RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 175, 99-09-08

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 175, 8 September 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION OBJECTS TO THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM FOR

[02] AZERBAIJAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY PROTESTS FALSE REPORTS OF

[03] NO ARMS REACHING DAGHESTAN VIA AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA

[04] GEORGIA SAYS RUSSIAN OBJECTIONS TO WARGAMES UNFOUNDED

[05] DATE SET FOR PAPAL VISIT TO GEORGIA

[06] KAZAKH OPPOSITION TERMS ELECTION PROSPECTS DISCOURAGING

[07] KAZAKH DEPUTY PREMIER DISCUSSES TENGIZCHEVROIL SALE

[08] KYRGYZ GOVERNMENT MULLS MEETING WITH MILITANTS

[09] UZBEKISTAN REJECTS MILITANTS' DEMANDS...

[10] ...WHILE CHINA OFFERS HELP

[11] TAJIK RENEGADES SENTENCED

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] SERBIAN GENERAL THREATENS TO RETAKE KOSOVA BY FORCE

[13] EXPLOSIONS ROCK U.S. SECTOR IN KOSOVA

[14] ATTACKERS TRY TO BLOW UP CHAPEL IN KOSOVA

[15] OSCE OPENS POLICE ACADEMY IN KOSOVA

[16] DJINDJIC SEEKS PROTECTION FOR KOSOVA SERBS

[17] AVDEEV MEETS MILOSEVIC...

[18] ...AND SESELJ

[19] SERBIAN UNIONS CALL FOR GENERAL STRIKE

[20] LEADING SERBIAN BANKER WARNS OF INFLATION

[21] BOSNIAN SERB OFFICERS TO GO ABROAD ONLY WITH GUARANTEE

[22] CROATIAN NGO WANTS LEGAL MEASURES AGAINST RIGHTIST LEADER

[23] BERISHA CHARGES INVESTIGATORS WITH DESTROYING EVIDENCE ON

[24] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER IN ROMANIA

[25] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT CONVENES MEETING OF PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES

[26] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY LOSES PARLIAMENTARY GROUP STATUS

[27] MOLDOVAN COMMUNISTS ATTACK PARLIAMENTARY CHAIRMAN OVER

[28] BULGARIA RESPONDS TO BLOCKING OF ROMANIAN DANUBE

[29] ZHIVKOV GETS MEMORIAL PLAQUE IN BULGARIAN HOMETOWN

[C] END NOTE

[30] TRANSYLVANIA'S 'COSI FAN TUTTE'

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION OBJECTS TO THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM FOR

The leaders of the Azerbaijan National Independence

Party, Musavat Party, Democratic Party and Azerbaijan Popular

Front Party, Etibar Mamedov, Isa Gambar, Ilias Ismailov and

Abulfaz Elchibey, told Turan on 7 September that they do not

consider the results of the October1998 presidential

elections valid. They added that President Heidar Aliev's

statement that he may run in 2003 for a third term is

therefore inappropriate (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 September

1999). Elchibey noted that many Azerbaijani citizens likewise

believe that Aliev's re-election was not legitimate. LF

[02] AZERBAIJAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY PROTESTS FALSE REPORTS OF

Also on 7 September, the Democratic Party

announced it will hold a demonstration outside the U.S.

Embassy on 14 September to protest the erroneous report

circulated by the Azerbaijani authorities that the party's

co-chairman, Rasul Guliev, was detained in the U.S. by

immigration officials, Turan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

7 September 1999). Senior Democratic Party official Nuraddin

Mamedli has filed suit against the Prosecutor-General's

Office and demanded a published official refutation of the

report. LF

[03] NO ARMS REACHING DAGHESTAN VIA AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA

Border Guard Service chief Valerii Chkheidze on 7 September

rejected Russian State Duma speaker Gennadii Seleznev's call

earlier that day to close Russia's borders with Georgia and

Azerbaijan in order to prevent the shipment of arms to the

Chechen militants fighting in Daghestan, Caucasus Press

reported. Chkheidze said that Georgia's borders with Chechnya

and Daghestan are reliably controlled. There are no longer

any Russian border guards deployed along the Chechen side of

that border. In Baku, a National Security Ministry official

similarly told Interfax that Seleznev's charges are

unsubstantiated. Moscow closed its borders with Georgia and

Azerbaijan in December 1994 at the start of the war in

Chechnya. LF

[04] GEORGIA SAYS RUSSIAN OBJECTIONS TO WARGAMES UNFOUNDED

that the two-day military maneuvers that began the same day

at the Kulevi training ground in western Georgia do not

violate any regional peace agreements, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus

Press reported. Colonel-General Sergei Korobko, who commands

the Russian peacekeeping force deployed along the border

between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia, wrote to Tevzadze

to object that the maneuvers entail bringing heavy military

equipment into a zone from which such weapons are banned

under the Georgian-Abkhaz cease-fire agreement of May 1994.

Russian Foreign Ministry special envoy for Abkhazia Lev

Mironov termed the maneuvers an "outrageous violation" of the

1994 agreement. But Georgian parliamentary defense and

security committee chairman Revaz Adamia pointed out to

Caucasus Press that Kulevi is the only suitable training

ground available to the Georgian forces. LF

[05] DATE SET FOR PAPAL VISIT TO GEORGIA

visit Georgia on 8-9 November, Caucasus Press reported on 8

September. The visit had originally been planned for early

summer but was postponed because of the pontiff's poor

health. Agreement that the pope would visit Georgia before

the end of 1999 was reached during a visit to Tbilisi last

month by Vatican Assistant Secretary of State Giovanni

Battista Re (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 August 1999). LF

[06] KAZAKH OPPOSITION TERMS ELECTION PROSPECTS DISCOURAGING

September that he has decided to withdraw his candidacy for

the 10 October elections to the lower house of the

parliament, RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported.

Bazylbaev explained he has received telephone threats. At

another press conference in Almaty, Serikbolsyn Abdildin, who

heads the Kazakh Communist Party, said he does not believe

his party has any chance of success in that poll. He

predicted that international observers, including the OSCE,

will prove incapable of ensuring free and fair elections

since the existing election law enables election commissions

to falsify the vote count in favor of the two "parties of

power," according to "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 8 September.

Those parties are Otan (Fatherland) and the Citizens' Party.

A recent opinion poll showed 21.4 percent support for Otan,

9.4 percent for the Communists, and 4.6 percent for the

Citizens' Party, "Novye izvestiya" reported on 2 September.

LF

[07] KAZAKH DEPUTY PREMIER DISCUSSES TENGIZCHEVROIL SALE

Abulgazin told journalists in Astana on 7 September that the

precise date for the sale of part of Kazakhstan's 40 percent

stake in the Tengizchevroil consortium will depend on

fulfillment of the state budget, Interfax reported. "If the

budget situation is okay, the Kazakh stake will not be sold

before the end of 1999," he said, adding that current tax

revenues "give grounds for optimism." Abulgazin confirmed

that Kazakhstan will sell 40 percent of its stake, which is

equal to a 10 percent stake in the consortium, and that some

20 oil companies have been invited to participate in the

tender. But he declined to specify the asking price. LF

[08] KYRGYZ GOVERNMENT MULLS MEETING WITH MILITANTS

Djanuzakov told journalists in Bishkek on 7 September, after

President Askar Akaev named him to head the Kyrgyz Security

Council, that the government will not conduct official

negotiations with the ethnic Uzbek guerrillas who still hold

a dozen hostages in southern Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Bishkek

bureau reported. Djanuzakov did not rule out lower-level

talks with the guerrillas and suggested that some members of

the Kyrgyz government might participate. The guerrillas have

sent a letter to the Kyrgyz authorities, via intermediary

Tursunbek Akunov, proposing talks either in southern

Kyrgyzstan or the Djirgtal region of neighboring Tajikistan

to discuss the release of the hostages. Four Japanese

geologists who are among the hostages have also sent a letter

to the Kyrgyz leadership urging that everything possible be

done to secure their release, Reuters reported. Meanwhile the

situation in the south of the country remained calm on 7

September. LF

[09] UZBEKISTAN REJECTS MILITANTS' DEMANDS...

Ministry issued a statement on 7 September rejecting as a

"provocation" and "scandalous outrage" the Islamic Movement

of Uzbekistan's demand for the release of 50,000 Muslims

imprisoned in Uzbekistan in exchange for freeing the hostages

held by the movement's guerrillas in southern Kyrgyzstan,

Reuters and Interfax reported. The Islamic Movement of

Uzbekistan faxed that demand to the Kyrgyz leadership on 4

September, insisting that the Kyrgyz leadership allow the

guerrillas to cross unimpeded into Uzbekistan (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 6 September 1999). Uzbek National Security Council

Secretary Mirakbar Rakhmankulov told Uzbek Television on 7

September that the militants aim to destabilize the whole of

Central Asia, according to Interfax. He added that they are

supported by the Afghan Taliban movement and other

organizations with the same goal. LF

[10] ...WHILE CHINA OFFERS HELP

told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 7 September that China has

offered help to Kyrgyzstan to resolve the hostage crisis. The

official said Beijing is ready to block the state frontiers

between China and Kyrgyzstan and between Kyrgyzstan and

Tajikistan. An agreement on strengthening frontier security

measures was signed by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,

and Tajikistan in April 1996. LF

[11] TAJIK RENEGADES SENTENCED

handed down sentences ranging from three to 15 years in

prison to 12 members of a gang headed by Rezvon Sodirov,

ITAR-TASS reported on 7 September. The gang was charged with

murder, gangsterism, and hostage-taking in 1997 (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 3 and 10 October 1997). LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] SERBIAN GENERAL THREATENS TO RETAKE KOSOVA BY FORCE

Vladimir Lazarevic told the independent weekly "Nedeljni

Telegraf" of 8 September that "the refusal of the

international community to fulfill its obligations according

to the [Kosova peace] agreement [leads the Serbian

authorities to conclude] that we will have to retake our

territory by force." He added that NATO has turned Kosova

into an "occupation zone," AP reported. "This state has a

right to protect its own territory and people. We are ready,"

the general stressed. Lazarevic noted that the army is

"constantly deliberating its reengagement" in the province

and is only "awaiting for the appropriate command" from the

authorities. PM

[13] EXPLOSIONS ROCK U.S. SECTOR IN KOSOVA

in Prishtina on 8 September that two persons were killed and

four injured in a "series of explosions" in the Gjilan area

the previous night. He did not specify the nationality of the

victims, AP reported. PM

[14] ATTACKERS TRY TO BLOW UP CHAPEL IN KOSOVA

school chapel in Prizren was damaged by unidentified

attackers who exploded five antitank mines on 6 September,

Reuters reported. The attackers had placed a total of 20

mines around the chapel but 15 did not explode. In Vushtrri,

a French soldiers stopped a man from setting fire to a

church. The arsonist then shot at the soldier, slightly

injuring him before fleeing. The church was only slightly

damaged. In eastern Kosova, Russian KFOR soldiers found a

Serbian man who had been shot dead on his tractor. And near

Peja, unidentified attackers threw a grenade at a Serbian

house. No one was injured. FS

[15] OSCE OPENS POLICE ACADEMY IN KOSOVA

Danish chief of the international police force in Kosova,

inaugurated the Kosova police academy in Vushtrri on 7

September. The academy will be directed by Steve Bennett, a

former U.S. marine. The first 200 cadets are 166 Albanians,

26 Serbs, and eight members of other ethnic communities.

Forty of the students are women. Only one Serb attended the

opening ceremony, "The New York Times" reported. There were

19,000 applicants for positions at the academy. The academy

will eventually train between 3,500 and 4,000 police

officers. Fredrikson told the students: "You must understand

that without justice for everyone there will not be justice

for anyone. You are the future, you'll protect the weak and

innocent." FS

[16] DJINDJIC SEEKS PROTECTION FOR KOSOVA SERBS

Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic said during a visit to

Bucharest on 7 September that the international community

must take steps to protect Serbs living in Kosova and to

enable refugees to return. He added: "It is not safe to be in

[Kosova] now as non-Albanian citizen. We expect the

international community to take the initiative to bring back

200,000 Serbs to [the province] to have a multi-ethnic, not

an ethnically-cleansed [Kosova], this time done by the

Albanian side," Reuters reported. Djindjic stressed that NATO

does not need more troops but rather "a different kind of

involvement." He did not elaborate. PM

[17] AVDEEV MEETS MILOSEVIC...

Aleksandr Avdeev met with Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic in Belgrade on 7 September, AP reported.

Milosevic's office issued a statement after the meeting

saying that "Russia supports Yugoslavia in its principled

efforts and condemns violations of the UN Security Council

resolution [on Kosova].... The greatest threat to a political

solution...and the stabilization of relations in the region

is the unhindered continuation of crimes by Albanian bandit

groups." The statement also called on KFOR to combat

"terrorism, lawlessness, and crime" and urged an end to the

"ethnic cleansing" of Serbs in Kosova. Milosevic is wanted by

the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

for masterminding war crimes in Kosova. Avdeev is the

highest-ranking foreign official to meet with Milosevic since

the end of the Kosova war. FS

[18] ...AND SESELJ

Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj in Belgrade on 7

September. AP quoted Tanjug as saying that the two had a

"lengthy and friendly discussion" and condemned "efforts by

some Western countries to create an international

protectorate" in Kosova. Avdeev told ITAR-TASS after the

meetings that "we voiced the need to draw lessons from the

[Kosova] tragedy. It would be a pity if politicians are the

last to do that." FS

[19] SERBIAN UNIONS CALL FOR GENERAL STRIKE

Association of Independent Trade Unions said in Belgrade on 7

September that it will launch a general strike in conjunction

with the mass protests slated for 21 September in Belgrade

and 20 other cities and towns. The spokesman urged "artists,

scholars, self-employed people, and unemployed persons" to

support the strike, "Danas" reported. In Serbian usage, a

general strike usually means a series of work stoppages

rather than an attempt to shut down all businesses. PM

[20] LEADING SERBIAN BANKER WARNS OF INFLATION

Avramovic said in Belgrade on 7 September that the

authorities' recent decision to raise the prices of 700

consumer items by some 30 to 40 percent could lead to a

renewal of the hyperinflation that he stopped when he headed

the National Bank in 1994. Avramovic noted that the system he

put in place "was based on low wages and low prices of

staples and electricity. Now this has been disrupted,"

"Danas" reported. PM

[21] BOSNIAN SERB OFFICERS TO GO ABROAD ONLY WITH GUARANTEE

minister, said in Banja Luka that Bosnian Serb officers may

travel abroad only if they have written guarantees from SFOR

and the Hague-based war crimes tribunal that they will not be

arrested for war crimes, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported on 7 September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 September

1999). He added that the court's policy of indicting persons

in secret is against "international practice" and unduly

makes innocent persons feel insecure, the Frankfurt-based

Serbian daily "Vesti" reported. Milovanovic stressed that the

recent arrest of General Momir Talic in Austria for war

crimes will not affect "very much" the Bosnian Serb army's

relations with SFOR. PM

[22] CROATIAN NGO WANTS LEGAL MEASURES AGAINST RIGHTIST LEADER

letter to Prosecutor-General Berislav Zivkovic calling on him

to take legal measures against right-wing politician Ante

Djapic for allegedly urging the army to stage a coup if the

government extradites any Croatian generals to The Hague,

RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 7 September.

Opposition politician Vlado Gotovac has also called for legal

measures against Djapic. In Vojnic, Djapic denied that he

urged the army to stage a coup. He said that he only sought

to protect "persons who helped create the Croatian state." He

suggested his critics are unpatriotic, "Novi List" reported

on 8 September. PM

[23] BERISHA CHARGES INVESTIGATORS WITH DESTROYING EVIDENCE ON

Opposition Democratic Party leader Sali

Berisha on 7 September accused unspecified investigators of

destroying evidence about the killing of Democratic

legislator Azem Hajdari on 14 September 1998, an RFE/RL South

Slavic Service correspondent reported from Tirana. Berisha

also said that several witnesses have left Albania to avoid

giving testimony and that others involved in the murder have

been killed recently. He intimated that the government is

trying to eliminate possible witnesses, but he did not

elaborate. Berisha has repeatedly turned down calls from

investigators to testify in the Hajdari investigation. FS

[24] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER IN ROMANIA

Party leader Djindjic and Petre Roman, leader of Romania's

Democratic Party, have signed a cooperation agreement between

their respective parties, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported

on 7 September. Djindjic agreed with President Emil

Constantinescu to "establish permanent contacts" between the

Serbian opposition and "Romanian authorities." Prime Minister

Radu Vasile told Djindjic that Romania would "welcome a

process of coagulation--not necessarily unification--to

increase the efficiency" of the Serbian opposition and that

the "first condition for solving Yugoslavia's problem is the

change of the Milosevic regime." Vasile also said that

Romania is "worried by certain [Hungarian] declarations about

the situation of the Magyar minority in Vojvodina." He said

Romania "can by no means agree to modifications of borders."

MS

[25] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT CONVENES MEETING OF PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES

parties to discuss ways of overcoming differences over the

restitution laws being debated in the Chamber of Deputies and

the Senate, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau. The meeting is to take

place on 9 September. Party of Social Democracy in Romania

chairman Ion Iliescu has also called for such a meeting.

Meanwhile, data released by the National Statistics

Commission on 7 September shows Romania's GDP in the first

six month of 1999 dropped by 3.9 percent compared with same

period last year. Foreign investment since 1990 totals $5.77

billion. The figure includes direct foreign investment,

portfolio investments, investments in private companies, as

well as privatization contracts not yet finalized. Holland is

Romania's largest investor, with $658 million. MS

[26] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY LOSES PARLIAMENTARY GROUP STATUS

Tambozie announced on 6 September that he is leaving the PUNR

and becoming an independent senator. That move deprives the

PUNR of its parliamentary group status and consequently of

representation in the chamber's Permanent Bureau. Tambozie is

the third PUNR senator to leave the formation since the 1996

elections (see also "End Note" below). MS

[27] MOLDOVAN COMMUNISTS ATTACK PARLIAMENTARY CHAIRMAN OVER

In a 7 September statement, the Party of

Moldovan Communists (PCM) said parliamentary chairman Dumitru

Diacov is "provoking a new explosion of passions" over the

issue of changing the country's official language. The PCM

also accused him of "destabilizing" the country. On 31

August, Moldova's Language Day, Diacov called for amending

the constitution to change the designation of the country's

official language from "Moldovan" to Romanian. The PCM says

Diacov's proposal is a "new harsh attack by the pseudo-

democrats on the ethnic and linguistic singularity of the

Moldovan people [aimed at] undermining its self-

determination...and promoting Romanianization and [Moldovan-

Romanian] unionism," Infotag reported. MS

[28] BULGARIA RESPONDS TO BLOCKING OF ROMANIAN DANUBE

Stanchev, executive director of the Bulgarian River Shipping

Corporation, said on 7 September in the River Danube port of

Russe that Serbia's obstruction of traffic on the river must

be punished by "sanctions that match their steps." Stanchev

said the Romanian protests launched one day earlier are

"logical" but "there are other ways to bring international

pressure" on Serbia. He said that if Romanian claims that the

Serbian authorities are letting only Russian and Ukrainian

ships navigate a canal around Novi Sad are substantiated,

Bulgarian ports should introduce "licensing requirements" for

Serbian vessels, BTA reported. MS

[29] ZHIVKOV GETS MEMORIAL PLAQUE IN BULGARIAN HOMETOWN

officials in Pravets, some 50 kilometers north of Sofia,

marked the birthday of former communist dictator Todor

Zhivkov on 7 September by unveiling a memorial plaque and

naming a central square after him. Members of Zhivkov's

family attended the ceremony. Zhivkov died last year aged 87.

MS

[C] END NOTE

[30] TRANSYLVANIA'S 'COSI FAN TUTTE'

Parliamentary and presidential elections in Romania are

not due until the fall of 2000, but the electoral campaign

has already begun. Democratic Party Chairman Petre Roman

announced his candidacy for the presidency in mid-August in

the Transylvanian town of Targu Mures, and his party

simultaneously launched its "Message to Transylvania."

Introducing that manifesto, Roman called for

cooperation between the region's ethnic minorities and the

Romanian majority, which he said is now possible because "no

one questions Romania's territorial integrity today." But

visiting the headquarters of the Targu Mures garrison, Roman

professed that the officer corps' concern about an alleged

attempt to bring about "Transylvania's destabilization" had

made a big impression on him. Those familiar with the

Democratic Party chairman's double-talk were hardly

surprised.

The specter of the "destabilization attempt" was raised

by Adrian Nastase, first deputy chairman of the opposition

Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR). In mid-July,

Nastase told journalists in Cluj, Transylvania's capital,

that an "explosive situation" might develop in Transylvania

this fall against the background of the country's "increasing

economic, political and social vulnerability." He claimed to

have "information" on the plans of the "Magyar revisionists"

to create such a situation. Later, he called on the Romanian

Intelligence Service to investigate and make public the plots

allegedly under way.

But Roman and Nastase were not the only ones ready to

play the Romanian nationalist card in Transylvania. In early

June, President Emil Constantinescu--the likely presidential

candidate of the ruling National Peasant Party Christian

Democratic (PNTCD) and the Democratic Convention of Romania

(CDR--rushed to respond to a document of unclear origin in

which a handful of "Transylvanian intellectuals" demanded

autonomy for the region. As "guarantor of the constitution",

Constantinescu said, he would never agree to "separatist

ideas." The fact that this statement was also made in Targu

Mures is no coincidence. Transylvania has become the main

testing ground for the arsenal likely to be used by political

competitors in election year 2000.

There are several reasons for this development. First,

the PDSR is well aware that it lost the 1996 elections to a

great extent owing to its unpopularity in Transylvania. The

CDR won almost the entire western and central parts of

Romania in 1996. Now leading in opinion polls, the main

opposition party would strengthen its position overall if it

were able to turn the tables on its main competitors--

particularly the PNTCD--in what was their bastion.

Second, the PNTCD has made it easier for the PDSR to do

just that by showing signs of disintegration at the local

level. Former Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea, himself a

Transylvanian, split the party in April, when he set up the

National Christian Democratic Alliance (ANCD). The Boila

brothers, two pillars of the Transylvanian PNTCD, who for

many years dominated the important Cluj branch of the party,

joined Ciorbea in the ANCD, while Ciorbea recently announced

he will run for president in 2000.

Third, the PDSR is also trying to pick up where the

Party of Romanian National Unity (PUNR) left off. Polls

indicate that the PUNR, whose strength in the Romanian

parliament fell from 7.7 percent in 1992 to 4.4 percent in

1996, may fail to pass the electoral hurdle in 2000. Once the

darling of Romanian nationalists in Transylvania, the PUNR is

a regional party par excellence.

Even more than the PNTCD, however, the PUNR has suffered

from political schisms. Following his dismissal as PUNR

leader in February 1997, Cluj extreme nationalist Mayor

Gheorghe Funar in April 1998 set up a rival Party of Romanian

Unity Alliance (PAUR), only to join the Greater Romania Party

(PRM) as its secretary-general in November. Those members of

the PAUR who did not follow Funar into the PRM recently

joined the PDSR. More important, Vatra romaneasca (Romanian

cradle) leaders also joined that party, securing for

themselves a place on the PDSR lists for the 2000

parliamentary elections. Vatra romaneasca, which, claims to

be a "cultural organization," played a major role in

provoking the inter-ethnic clashes in Targu Mures in March

1990.

Mihaila Cofariu, the Romanian "hero" of those clashes,

who was badly beaten by ethnic Hungarians and was later

recruited into the PRM, attended a recent PDSR meeting in

Bucharest as guest of honor. PRM leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor

immediately protested the PDSR's co-opting Cofariu, which he

dubbed an "Abduction from the Seraglio." Threatening to

retaliate, Tudor said that many PDSR sympathizers are

knocking on his party's door.

It is not an "abduction" that is being staged in

Transylvania, however. Rather, with most Romanian parties

trying to court nationalism, it is "Cosi fan tutte." The

Romanian National Party (PNR), which took the name of a 19th

century forerunner of the PNTCD in Transylvania, is obviously

targeting the same nationalist-inclined Romanian electorate

as are other parties. Former Romanian Intelligence Service

chief Virgil Magureanu, the party's acting chairman and a

Romanian Transylvanian, is believed to have masterminded the

Targu Mures riots.

Headed by former Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu--

whose diplomatic career often put him at the center of

Romanian-Hungarian disputes both under communist leader

Nicolae Ceausescu and his successor, Ion Iliescu--the

Alliance for Romania is also attempting to score points using

anti-Hungarian rhetoric taken from the nationalists' verbal

arsenal. That this arsenal is old-fashioned speaks volumes

about the paucity of political discourse in Romania 10 years

after the country began its "transition."

08-09-99

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

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