RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 193, 99-10-04

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. 193, 4 October 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER IN WASHINGTON

[02] RUSSIA DENIES BOMBING NORTHERN AZERBAIJAN

[03] ABKHAZIA HOLDS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

[04] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT AMNESTIES PRISONERS

[05] GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY DENIES KNOWLEDGE OF GIORGADZE'S

[06] MORE DETAILS EMERGE OF SALE OF KAZAKH MIGS TO NORTH KOREA

[07] KYRGYZ TROOPS CLOSE IN ON HOSTAGE-TAKERS...

[08] ...AS CIS OFFERS ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE

[09] KYRGYZSTAN'S PARLIAMENT AMENDS PENSIONS LAW

[10] KYRGYZ, UZBEK PLANES LAUNCH AIRRAIDS AGAINST GUERRILLAS

[11] TAJIKISTAN'S PRESIDENT URGES NEW EFFORT TO END AFGHAN WAR...

[12] ...CALLS FOR INCREASED HUMANITARIAN AID

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] DRASKOVIC SAYS HE SURVIVED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

[14] OPPOSITION PROTESTS IN BELGRADE, OTHER CITIES CONTINUE

[15] SERBIAN ACADEMICIANS CALL FOR NEW GOVERNMENT

[16] THACI: BELGRADE WILL NEVER HAVE A SAY IN KOSOVA

[17] CLARK SAYS NATO HAS NO DATE FOR WITHDRAWING FROM BOSNIA,

[18] TOWN IN KOSOVA UNDER BLOCKADE

[19] HIGH COMMISSIONER REJECTS VICE PRESIDENT FOR TOP POST IN

[20] DODIK PLEDGES COOPERATION WITH TRIBUNAL

[21] SLOVENIAN POLITICIAN FOUND DEAD

[22] CROATIAN COURT CONVICTS SAKIC

[23] BERISHA RE-ELECTED PARTY HEAD

[24] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PROTESTS AGAINST 'RECONCILIATION PARK'

[25] FORMER BULGARIAN KING TO TAKE POSSESSION OF RESTORED

[26] SOCIALIST MAYOR CANDIDATE MURDERED IN BULGARIA

[C] END NOTE

[27] ENTITLEMENTS, RIGHTS, AND DEMOCRACY

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER IN WASHINGTON

annual IMF and World Bank meeting in Washington last week,

Vazgen Sargsian held talks with senior officials from both

organizations and with U.S. Vice President Al Gore, ITAR-TASS

and Armenpress reported. ITAR-TASS quoted Sargsian as telling

Gore that Armenia believes the U.S. occasionally pursues "a

policy of double standards" in the South Caucasus, for

example in promoting the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil export

pipeline while opposing construction of a gas pipeline from

Iran to Armenia. At a 30 September meeting with Sargsian,

World Bank President James Wolfensohn agreed to act as patron

for a meeting in London in May 2000 to promote business

contacts between Armenia and the diaspora, according to

Armenpress. LF

[02] RUSSIA DENIES BOMBING NORTHERN AZERBAIJAN

Commander Colonel General Anatolii Kornukov on 2 October

denied that a Russian fighter aircraft dropped a bomb on the

village of Gymir in Zakatala Raion, northern Azerbaijan, the

previous day, Interfax reported. No one was injured in that

incident, but several houses in the village were damaged.

Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev dispatched Defense

Ministry experts to the village to investigate. Opposition

party leaders condemned the incident as showing disrespect

for Azerbaijan's sovereign status, according to Turan. They

also noted that it testifies to the Russian leadership's

inability to control the armed forces. LF

[03] ABKHAZIA HOLDS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Abkhazia's estimated 209,000 voters participated in the 3

October presidential poll and referendum, ITAR-TASS reported,

quoting Central Electoral Commission Chairman Vladimir

Tsugba. The central Georgian government, Russia and the U.S.

have condemned as illegal both the referendum and the poll,

in which incumbent president Vladislav Ardzinba ran unopposed

for a second term. No data are available on how voters

responded to the referendum questions. Voters were asked to

approve or reject the breakaway republic's 1994 constitution,

which defines Abkhazia as an independent sovereign state, and

a constitutional amendment whereby judges are to be elected

for a five-year term. LF

[04] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT AMNESTIES PRISONERS

has signed a decree pardoning 1,759 prisoners who have served

two-thirds of their respective terms, Russian agencies

reported on 1 October. The amnesty does not extend to persons

convicted for murder, terrorism, kidnapping, rape, or drug-

related crimes. LF

[05] GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY DENIES KNOWLEDGE OF GIORGADZE'S

Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gela

Dumbadze told Caucasus Press on 1 October that the ministry

has no evidence that former security chief Igor Giorgadze is

currently in Syria. Rumors to that effect surfaced early this

year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 January and 24 February 1999)

but were never confirmed. On 30 September, Georgian Interior

Minister Kakha Targamadze said that Georgia's efforts to

extradite Giorgadze from Syria have been thwarted by Russian

intelligence (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 October 1999).

Giorgadze is suspected of masterminding an August 1995

attempt to assassinate then Georgian State Council Chairman

Eduard Shevardnadze. LF

[06] MORE DETAILS EMERGE OF SALE OF KAZAKH MIGS TO NORTH KOREA

journalists in Almaty on 29 September that criminal

proceedings have been opened against all those involved in

the sale of 40 MiG-21 aircraft from Kazakhstan to North

Korea, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported the following day.

Khitrenko said the man arrested two weeks earlier on

suspicion of masterminding the $8 million deal is company

director Aleksandr Petrenko (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16

September 1999). AP quoted Petrenko's lawyer as saying the

sale was not illegal as it was based on earlier framework

agreements covering military cooperation with North Korea.

The Kazakh government has disclaimed any involvement in the

deal. LF

[07] KYRGYZ TROOPS CLOSE IN ON HOSTAGE-TAKERS...

Ministry sources said on 1 October that army troops have

occupied strategic heights and are blocking all escape routes

open to the Uzbek guerrillas who took 13 hostages in southern

Kyrgyzstan in late August, ITAR-TASS reported. Meeting with

visiting OSCE Chairman in Office Knut Vollebaek in Bishkek on

1 October, Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akaev said that

efforts to eradicate terrorism and religious extremism in

Central Asia may take time, according to Interfax. The same

day, the news agency quoted an unnamed source in Kyrgyzstan's

National Security Ministry as saying that the radical Islamic

Hizb-i-Takhrir party is intensifying its activities in the

Osh and Djalilabad Oblasts of southern Kyrgyzstan. The source

added that an underground printing press belonging to that

party was recently discovered in Osh. It had reportedly been

used to publish leaflets calling for the overthrow of

existing governments in Central Asia and the creation of a

pan-Islamic state. LF

[08] ...AS CIS OFFERS ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE

President Akaev and CIS Collective Security Council Secretary

General Vladimir Zemksii discussed the situation in southern

Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported two days later.

They signed an agreement on collective CIS military

assistance to Kyrgyzstan that has already been signed by the

presidents of several CIS member states, including Russia and

Kazakhstan. On 1 October, Uzbekistan's President Islam

Karimov also promised more assistance to Kyrgyzstan in

fighting the guerrillas, Interfax reported. LF

[09] KYRGYZSTAN'S PARLIAMENT AMENDS PENSIONS LAW

parliament on 29 September voted in the final reading to

approve amendments proposed by the government to the pensions

law, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Parliamentary deputy

Alevtina Pronenko told RFE/RL that under those amendments,

the basic pension rate will not be raised before 2005. That

basic rate is 12 percent of the average monthly salary of 957

soms (about $23), the official subsistence level being 1,123

soms a month. Some $18 million in aid from international

financial organizations was pegged to the passage of the

amendments. LF

[10] KYRGYZ, UZBEK PLANES LAUNCH AIRRAIDS AGAINST GUERRILLAS

Tajikistan's Garm and Tajikabad regions on 2 and 3 October,

but no deaths or injuries were reported, according to ITAR-

TASS. On 4 October, Kyrgyz Presidential Press Secretary

Kanybek Imanaliev told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau that "the

joint air forces of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan" bombed some

areas in southern Kyrgyzstan as well as neighboring

Tajikistan the previous evening. He did not elaborate. Uzbek

warplanes inadvertently dropped bombs in Tajikistan in mid-

August while targeting the guerrillas in southern Kyrgyzstan

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 August 1999). LF

[11] TAJIKISTAN'S PRESIDENT URGES NEW EFFORT TO END AFGHAN WAR...

Rakhmonov called on the international community to launch a

new effort to end the civil war in Afghanistan by political

means, Reuters and ITAR-TASS reported. Rakhmonov expressed

his support for the so-called Six-Plus-Two group, which

comprises the six states that border Afghanistan (China,

Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) as

well as Russia and the UN. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on

27 September criticized unnamed members of that group for

supporting one or the other faction in Afghanistan. Rakhmonov

added that the CIS is doing everything in its power to

prevent the spread of the Taliban's "militant ideology" as

well as the export of drugs and arms. LF

[12] ...CALLS FOR INCREASED HUMANITARIAN AID

appealed for humanitarian aid to assist Tajikistan in

overcoming the legacy of the civil war, noting that to date

donors have given "only a few percent" of the funds they

promised for that purpose, AP reported. Rakhmonov said that

the 26 September referendum demonstrated his country's

unswerving commitment to building a democratic, law-based

secular state. But on 2 October, Said Abdullo Nuri, United

Tajik Opposition leader and chairman of the opposition

Islamic Renaissance Party, told Interfax that the Tajik

government is trying to prevent that party's activists from

collecting the required 145,000 signatures to register its

candidate, Foreign Economic Relations Minister Davlat Usmon,

as a candidate for the 6 November presidential elections. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] DRASKOVIC SAYS HE SURVIVED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

opposition leader Vuk Draskovic said that a road accident

that he survived on 3 October was "an obvious assassination

attempt," the Serbian dailies "Glas" and "Blic" reported.

Draskovic said it was a "pure miracle" that he sustained only

slight injuries in that accident, in which a truck from the

oncoming traffic suddenly swerved into Draskovic's car.

Draskovic's aide and brother-in-law, Veselin Boskovic, was

killed. A second car carrying two of Draskovic's bodyguards

and his security adviser, Zvonko Osmajlic, drove under the

truck and exploded into flames. A third car carrying

Draskovic's wife managed to avoid the accident. The incident

took place about 40 kilometers southwest of Belgrade, near

the village of Petka. The driver of the truck reportedly fled

the scene, and witnesses said the truck did not brake.

Draskovic is the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement and

served in the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic earlier this year. He has refused to take part in

opposition rallies, saying they are ineffective, and instead

has called for early elections. PB

[14] OPPOSITION PROTESTS IN BELGRADE, OTHER CITIES CONTINUE

(SZP) continued, with some 15,000 people marching in Belgrade

on 3 October, Reuters reported. Similar-sized marches were

held the previous two days--all without any clashes with riot

police, who blocked and altered the march routes on all those

days. Zoran Djindjic, a leader of the SZP, said the

government will provoke violence using its own agents in

order to have a pretext to crack down on demonstrators. He

said such "troublemakers" have been spotted marching with the

protesters. Large rallies of up to 10,000 people were held in

Nis and Novi Sad on 1-3 October. Various other protests took

place in more than a dozen smaller towns, although a march in

Canak was called off on 2 October owing to a strong police

presence, the Belgrade-based Beta news agency reported.

Nikola Djurickovic, an opposition leader who was arrested

last week, was released from prison on 2 October. PB

[15] SERBIAN ACADEMICIANS CALL FOR NEW GOVERNMENT

members of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences signed a

letter on 2 October demanding the resignation of the Serbian

and Yugoslav governments, Radio B2-92 reported. Ljubomir

Simovic said that the letter calls for new governments to

lead the "people and the country...out of this abyss and

embark on the road of recovery and return to the modern

world." In other news, Radio B2-92 reported that the Belgrade

daily "Glas javnosti," which was shut down last week, will

resume publishing again on 4 October after Serbian

authorities unsealed the newspaper's offices. PB

[16] THACI: BELGRADE WILL NEVER HAVE A SAY IN KOSOVA

Albanian leader Hashim Thaci said on 3 October that "Belgrade

will never again make decisions about Kosova," AP reported.

Thaci, speaking to some 2,000 ethnic Albanians in the town of

Gjilan, said "we will never again allow anyone outside of

Kosova to decide about Kosova." Hydajet Hyseni, a former

Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) officer, told the crowd that

Kosova will be a "part of Europe...and with a defense force

like everywhere else in Europe." Thaci said earlier that day

that a military academy will be set up in Kosova to train

officers for a future army of Kosova. He added that that the

former UCK has agreed to set up a political party with the

Party of Democratic Unity. The name of that party will be

made public soon, he added. PB

[17] CLARK SAYS NATO HAS NO DATE FOR WITHDRAWING FROM BOSNIA,

NATO's Supreme Commander in Europe General Wesley

Clark said on 1 October that the alliance has not set a date

for withdrawing from either Bosnia-Herzegovina or Kosova, AP

reported. Clark said NATO has a "strategy for success" in the

Balkans and will continue to work to bring stability and

peace to the region. Clark said he is satisfied with the

UCK's compliance in demilitarizing. NATO has some 30,000

peacekeeping troops in Bosnia and nearly 50,000 in Kosova. PB

[18] TOWN IN KOSOVA UNDER BLOCKADE

Kosova (KFOR) continue to maintain a "total blockade" on the

mainly Serbian town of Kosova Polje and the surrounding area,

Beta reported on 3 October. Large groups of Serbs and ethnic

Albanians are maintaining barricades on a road leading to the

town and are only a few hundred meters away from each other.

A grenade attack on an outdoor market in Kosova Polje killed

two and left dozens injured (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29

September 1999). KFOR troops are not allowing anyone to leave

or enter the area except for journalists. Ethnic Albanians

briefly set up a roadblock on the railroad line leading into

the town. Around Kosova, three Serbs were reported killed: an

elderly couple shot dead in their home near Prizren and a man

attacked near his cornfield in the town of Vitina. PB

[19] HIGH COMMISSIONER REJECTS VICE PRESIDENT FOR TOP POST IN

Bosnian High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch

rejected an application for the vacant presidential post of

the Republika Srpska, AP reported on 1 October. Mirko

Sarovic, who had served as deposed President Nikola

Poplasen's vice president, will not be allowed to take the

post, which has been open since Poplasen was sacked in March.

Poplasen has refused to recognize his dismissal. Both

Poplasen and Sarovic are leading members of the Serbian

Democratic Party of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic. PB

[20] DODIK PLEDGES COOPERATION WITH TRIBUNAL

Milorad Dodik said upon returning from a visit to the U.S. on

3 October that the Republika Srpska will start cooperating

with the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague, AP reported.

Dodik said "there will be no secret indictments if the

Republika Srpska establishes cooperation with the tribunal."

Bosnian Serbs have thus far refused to detain or hand over

indicted war-crimes suspects, thereby limiting international

aid to that portion of Bosnia. PB

[21] SLOVENIAN POLITICIAN FOUND DEAD

parliamentary deputy and prominent member of the Christian

Democratic Party, was found dead on 1 October about 500

meters from where his car was parked, Croatian Radio

reported. Reports say a suicide note was found with the body.

Gajsek was reported missing a week or so ago. PB

[22] CROATIAN COURT CONVICTS SAKIC

living commander of a World War II concentration camp, was

found guilty in Zagreb on 4 October of crimes against

humanity and sentenced to the maximum sentence of 20 years,

AP reported. Chief Judge Drazen Tripalo said the seven-member

panel found Sakic guilty of all charges, saying he

"maltreated, tortured, and killed inmates and did nothing to

prevent his subordinates from doing the same." He was also

found guilty of personally killing four inmates. Sakic can

appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court. PB

[23] BERISHA RE-ELECTED PARTY HEAD

Berisha was re-elected chairman of the opposition Democratic

Party on 1 October, Reuters reported. The vote followed a

purge of moderate leaders in the party (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 1 October 1999). Berisha received 594 out of 693

votes. Berisha called for Genc Pollo, who withdrew his

challenge to Berisha, to remain a member of the party. In

other news, Albanian Premier Pandeli Majko, upon returning

from an official visit to the U.S., dismissed Berisha's calls

for early elections, saying the 2001 ballot will take place

as scheduled. Majko said his trip to the U.S. was "very

successful." He met with IMF and World Bank officials as well

as with many U.S. politicians. PB

[24] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PROTESTS AGAINST 'RECONCILIATION PARK'

Greater Romania Party on 1 October criticized the

government's intention to create together with the Hungarian

government a "park of historic reconciliation" in Arad (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 27 September 1999), RFE/RL's Bucharest

bureau reported. The PDSR said that a monument to displayed

in the park commemorating the 13 Hungarian generals executed

by the Austrians in 1848 has "a profound anti-national and

anti-Romanian character." PDSR First Deputy Chairman Adrian

Nastase said the ruling coalition is an "accomplice in

serving the interests of Hungarian revisionism." On 4

October, the Vatra romaneasca cultural organization is to

protest the planned monument, which it called "a symbol of

the Hungarian state." MS

[25] FORMER BULGARIAN KING TO TAKE POSSESSION OF RESTORED

Exiled King Simeon II arrived in Bulgaria on 1

October for a 10-day visit during which he will take

possession of the properties that were returned to him under

a Constitutional Court ruling last year, BTA reported. The

former monarch said on arriving that he has not yet decided

what to do with the restored properties, which include

palaces near Sofia and in Tsarska Bistrica, as well as

hunting lodges, a farm, and a village house. During a visit

in 1998, Simeon said he might consider having the properties

run "for the public benefit," AP reported. MS

[26] SOCIALIST MAYOR CANDIDATE MURDERED IN BULGARIA

Party candidate for mayor of the village of Starevetsi in the

Pleven district, northern Bulgaria, was found murdered on 2

October, BTA reported, citing Bulgarian police. Police said

Yanko Kozhoukarov was injured "with a sharp object in the

region of the heart." Meanwhile, the campaign for the 16

October local elections is heating up. Socialist Party leader

Georgi Parvanov said in the parliament on 3 October that the

opposition is subjected to "intimidation," while Movement for

Rights and Freedoms leader Ahmed Dogan remarked at a meeting

with voters that the government's campaign is "imprudent."

Interior Minister Bogumil Bonev dismissed as "absurd" claims

by Dogan's party that mosques will be demolished if his

party's candidates are not elected in Turkish villages. MS

[C] END NOTE

[27] ENTITLEMENTS, RIGHTS, AND DEMOCRACY

A major obstacle to the building of democracy in Russia

and other post-communist countries is that many people there

appear to be concerned more about what their governments can

give them than about what control they have over those

governments via democratic procedures.

As a result, many of them may be inclined to support

political figures and movements that promise to guarantee

what they see as their substantive rights, even if these

individuals and groups are prepared to violate the norms of

democratic governance such as regular elections, freedom of

speech, and freedom of religion.

That is the sobering message of the results of a recent

poll taken by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public

Opinion. When asked what is the most important factor

defining a democratic society, 75 percent of Russians replied

that it was a system of government that provides equal rights

for all.

Seventy-one percent said that democracy meant having the

opportunity to influence the government in the interests of

the people; 62 percent said that it involves the chance to

choose leaders in free elections; and 58 percent said that

democracy is a system that provides opportunities for

expressing one's own opinion and criticizing the authorities.

But when the same sample of Russians was asked which

human rights were most important to them, 68 percent said

that the right to free education, medical care, and financial

support in old age; 57 percent opted for the right to life;

53 percent chose the right to a well-paid job; and 46 percent

said it is the right to privacy.

Only 23 percent said named the right to own property; 14

percent freedom of speech; 9 percent right to information; 8

percent freedom of worship; 8 percent the right to travel

abroad; and 8 percent the right to elect one's leaders.

This combination of answers about democracy and human

rights suggests that many people in post-communist Russia

define democracy less as a system of government than as a

system that will protect what they see as entitlements--less

a question of procedures than one of substantive outcomes.

On the one hand, such attitudes reflect the influence of

Soviet-sponsored values, of the communist-sponsored notion

that a government should be judged not by the procedures it

follows--as Western democracies maintain--but by what that

system provides for the mass of the population.

And on the other, these views reflect the very real and

severe problems that many people in Russia and elsewhere are

experiencing during the transition. Even in long-established

democratic countries, people tend to focus on procedures only

when times are relatively good. When times are bad, people

tend to worry far more about outcomes.

This poll and others like it do not provide sufficient

evidence to allow anyone to decide which of these factors is

the more important. But such samplings of opinion in Russia

point to a more general problem that many, if not all, post-

communist societies now face: namely, an understanding of

democracy that may allow some to subvert democracy as it is

understood in the West.

To the extent that leaders can deliver the substantive

rights that many people in these countries want, they may be

able to violate democratic norms such as freedom of speech

and religion with impunity, as long as they cover what they

are doing with invocations of their commitment to democracy

as a general principle.

But this combination of violations of democratic norms

with invocations of democracy as a guiding principle may have

three consequences that could undercut the possibility of

institutionalizing democracy in these countries.

First, such a combination of actions by post-communist

leaders is likely to reduce the attractiveness of democracy

for many of their citizens precisely because it will

undermine the fundamental meaning of democracy itself.

Second, actions of this kind may open the door to ever

less scrupulous leaders who are likely to be able to argue

that they can guarantee entitlements if only the people allow

them to ignore some procedural rights that are clearly less

highly-valued by the population.

And third, such actions by post-communist governments

may lead Western governments to decide that it is more

important to support leaders who claim to be democrats than

to criticize the ways in which these leaders fail to live up

to democratic norms.

Such decisions in turn will make it ever more likely

that these post-communist leaders will decide they can

violate procedural rights with impunity not only at home but

abroad as well.

And that conclusion could further erode not only the

possibilities for establishing democratic systems in these

countries but even the attractiveness of democracy as an

idea, at least in the eyes of populations undergoing the

difficult transition from communism.

04-10-99

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

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