August. Jovanovic told the state-run

Tanjug news agency afterward that relations are moving in a

"positive direction." He did not elaborate. It was the first

known cabinet-level contact between the two governments in

several months. PM

[17] MONTENEGRO PREPARES TO LAUNCH OWN CURRENCY

is a U.S. economist and adviser to Montenegrin President Milo

Djukanovic, said in Podgorica on 2 August that the

Montenegrin authorities have prepared legislation to set up a

currency board in the event that they decide to introduce a

Montenegrin currency (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 27 July

1999). Hanke added that they will need reserves of $70

million should they take that step, an RFE/RL correspondent

reported from Podgorica. PM

[18] PROTESTS AGAINST BOSNIA-CROATIA BORDER DEAL

ethnic Serbian residents of Kostajnica on the Bosnian-

Croatian border demonstrated on 2 August against the new

border delimitation agreement between Sarajevo and Zagreb

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 August 1999). The protesters are

angry that a strip of land near their town is now part of

Croatia. Demonstrators called for the sacking of Republika

Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and Zivko Radisic, who is

the Serbian member of the Bosnian joint presidency, "Dnevni

avaz" reported. Elsewhere, some 30 ethnic Croatian residents

of the village of Unista told journalists that they do not

want their village transferred from Croatian to Bosnian

control under the new agreement. If they do not get their

way, they will ask the Croatian government to resettle them

elsewhere in Croatia, "Oslobodjenje" reported. PM

[19] CROATIAN RIGHTS GROUP WANTS BETTER TREATMENT OF SERBS

Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) said in an open letter to

Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa on 2 August that incidents are

on the rise between returning Serbian refugees and Croatian

settlers in the Knin area, "Jutarnji list" reported. The

letter added that members of Croatian right-wing extremist

organizations have been responsible for several recent anti-

Serbian incidents. The HHO stressed that the Croatian mass-

circulation newspapers "Vecernji list," "Slobodna Dalmacija,"

and "Nedjeljna Dalmacija" have encouraged anti-Serbian

feelings among local Croats, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. PM

[20] ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY DEMANDS STOP TO 'WITCH HUNT'...

of Generals Victor Stanculescu and Mihai Chitac last month

was "unjust" and "humiliating" for the army as a whole. It

demanded that a "stop be put to the witch hunt" launched

against the military, Romanian media reported on 2 August.

The statement says that the verdict is "a new attempt to

conceal the real culprits for [the killings] in December

1989 and at placing the entire responsibility...on the

army's shoulders." The ministry also released a list

containing the names of 222 officers and soldiers killed

during the revolution, saying it is demanding that the

"relevant institutions" make public any information they

have on "the perpetrators of the crimes against the

military who fell during the revolution." MS

[21] ...WHILE DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS ARMY SUBJECTED TO

In a statement released on 2 August,

Victor Babiuc said the courts are "not competent to

establish the truth about the 1989 revolution because the

facts do not have a strictly penal character." Babiuc said

that the army is being subjected to a "psychological war"

by "forces hostile to the process of stabilization and

national reconciliation." In 1989, he continued, the army

was "compelled to intervene to stop street demonstrations

in line with the laws then in force--and which are still in

force." He added that such interventions by the military

are common, mentioning by way of example Israel, Northern

Ireland, the U.S. and India as well as several instances in

inter-war Romania, Mediafax reported. MS

[22] ROMANIAN NATIONALIST PARTY RESPONDS TO ALLY'S DESERTION

Vasile Dobrescu on 2 August said the recent agreement

concluded by Vatra romaneasca (Romanian Cradle) and the

Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) may lead to the

dismemberment of the former, Mediafax reported. On 30 July,

PDSR leader Ion Iliescu and Vatra chairman Zeno Opris

signed a protocol providing for mutual support and for

Vatra leaders to run on PDSR lists in the 2000

parliamentary elections. Dobrescu said he believes that

only a few Vatra members will leave the PUNR, which was set

up in 1990 as the political organization of Vatra. MS

[23] BULGARIAN MEDIA COUNCIL SEEKS RULING ON DISMISSING RADIO

The National Council on Radio and Television appealed

to the Prosecutor-General's Office on 2 August to rule on

whether Alexandar Velev, director-general of Bulgarian

National Radio, should be dismissed, BTA reported. The appeal

comes after an audit established financial violations at the

radio station. A spokesman for the council said the body has

no legal mechanism at its disposal to decide on the

dismissal, and it argued that the National Radio's board of

governors might seek to hinder the investigation recently

launched by the Prosecutor-General's Office. The board backed

Velev at its 1 August meeting, saying all his decisions were

discussed "at expert level" and approved by the board. MS

[C] END NOTE

[24] CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS CROATIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

Croatian President Franjo Tudjman recently named his

son, Miroslav Tudjman, as head of the Croatian Intelligence

Service (HIS) and deputy chief of the umbrella National

Security Bureau (UNS), giving the younger Tudjman virtual

control over Croatia's half-dozen secret services. Many

observers welcomed the move in the belief that Miroslav

Tudjman, who enjoys the reputation of a solid professional,

would put an end to the abuses of the intelligence community.

Yet subsequent developments have shown that this initial

prognosis may have been overly optimistic.

The appointment was prompted by recent scandals that

have rocked the intelligence community. Within the space of a

few weeks, the independent weekly "Nacional" published

classified secret-service documents revealing that those

services have monitored the telephone conversations of

influential members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union

(HDZ) and that the secret services even attempted to rig the

national soccer championships. Former HIS chief Miroslav

Separovic was subsequently arrested for allegedly making the

leaks. The police also searched the offices of "Nacional" and

brought charges against the weekly's chief editor for

publishing secret documents.

Most people believe that the secret services regularly

spy on opposition leaders, independent journalists, and other

individuals whom the regime regards as a threat. The

intelligence community is controlled by the hard-line

Herzegovinian faction of the HDZ, which is led by the

president's domestic policy adviser, Ivic Pasalic. Last year,

prominent HDZ moderates resigned from their post in the

intelligence services after HDZ hard-liners had used the

intelligence services to orchestrate attacks against the same

moderates in the media. HDZ hard-liners seemed to score

another political victory last month, when the HDZ-controlled

parliament determined that there was no justification for a

parliamentary investigation into abuses committed by the

secret services.

Nevertheless, many observers have expressed optimism that

Miroslav Tudjman's appointment could signal that the

president is ready to clean up the intelligence community and

curtail the influence of hard-liners. Croatia faces

parliamentary elections at the end of the year, and most

polls indicate that the ruling party is headed for an

overwhelming defeat. The president is well aware that the

secret service scandals have only added to the HDZ's

unpopularity.

The younger Tudjman is considered to be a consummate

professional. He is also one of the founders of the Croatian

intelligence community, and many consider him to be an HDZ

moderate who has not been afraid to stand up to his father.

This is the second time that he has been appointed to the

country's top intelligence post. It has been speculated that

Pasalic engineered Miroslav Tudjman's earlier dismissal after

the president insisted on pursuing a secret service

investigation into the Dubrovacka bank scandal, which

implicated party hard-liners--including Pasalic himself.

Tudjman Jr. is expected to stop the harassment of his

former colleagues at the HISñlike Separovic--and restore

their power. In the process, he will repay the hard-liners

who engineered his departure from the service, such as

National Security Adviser Markica Rebic and Head of Office

for the Protection of Constitutional Order (SZUP) Ivan

Brzovic.

Yet there are serious doubts that Miroslav Tudjman will

launch a real cleanup of the services. Instead, some

observers argue, the president intends to take advantage of

his son's image as a liberal and rival of Pasalic in order to

create the impression that the president is doing something

about the secret-service scandal.

Critics of the younger Tudjman say he does not deserve his

reputation as a professional and liberal and add that he is

very much under his father's control. They say Miroslav

Tudjman resigned as intelligence head only because the

investigation threatened to implicate his close friend and

associate, Herzegovinian intelligence chief Ivo Lucic. There

has been speculation that the younger Tudjman may have

financial ties to the wealthy Lucic clan. In such a case, he

may not be as upright as many of his supporters believe.

President Tudjman may be more concerned about controlling

the leaks from the intelligence community than about stopping

the transgressions of the secret services. The Hague-based

war crimes tribunal's indictment of Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic may have opened the way for an indictment

against Tudjman. In fact, a prosecutor at the tribunal

recently said that Tudjman is responsible for Croation war

crimes in Bosnia. The president may fear that if leaks

continue, secret documents that reveal official Zagreb's role

in the 1993-1994 Croat-Muslim war in Bosnia may find

themselves in the hands of Hague prosecutors. Some

independent reports seem to confirm this line of thought.

According to the independent weekly "Globus," Miroslav

Tudjman in fact returned to the HIS weeks before his

reappointment and has allegedly been busy destroying secret

documents that could compromise the president and the ruling

party.

Some recent developments support this pessimistic view

about Miroslav Tudjman's appointment. Negotiations between

the HDZ and the opposition on a new election law for the

upcoming elections have collapsed. The government has also

flatly refused to meet recent demands by the tribunal (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 21 July 1999). As the country heads for

elections, the president seems to have again shifted policy

in favor of party hard-liners. These developments indicate

that hard-liners may continue to control the secret services

and that those services will continue their dubious practices

in preparation for the upcoming election campaign.

The author is a free-lance journalist based in Zagreb.

03-08-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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