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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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?

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'

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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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