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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 171, 99-09-02

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 171, 2 September 1999


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA
  • [02] CONVICTED ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER EDITOR CONSIDERS SERVING
  • [03] AZERBAIJAN'S PRESIDENT BLASTS OSCE FOR INACTIVITY
  • [04] AZERBAIJAN'S DEFENSE MINISTER DENIES CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
  • [05] AZERBAIJANI, GEORGIAN PEACEKEEPING CONTINGENTS LEAVE FOR
  • [06] LEADING AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PARTIES DECIDE TO
  • [07] CUSTOMS OFFICER SHOT DEAD IN ABKHAZIA
  • [08] GEORGIAN DISPLACED PERSONS OPPOSE EXTENSION OF
  • [09] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT LOOKS AHEAD TO ELECTIONS...
  • [10] ...ASSESSES ECONOMY
  • [11] ELEVEN POLITICAL PARTIES REGISTERED FOR KAZAKH
  • [12] KAZAKH, RUSSIAN OFFICIALS BEGIN TALKS ON BORDER
  • [13] UZBEK GUERRILLAS IN KYRGYZSTAN RELEASE ANOTHER HOSTAGE...
  • [14] ...AMID CONFUSION OVER THEIR OBJECTIVES
  • [15] RUSSIA, UZBEKISTAN DISCUSS RESPONSE TO KYRGYZ HOSTAGE
  • [16] UZBEKISTAN CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY
  • [17] TAJIK OPPOSITION TO NOMINATE JOINT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [18] CROATIA TO EXTRADITE 'TUTA'
  • [19] HAGUE COURT: TUDJMAN NOT INDICTED
  • [20] HOLBROOKE: UCK MUST DISARM BY 19 SEPTEMBER
  • [21] U.K. POLICE FIND 50 BODIES IN GARBAGE DUMP
  • [22] UCK MOVING TOWARD COMPROMISE ON RAHOVEC?
  • [23] TENSIONS MOUNT IN GRACANICA
  • [24] NAUMANN: MILOSEVIC PLANNED TO EXPEL ALL ALBANIANS
  • [25] MILOSEVIC FREES AUSTRIALIAN CARE WORKERS
  • [26] CLINTON, HOLBROOKE HAIL BOSNIAN NATIONAL DAY
  • [27] NATO STARTS NEW MISSION IN ALBANIA
  • [28] AIDE TO CHALLENGE ALBANIA'S BERISHA
  • [29] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY
  • [30] MAUSOLEUM DEMOLITION DOMINATES NEW SESSION OF BULGARIAN
  • [31] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [32] LENNART MERI: 'A LIFE FOR ESTONIA'

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA

    Visiting Tokyo on 29-31 August at the head of a government

    delegation, Vartan Oskanian met with government and banking

    officials and the heads of major corporations to discuss

    establishing a Japanese-Armenian economic committee and

    improving bilateral relations, Noyan Tapan reported. On 31

    August, Oskanian and his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko

    Komura, signed a joint communique pledging to boost ties

    through regular dialogue. Oskanian thanked Komura for

    Tokyo's economic assistance to Armenia and stressed the

    importance of a balanced approach toward the three South

    Caucasus states. He reaffirmed Armenia's commitment to the

    peaceful resolution of conflicts in the South Caucasus. On

    1 September, Oskanian met with South Korean President Kim

    Dae Jung and with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Hon

    Sun-Yeng in Seoul to discuss international and regional

    affairs and the prospects for political and economic

    cooperation. LF

    [02] CONVICTED ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER EDITOR CONSIDERS SERVING

    PRISON TERM

    Nikol Pashinian, who was sentenced to one year

    in jail on 31 August by a Yerevan district court, told a

    news conference on 1 September that he may considering

    going to jail, rather than appealing that sentence, as a

    gesture of protest against the present Armenian leadership,

    RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1

    September 1999). Pashinian was found guilty of obstructing

    the police, of refusing to comply with a court order that

    he publish a retraction of materials printed in his

    newspaper, "Oragir," and of two counts of libel. The

    independent daily "Aravot" on 1 September condemned the

    sentence as "provincial-style repression," while National

    Democratic Union chairman Vazgen Manukian termed it

    "intimidation" that could set "a dangerous precedent." LF

    [03] AZERBAIJAN'S PRESIDENT BLASTS OSCE FOR INACTIVITY

    Meeting

    in Baku on 1 September with Carey Cavanaugh, the new U.S.

    co-chairman to the OSCE Minsk Group, Heidar Aliev

    complained that the hopes generated by the 1997 appointment

    of U.S. and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group have

    not borne fruit and that the Minsk Group has been "passive"

    since last year, Turan reported. Aliev added that the Minsk

    Group's proposal that Azerbaijan and the unrecognized

    Nagorno-Karabakh Republic form a "common state" is

    unacceptable to Baku as it constitutes a "concealed form"

    of recognition of the enclave's independence, according to

    ITAR-TASS. Cavanaugh had said at a meeting earlier on 1

    September with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Tofik

    Zulfugarov that he believes the recent meetings in Geneva

    between Aliev and his Armenian counterpart, Robert

    Kocharian, will contribute to the peace process, Turan

    reported. LF

    [04] AZERBAIJAN'S DEFENSE MINISTER DENIES CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

    OPENED AGAINST HIM

    Safar Abiev told Turan on 1 September

    there is no truth to a report published that day in the

    opposition newspaper "Yeni Musavat" that the Azerbaijani

    military prosecutor has opened criminal proceedings against

    him. In July, President Aliev decreed the creation of a

    special commission to investigate the finances of the

    Defense Ministry following allegations that Abiev had

    engaged in embezzlement (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol.

    2, No. 35, 26 August 1999). LF

    [05] AZERBAIJANI, GEORGIAN PEACEKEEPING CONTINGENTS LEAVE FOR

    KOSOVA

    An Azerbaijani platoon of 32 soldiers, together

    with one senior lieutenant and one warrant officer, and a

    Georgian platoon of 34 soldiers and one officer departed

    for Turkey on 1 September for one month's training with the

    Turkish army. Thereafter, the two detachments will be

    deployed in Kosova as part of the Turkish contingent with

    KFOR in the German sector, Turan and Caucasus Press

    reported on 1 September. The Georgian contingent will

    remain in Kosova for eight months. Georgian President

    Eduard Shevardnadze said on 30 August that Georgia decided

    to participate in the Kosova peacekeeping operation partly

    as a matter of prestige and partly in the hope that the

    international community may decide to deploy a similar

    force in Abkhazia if one is needed, Caucasus Press

    reported. LF

    [06] LEADING AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PARTIES DECIDE TO

    PARTICIPATE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS

    Meeting in Baku on 1

    September, the opposition parties united in the Democratic

    Congress, including the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party and

    the Musavat Party, announced they will field candidates in

    the 12 December local elections, Turan reported. The same

    day, Gerard Stoudman, who is director of the OSCE Office

    for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, urged

    Azerbaijani parliamentary speaker Murtuz Alesqerov to amend

    the law on the Central Electoral Commission to ensure that

    all political forces are represented on that body. Stoudman

    also offered assistance in drafting amendments to the law

    on municipal elections to "eliminate ambiguities,"

    according to Turan, and urged Alesqerov to bring other

    legislation into line with OSCE principles. Opposition

    representatives claim that the municipal election law is

    undemocratic. But Alesqerov insisted to Stoudman that it

    takes account of recommendations by the OSCE and other

    international organizations and complies with international

    standards. LF

    [07] CUSTOMS OFFICER SHOT DEAD IN ABKHAZIA

    One Abkhaz customs

    officer was shot dead and three wounded in an ambush on 1

    September, Interfax and Caucasus Press reported. The

    incident took place 5 kilometers from the internal border

    between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia in the security

    zone patrolled by CIS peacekeepers. A local Abkhaz official

    blamed Georgian guerrillas for the shootings. The previous

    day, an Abkhaz military court sentenced a Georgian to death

    on charges of organizing terrorist attacks in Tkvarcheli in

    January 1998, Interfax reported. Two other Georgians

    received prison sentences of 12 and 15 years. LF

    [08] GEORGIAN DISPLACED PERSONS OPPOSE EXTENSION OF

    PEACEKEEPERS' MANDATE

    Vakhtang Orzhonia, who is a

    spokesman for ethnic Georgians forced to flee Abkhazia

    during the 1992-1993 war and who now live in Zugdidi Raion,

    told Caucasus Press on 1 September that the displaced

    persons are unhappy with the Georgian leadership's 29

    August decision to endorse an extension of the mandate of

    the CIS peacekeeping force deployed along the border

    between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 30 August 1999). The displaced persons have no

    faith in the peacekeepers' ability to guarantee the safety

    of Georgians wishing to return to Abkhazia. Orzhonia said

    the displaced persons will register their dissatisfaction

    with the Georgian leadership's decision when casting their

    votes in the 31 October parliamentary election. LF

    [09] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT LOOKS AHEAD TO ELECTIONS...

    Addressing a parliamentary session on 1 September,

    Nursultan Nazarbaev said that Kazakhstan will enter the

    21st century "as a country respecting democratic

    principles," RFE/RL's Astana bureau reported. He said the

    parliamentary elections scheduled for 17 September and 10

    October will be held according to "real democratic

    principles." But Nazarbaev warned that unnamed politicians

    contending the poll have no creative programs and seek only

    to satisfy personal ambitions that might "lead to the

    collapse of the Kazakhstan"s unity, its sovereignty, and

    statehood." In a possible allusion to former Premier

    Akezhan Kazhegeldin, whose participation in the poll is

    uncertain, Nazarbaev castigated "those who want

    revenge,...politicians who used to be officials until just

    recently, and who failed to meet their duties and

    obligations, who committed numerous mistakes." LF

    [10] ...ASSESSES ECONOMY

    While giving an overall positive

    assessment of the country's economic performance in 1999,

    Nazarbaev criticized the cabinet and the National Bank for

    what he termed "tactical mistakes" in 1998 and 1999, in

    particular the de facto devaluation of the national

    currency in April of this year. "It was a big mistake to

    let the tenge float," Nazarbaev said. He called on the

    cabinet and National Bank to formulate a more flexible and

    fruitful policy in keeping with the current world economic

    situation. Given the impact of world economic processes on

    Kazakhstan's economy, he said, it is inappropriate to

    continue implementing reforms in the pension and taxation

    systems. Nazarbaev downplayed fears of a further

    deterioration of the economic situation, affirming that

    "there will be no hunger and cold in Kazakhstan. We will

    pay our debts," Reuters reported. LF

    [11] ELEVEN POLITICAL PARTIES REGISTERED FOR KAZAKH

    PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

    Speaking at a press conference in

    Astana on 1 September, Central Electoral Commission

    chairwoman Zaghipa Balieva said that a total of 11

    political parties have registered to contend the 10 October

    elections to the lower house of the parliament, RFE/RL's

    Astana bureau reported. Ten of the 77 seats in the lower

    house will be allocated under the proportional (party list)

    system. According to Nazarbaev, an average of nine

    candidates will compete for each seat in the lower house,

    while 35 candidates will contest the 16 seats in the Senate

    (upper house) elections on 17 September. LF

    [12] KAZAKH, RUSSIAN OFFICIALS BEGIN TALKS ON BORDER

    DEMARCATION

    The first round of Kazakh-Russian talks on

    delineating the state frontier between the two countries

    opened in Moscow on 31 August, RFE/RL's Kazakh service

    reported the following day, citing a Kazakh Foreign

    Ministry press release. LF

    [13] UZBEK GUERRILLAS IN KYRGYZSTAN RELEASE ANOTHER HOSTAGE...

    Late on 1 September, the Uzbek guerrillas entrenched in

    southern Kyrgyzstan released another of the Kyrgyz police

    officers they took hostage 10 days earlier, Reuters

    reported. They continue to hold 13 hostages, including four

    Japanese geologists and a Kyrgyz Interior Ministry general.

    National Guard commander Abdygul Chotbaev told RFE/RL in

    Bishkek on 1 September that there has been no fighting

    between Kyrgyz forces and the guerrillas for several days.

    He added that several residents of villages in Batken and

    Chon-Alai Raions that are occupied by the guerrillas have

    managed to escape. LF

    [14] ...AMID CONFUSION OVER THEIR OBJECTIVES

    Kyrgyzstan's

    acting Defense Minister General Esen Topoev said in Bishkek

    on 2 September that the guerrillas have still not made any

    demands on the Kyrgyz leadership, RFE/RL's bureau in the

    Kyrgyz capital reported. On 31 August, a man claiming to be

    a spokesman for Tohir Yuldashev, military commander of the

    Uzbek Islamic Movement, told the BBC that the guerrillas

    want to exchange their hostages for members of the Uzbek

    Islamic Movement currently imprisoned in Uzbekistan (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 September 1999). LF

    [15] RUSSIA, UZBEKISTAN DISCUSS RESPONSE TO KYRGYZ HOSTAGE

    CRISIS

    Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev flew to

    Tashkent on 1 September at President Yeltsin's behest to

    discuss the Kyrgyz hostage taking with President Islam

    Karimov. He told Interfax on arriving in Tashkent that "it

    will be very difficult to solve the problem of Islamic

    extremism and terrorism in Central Asia if regional leaders

    do not coordinate their moves." Sergeev later told

    journalists that a special team of military experts from

    Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan

    has been charged with assessing the situation, including

    the number of the guerrillas, and formulating a plan of

    action. He added that Russia will supply Kyrgyzstan with

    arms, ammunition, Su-24 bombers and Su-25 fighter aircraft

    and teach Kyrgyz troops how to wage war in mountain

    conditions, according to Interfax. Sergeev stressed that

    "Uzbekistan, the largest Central Asian state, cannot

    distance itself from the situation in Kyrgyzstan." LF

    [16] UZBEKISTAN CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY

    In a 1

    September address to the people of Uzbekistan to mark the

    eighth anniversary of the country's independence, President

    Karimov said "we will have to do a lot of work and overcome

    numerous obstacles" in order to achieve the country's top

    priority of creating " a just and civilized democratic

    society," Interfax reported. LF

    [17] TAJIK OPPOSITION TO NOMINATE JOINT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?

    At a five-hour meeting in Dushanbe on 31 August,

    representatives of the political parties and movements

    aligned in the United Tajik Opposition agreed that they

    will each nominate a candidate for the upcoming

    presidential elections, ITAR-TASS reported the following

    day. They will then agree on a single candidate to

    represent the opposition in that poll. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [18] CROATIA TO EXTRADITE 'TUTA'

    The Zagreb County Court ruled

    on 2 September that there are no legal obstacles to sending

    indicted war criminal Mladen "Tuta" Naletilic to The Hague

    for trial (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 August 1999). The

    court said in a statement that it has "decided to comply

    with the International Criminal Tribunal's demand for the

    handover of indicted...Tuta [because] legal conditions [for

    doing so] have been fulfilled." Tuta told the court the

    previous day that he is guilty of the charges "only if

    defending one's homeland is a crime." The U.S. had

    threatened Croatia with sanctions if it did not agree to

    extradite Tuta and provide documents that the tribunal has

    requested. PM

    [19] HAGUE COURT: TUDJMAN NOT INDICTED

    In The Hague, tribunal

    spokesman Paul Risley said on 1 September that Croatian

    President Franjo Tudjman is "not under a sealed indictment"

    at present. The announcement came in response to repeated

    speculation in the Croatian and international media that

    the tribunal may have issued a secret indictment against

    Tudjman in conjunction with Croatian policies in Bosnia

    during the 1992-1995 war (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 27

    July 1999). Observers note that it will nonetheless be

    interesting to see whether Tudjman undertakes any foreign

    travel in the coming weeks. PM

    [20] HOLBROOKE: UCK MUST DISARM BY 19 SEPTEMBER

    U.S. Ambassador

    to the UN Richard Holbrooke said in Sarajevo on 1 September

    that he recently told ethnic Albanian leaders in Prishtina

    that the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) must meet its 19

    September disarmament deadline (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30

    August 1999). Holbrooke added that he warned General Agim

    Ceku, who heads the UCK's general staff, that KFOR

    commander General Sir Michael Jackson has the legal right

    to "take all necessary measures" if the UCK does not

    comply. In Prishtina, Ceku told "Koha Ditore" that he will

    meet all his obligations under the UCK's agreement with

    NATO. He asked, however, that NATO give him a 10-day

    extension to complete the "transformation" of the UCK from

    a fighting force to its post-war role (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 31 August 1999). He added that 5,000 out of the

    present 20,000 guerrillas will enter a new Kosovar National

    Guard, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

    [21] U.K. POLICE FIND 50 BODIES IN GARBAGE DUMP

    British Foreign

    Secretary Robin Cook told the UCK's Hashim Thaci in London

    on 2 September that the U.K. expects the UCK to meet its

    disarmament deadline. Thaci replied: "There is nothing

    perfect in this world. But I'm more than sure we will work

    in accordance with the agreement we've signed," AP

    reported. Cook also said that British KFOR police have

    found 50 bodies in a garbage dump in Ljubidza and are

    investigating. Cook promised to send all evidence to the

    Hague tribunal. The latest discovery brings to a total of

    200 the number of bodies found by British KFOR in mass

    graves in their central sector. PM

    [22] UCK MOVING TOWARD COMPROMISE ON RAHOVEC?

    On 1 September,

    Thaci met with local ethnic Albanians in Rahovec, where

    civilians have blocked the main road for more than one week

    in an effort to prevent Russian peacekeepers from taking up

    positions in the town. He expressed support for the

    roadblock but also told his hosts: "In the town of Rahovec

    you won't have Russian soldiers, but we can't guarantee

    that for the whole municipality and the whole thing is not

    definite yet." Local Albanians firmly oppose any Russian

    presence in the area, including in Serb-inhabited

    communities. PM

    [23] TENSIONS MOUNT IN GRACANICA

    A dozen or so Serbs set up a

    roadblock in Gracanica near Prishtina on 1 September to

    protest what they said was the recent kidnapping of a local

    Serb by ethnic Albanians. An ethnic Albanian doctor said

    the next day that an unspecified number of Serbs and Roma

    "beat up" five ethnic Albanians and the Bulgarian wife of

    one of the Albanians near the roadblock. The road-block

    protest continued on 2 September. Gracanica has a Serbian

    majority and is home to an important medieval Serbian

    Orthodox monastery. Elsewhere, Reuters reported from Paris

    that Kosova Serb leader Momcilo Trajkovic told "L'Humanite"

    that UN administrator Bernard Kouchner "has failed" to

    protect Serbs in Kosova. PM

    [24] NAUMANN: MILOSEVIC PLANNED TO EXPEL ALL ALBANIANS

    German

    General Klaus Naumann, who headed NATO's military affairs

    committee until his retirement in May, said in Brussels on

    1 September that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic told

    him he planned to expel all ethnic Albanians from Kosova in

    his recent Operation Horseshoe campaign, Belgrade's "Danas"

    reported. Milosevic told Naumann and Supreme Commander

    Europe General Wesley Clark in Belgrade before NATO's

    bombing campaign began that he intended to "solve the

    Kosova problem once and for all." Naumann said in Brussels

    that he realized at that time that NATO could not sit by

    and watch the mass expulsion of Kosovars, "much as we sat

    back during the [1991 Serbian] shelling of Dubrovnik." In

    Washington on 1 September, Clark said that Milosevic made

    peace in June because his intelligence sources told him

    that a NATO ground attack was imminent, AP reported. PM

    [25] MILOSEVIC FREES AUSTRIALIAN CARE WORKERS

    Milosevic

    pardoned two Australian employees of the international aid

    organization CARE on 1 September. A Serbian spokesman said

    that the release of the men, who have been held since late

    March on charges of spying, came in response to appeals by

    ethnic Serbs living in Australia. Former Australian Prime

    Minister Malcolm Fraser and former South African President

    Nelson Mandela have also appealed to Belgrade for their

    release. In Atlanta in the U.S., a CARE spokesman said that

    the organization will not resume its activities in Serbia

    until Belgrade frees the two Australians' Serbian

    colleague, who remains in prison. PM

    [26] CLINTON, HOLBROOKE HAIL BOSNIAN NATIONAL DAY

    Holbrooke

    announced in Sarajevo on 1 September that the three members

    of the joint Bosnian presidency have agreed that 21

    November will be Bosnia's first national holiday. The date

    marks the conclusion in 1995 of the Dayton peace agreement,

    of which Holbrooke was the principal architect. In Auburn,

    N.Y., U.S. President Bill Clinton congratulated Bosnia on

    its new holiday. He added that the Dayton agreement is "the

    beginning of a new country and a blueprint for its future."

    PM

    [27] NATO STARTS NEW MISSION IN ALBANIA

    At Tirana airport on 1

    September, NATO's General John Reith formally announced the

    end of the Atlantic alliance's mission to help Albania cope

    with the Kosovar refugee influx. AFOR, as the mission was

    known, will be followed by a new Italian-led force, called

    COMMZ W (Communication Zone West). Italy will contribute

    1,400 soldiers to the 2,400-strong contingent under the

    command of General Pietro Frisone. The purpose of the new

    mission will be to provide support for KFOR and to show

    NATO's commitment to securing social stability in Albania.

    PM

    [28] AIDE TO CHALLENGE ALBANIA'S BERISHA

    Genc Pollo, who is a

    long-time spokesman for the Democratic Party and its leader

    Sali Berisha, said in Tirana on 1 September that he intends

    to challenge Berisha for the party chair. Pollo said that

    he wants to "present a serious and credible alternative" to

    Berisha at home and abroad. The vote will take place at the

    party congress on 30 September. Many observers regard

    Berisha as combative and at least partly responsible for

    the high degree of polarization that characterizes Albanian

    politics. Both Berisha and Pollo have their roots in the

    former communist-era nomenklatura and are highly educated.

    Pollo studied in Austria and is fluent in English and

    German. PM

    [29] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY

    Foreign

    Ministry spokeswoman Simona Miculescu on 1 September warned

    that the ministry might be forced to minimize its

    activities unless its budget is supplemented by 187 billion

    lei (nearly $10 million) in the immediate future. Miculescu

    said the ministry might be forced to cut diplomatic

    representation by 25-30 percent, leaving only "skeleton

    staff" at representations abroad, and officially notify

    international organizations such as the UN and the Council

    of Europe that it is unable to pay fees. MS

    [30] MAUSOLEUM DEMOLITION DOMINATES NEW SESSION OF BULGARIAN

    PARLIAMENT

    Opening the fall-winter session of the

    Bulgarian parliament on 1 September, Prime Minister Ivan

    Kostov said that immediate priorities of his cabinet are to

    ensure a "low-key" and "correct" campaign for the October

    local elections and to receive an invitation at the EU

    Helsinki summit in December to open accession talks.

    Criticizing the government, Socialist Party leader Georgi

    Parvanov said the "new political season" is dominated by

    the "confrontation policies" of the cabinet, which, he

    said, are reflected in the amended local election law and

    the demolition of the Dimitrov mausoleum. Alliance for

    National Salvation deputy Kemal Eyup said "the Berlin wall

    was destroyed to unify Germany, whereas the mausoleum was

    destroyed to divide Bulgaria" because the government is

    "frightened by any political situation other than a bipolar

    one," BTA reported. MS

    [31] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY

    The

    parliament on 1 September ratified the Comprehensive

    Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which Bulgaria signed in September

    1996, BTA reported. One day earlier, Defense Minister

    Georgi Ananiev said that next week the government will

    debate the plan for restructuring the country's defense

    forces. Under that plan, those forces will be halved by

    2004 to 45,000 troops. Ananiev noted that by that date,

    Bulgaria will have 590 generals and colonels, 1,250

    lieutenant-colonels, 1,950 majors, and 4,500 officers of

    lower rank. A total of 62,120 personnel will be discharged,

    including 10,620 officers, 12,530 sergeants, 18,630

    soldiers, and 20,340 civilian employees. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [32] LENNART MERI: 'A LIFE FOR ESTONIA'

    By Jan Cleave

    In February 1991, Hungarian-born journalist Andreas

    Oplatka visited Estonia to interview the then foreign

    minister of that country. Returning there in July 1997 and

    again in January 1998, Oplatka was granted permission to

    record extended conversations with the same interlocutor,

    who had since been elected and re-elected president. Out of

    those conversations was born "Lennart Meri: Ein Leben fuer

    Estland" [Lennart Meri: A Life for Estonia] (Verlag Neue

    Zuercher Zeitung: Zuerich, 1999).

    As Oplatka explains in his introduction, the intention

    of everyone involved in the book's publication was to

    render not only Meri's life story but also the history of

    20th century Estonia. Consequently, "A Life for Estonia" is

    both an autobiography and, to use Meri's own term, a

    chronology. Reminiscences, anecdotes, and digressions are

    all on hand, revealing the inner world of the memoirist. At

    the same time, the chronology--the account of the world

    that the memoirist inhabits--is faithfully adhered to,

    defining the book's structure and, to a certain extent, its

    tenor.

    That Meri is supremely qualified to render this

    "Estonian chronology" is beyond doubt. By his own

    admission, he was "born into the history" of his country,

    and by universal acknowledgment, he has played a major role

    in shaping that history. His depiction of pre-World War II

    Estonia is based to a large extent on the experiences of

    his father, who fought against the Red Army in 1919 and

    later became a high-ranking diplomat, holding posts in

    Berlin and Paris in the 1930s before returning to Estonia

    shortly before the outbreak of war. Through his father's

    first-hand knowledge of events in Moscow and Tallinn during

    the summer of 1939, when Lennart Meri was just 10 years

    old, the reader is presented with a behind-the-scenes

    account of the futile struggle of a small, inexperienced,

    and, in Lennart Meri's own estimation, naive country about

    to be sacrificed to the Soviet Union.

    Beginning with the year 1945, when the Meri family

    returned to Estonia following four years of enforced exile

    in Russia, Lennart Meri gives his own eye-witness account

    of Estonian history. His student years at Tartu University

    (where he proved masterful at passing exams in Marxist-

    Leninism with minimal preparation), his early career as a

    radio journalist and author of travelogues, his writings on

    the origins of the Estonian people and his films on Finno-

    Ugric communities (for which he came to be regarded as a

    "bourgeois nationalist"), and his growing involvement in

    politics in the late 1980s--all these are described within

    the context of major developments in postwar Soviet Union

    and their direct impact on Estonia.

    Meri is a gifted raconteur who tells his story, as

    well as that of Estonia, in a matter-of-fact manner--one

    that allows the autobiographical and the chronological to

    merge effortlessly. Characteristically, his description of

    the family's exile in Russia focuses on the Russian

    countryside, its peoples, and the means of survival, rather

    than the sufferings and deprivations that he and his family

    experienced. By the same token, he often chooses to

    highlight the absurdities of Soviet rule, rather than

    dwelling on its gloomier manifestations, thereby revealing

    his renowned sense of humor. Particularly memorable is

    Meri's discovery of his own name on "ersatz" toilet paper

    in the "gentlemen's room" at Estonian state radio; that

    paper turned out to be the protocol of a Communist Party

    meeting at which Meri's "nationalist" inclinations had been

    discussed at length.

    At the other end of the emotional spectrum, however,

    Meri repeatedly sounds a somber note in recalling how the

    "double standards" (Doppelmoral) of Western democracies led

    to the acceptance of a divided Europe after World War II.

    Implicit in those reminders is a warning about the possible

    ramifications if the West again chooses not to defend the

    principles that it espouses. Against the background of the

    Baltic States' current bid to become members of NATO,

    Meri's descriptions of how he and other Estonians viewed

    Western inaction over the Soviet interventions in Budapest,

    Prague, and Afghanistan are especially resonant.

    Indeed, were Estonian diplomats looking for a few

    brief paragraphs to promote their country's bid to join the

    Atlantic alliance, they would be hard pressed to find more

    eloquent ones than those with which the book concludes: "If

    one sacrifices even a small country against its will, then

    one also sacrifices principles," Meri argues. "Now is not

    the best time in Europe to talk about principles. Most

    people would rather hear about material goods.... However,

    well-being and harmony...are linked to principles that

    democracies must never give up. That Europe will remain

    Europe only as long this connection is understood and

    respected, that is our common problem of the next century."

    Published to coincide with Meri's 70th birthday

    earlier this year, "A Life for Estonia" is a fitting

    tribute to that country's president as his second term in

    office begins to near its end. Readers may regret that more

    space was not devoted to Meri's experiences as head of

    state and to Estonia's transition following the regaining

    of independence, not least because of the obvious

    parallels--to which Meri himself alludes--between this

    period and the interwar one. Many will also regret,

    particularly in view of the book's scope, that no index is

    provided. This latter omission could easily be rectified,

    however, should the book appear in translation, which it

    indisputably deserves to do.

    02-09-99


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


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