RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 198, 99-10-11

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 198, 11 October 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AGAIN PLEDGES NO INTERFERENCE IN ELECTION

[02] ARMENIA PROPOSES PAN-ARMENIAN TV STATION

[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION CONVENES DEMONSTRATION

[04] AZERBAIJANI COURT RULES NEWSPAPER SLANDERED OPPOSITION

[05] GEORGIA BEGINS REGISTERING REFUGEES FROM CHECHNYA...

[06] ...AS CHECHEN OFFICIAL CLAIMS GEORGIAN MILITARY SUPPLIED ARMS

[07] KAZAKHSTAN HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY, LOCAL ELECTIONS

[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT WRAPS UP IRAN VISIT

[09] U.S. SEEKS TO WIN KAZAKH COMMITMENT TO BAKU-CEYHAN

[10] ...WHILE ASTANA FAVORS DIVERSIFICATION

[11] KYRGYZSTAN'S PRESIDENT VISITS SOUTH...

[12] ...AS NEGOTIATIONS ON HOSTAGES' RELEASE CONTINUE

[13] RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS CONDEMN AFGHAN SHELLING OF TAJIK

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[14] FATE OF ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT UNCERTAIN

[15] ALBANIAN POLICE PLEDGE TO FIGHT ORGANIZED CRIME

[16] LEADING SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES TO BOYCOTT EU MEETING

[17] HOW MANY SERBS WILL ATTEND?

[18] EU TELLS SERBIA: NO MAJOR AID WITH MILOSEVIC

[19] DRASKOVIC DEMANDS 'RESULTS' ON ACCIDENT

[20] SOCCER FANS PELT OPPOSITION LEADERS WITH BEER CANS

[21] SERBIAN AGENTS INTO KOSOVA?

[22] KOSOVARS REBURY MASSACRE VICTIMS

[23] BOSNIAN SERB GOVERNMENT SLAMS MILOSEVIC MEETING

[24] TUDJMAN'S PARTY BLOCKS AGREEMENT ON ELECTORAL LAW

[25] FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT NOMINATED AS 2000 CANDIDATE

[26] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS ASK LUCINSCHI TO FOREGO

[27] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS NATIONALISM 'USELESS'

[C] END NOTE

[28] SHADOWS OF STATUES

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AGAIN PLEDGES NO INTERFERENCE IN ELECTION

Meeting on 8 October with members of the board

of the Republican Party of Armenia, one of the partners in

the majority Miasnutyun coalition, Robert Kocharian again

ruled out any interference by the Armenian leadership in the

election later this month of a new head of the Armenian

Apostolic Church, Noyan Tapan reported. Several senior

clerics have recently claimed that the Armenian leadership

has made clear that it wants the present archbishop of the

Ararat diocese elected to that post (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

29 September and 8 October 1999). Kocharian also called for

"every effort" to be made to preclude fraud, violence, or

falsification during local elections scheduled for 24

October. Candidates from Miasnutyun heavily outnumber

opposition candidates in the elections for heads of 936 towns

and villages, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. LF

[02] ARMENIA PROPOSES PAN-ARMENIAN TV STATION

television has submitted to the government plans to create a

diaspora-funded "pan-Armenian television channel," RFE/RL's

Yerevan bureau reported on 8 October. The proposal was

endorsed by all participants at the Armenia-diaspora

conference held in Yerevan last month. Armenian state

television director Tigran Naghdalian estimated the cost of

launching the channel at $7 million. He added that at present

Armenian state television can be accessed with satellite

dishes in Europe and the Middle East but that his top

priority is to extend its range to North America. LF

[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION CONVENES DEMONSTRATION

people attended a 9 October rally on the outskirts of Baku to

protest the Azerbaijani leadership's Karabakh policy, ITAR-

TASS and Turan reported. Participants adopted a 16-point

resolution calling, among other things, for Armenian

compliance with UN Security Council resolutions on Karabakh;

the repatriation to Armenia of Azerbaijani refugees and the

creation of an autonomous formation for them; stripping

Russia, which is seen as pro-Armenian, of its the co-

chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group; and barring the

leadership of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from

participating in the peace process. The demonstrators also

condemned the Baku police's intervention on 9 October to halt

broadcasting by the private Sara TV station, Turan reported.

On 8 October, Sara TV had broadcast an appeal by two

opposition party leaders to take part in the rally. LF

[04] AZERBAIJANI COURT RULES NEWSPAPER SLANDERED OPPOSITION

A Baku district court has ordered "Yeni Azerbaycan,"

the newspaper of the eponymous ruling party, to apologize to

opposition Musavat Party chairman Isa Gambar. It also order

the newspaper to publish a refutation of two articles it

printed in July and August 1999 alleging that Gambar and his

brother Rovshan have connections with the Kurdistan Workers'

Party (PKK), Turan reported on 8 October. LF

[05] GEORGIA BEGINS REGISTERING REFUGEES FROM CHECHNYA...

Georgian authorities will begin formally registering refugees

from Chechnya on 11 October, Caucasus Press reported. Since

26 September, an estimated 1,500 people have fled south from

Chechnya into Georgia; some 500 of those people are Georgian

citizens who had earlier sought employment in Chechnya. An

unspecified number of the refugees have traveled from Georgia

to Azerbaijan or Turkey. Also on 11 October, Georgian

President Eduard Shevardnadze said in his weekly radio

broadcast, that "there are no misunderstandings" between

Moscow and Tbilisi over Chechnya thanks to talks between

Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze and Russian

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Interfax on 9 October

similarly quoted Shevardnadze's adviser Levan Aleksidze as

affirming that "Georgia wants to maintain friendly relations

with Russia while refraining from a quarrel with the Chechen

people and their President Aslan Maskhadov." LF

[06] ...AS CHECHEN OFFICIAL CLAIMS GEORGIAN MILITARY SUPPLIED ARMS

Newly appointed Chechen State Council Chairman

Malik Saidullaev told journalists in Moscow on 8 October that

he has information that arms were airlifted from Georgia to

Chechnya by helicopters with Georgian Defense Ministry

markings, ITAR-TASS reported. But Colonel General Leonid

Ivashev, who heads the Russian Defense Ministry's Department

for International Military Cooperation, told Interfax the

same day that "one cannot speak of a mass flow of

mercenaries" from Georgia and Azerbaijan to Chechnya. Ivashev

said both those countries' leaderships appreciate the danger

posed by terrorism and extremism and are taking all possible

measures to tighten control over their borders and preclude

the transit of terrorists to Russia. LF

[07] KAZAKHSTAN HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY, LOCAL ELECTIONS

percent of Kazakhstan's 8 million voters participated in the

10 October elections to the lower chamber of the parliament

and to city and local councils, ITAR-TASS reported, quoting

an unnamed Central Electoral Commission official. A total of

65 candidates representing nine political parties contested

the 10 seats that are to be allocated under the proportional

system, while 484 candidates competed for 67 seats in single-

mandate constituencies. "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 6 October

cited a recent opinion poll suggesting that the pro-

presidential OTAN party enjoys 23.6 percent support, followed

by the Civic Party (8.6 percent), the Communist Party (8.1

percent), and the Agrarians (3.4 percent). LF

[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT WRAPS UP IRAN VISIT

to Iran from 5-7 October, Nursultan Nazarbaev held talks with

his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Hatami, on bilateral and

regional cooperation and bilateral economic ties, Interfax

reported. The two presidents expressed concern that bilateral

trade fell from $160 million in 1997 to $120 million the

following year, and they discussed increasing sales to Iran

of Kazakhstan's oil, metals, coke and grain. Kazakh officials

expressed preliminary approval of plans to expand oil

exchanges whereby Kazakhstan delivers crude to northern Iran

and takes delivery of refined oil at the Persian Gulf, but

they noted that the price Iran is demanding for transporting

that oil is "too high," according to Interfax. Plans were

also approved on the supply of electricity from Kazakhstan

via Iran to Turkey. Nazarbaev is reported to have visited the

mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini. LF

[09] U.S. SEEKS TO WIN KAZAKH COMMITMENT TO BAKU-CEYHAN

U.S. State Department special envoy for Caspian

energy issues John Wolf told journalists in Astana on 8

October that the U.S. wants Kazakhstan to play "a major role"

in the development of the planned Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline

for Caspian oil, Interfax reported. Wolf said he told

President Nazarbaev that that pipeline would enable

Kazakhstan to begin developing new oilfields and expand

production at those currently operating. But in order to

export oil via that pipeline, Kazakhstan would have to

transport crude to Baku by tanker or a Trans-Caspian oil

pipeline would have to be built in tandem with the planned

Tras-Caspian gas pipeline. LF

[10] ...WHILE ASTANA FAVORS DIVERSIFICATION

Kazakhstan's acting Deputy Foreign Minister Medina

Djarbusynova told a meeting of Caspian oil and gas sector

executives in Astana that Kazakhstan takes a "pragmatic and

non-political approach" to the export of hydrocarbons by

multiple pipelines. Acting Energy, Industry and Trade

Minister Mukhtar Ablyazov told the same gathering that by

2010, the member state of the Economic Cooperation

Organization will become a major producer of oil. LF

[11] KYRGYZSTAN'S PRESIDENT VISITS SOUTH...

on 9 October to the Batken and Leilek Raions of southern

Kyrgyzstan, the scene of hostilities over the past two months

between government troops and ethnic Uzbek guerrillas who

continue to hold 13 hostages, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau

reported. Akaev told local officials that raising the status

of those two raions and another district to that of an oblast

will strengthen security in the region. He called for the

swiftest possible expulsion of the guerrillas from Kyrgyz

territory, warning that intelligence reports indicate that up

to 5,000 guerrillas could enter Kyrgyzstan next spring,

according to Interfax. But the previous day, General Abdygul

Khotbaev, who commands the Kyrgyz troops deployed in the

south, said that he cannot begin military operations against

the guerrillas without endangering the hostages, AP and ITAR-

TASS reported. Khotbaev accused Tajikistan of failing to take

any measures to prevent gunmen and arms entering Kyrgyzstan

from Tajik territory. LF

[12] ...AS NEGOTIATIONS ON HOSTAGES' RELEASE CONTINUE

parliamentary deputy Tursunbai Bakir Uulu met with

representatives of the United Tajik Opposition in Tajikistan

on 9 October to enlist their help in securing the release of

the hostages, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. UTO leader

Said Abdullo Nuri had assured Japan's ambassador to Dushanbe

the previous day that he is willing to try to assist in

negotiating the release of the four Japanese geologists among

the 13 hostages. A second mediator, human rights activist

Tursunbek Akunov, returned to Bishkek on 9 October following

an abortive trip to Pakistan, where he failed to establish

contact with members of the exiled Islamic Movement of

Uzbekistan which masterminded the hostage-takings. LF

[13] RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS CONDEMN AFGHAN SHELLING OF TAJIK

A spokesman for the Russian Border Guards

contingent deployed along Tajikistan's frontier with

Afghanistan expressed concern on 8 October over the recent

explosion in Tajikistan of a mine and eight tank shells fired

from Afghan territory amid the ongoing fighting between

Taliban and Northern Alliance forces, ITAR-TASS reported. Two

shells exploded on the Tajik side of the border late on 8

October. No one was injured in any of the explosions. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[14] FATE OF ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT UNCERTAIN

261, Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano won re-election in a

challenge by Prime Minister Pandeli Majko in Tirana on 10

October. Majko had previously said he would resign from the

government if he failed to defeat Nano. But party officials

told Reuters that Majko may reconsider in view of the narrow

margin of his defeat. Observers suggested that Nano managed

to hold on to power because of his control over extensive

patronage networks. Similar ties recently enabled Democratic

Party leader Sali Berisha to win re-election as well. Many

Albanians and foreigners blame the rivalry between and

authoritarian leadership styles of Berisha and Nano for the

polarization of political life. FS/PM

[15] ALBANIAN POLICE PLEDGE TO FIGHT ORGANIZED CRIME

Minister Spartak Poci said on 8 October that the police will

spare no efforts in their fight against powerful and often

elusive criminal gangs. He noted, however, that "there has

been a lot of pressure from some state officials to release

some gangsters after the police have arrested them," dpa

reported. Poci did not elaborate. He noted that a team of

U.S. experts will soon arrive in Albania to instruct police,

and that some Albanian police will receive training in the

U.S. Meanwhile, a bomb damaged a central Tirana bar popular

with Socialist leaders. No one was injured. PM

[16] LEADING SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES TO BOYCOTT EU MEETING

Democratic Party said in Belgrade on 11 October that their

respective parties will not attend a meeting with EU foreign

ministers later that day in Luxembourg, RFE/RL's South Slavic

Service reported. The spokesmen said they object to EU

demands that they promise to extradite to The Hague Yugoslav

President Slobodan Milosevic and other indicted war criminals

once the opposition comes to power. An SPO spokesman told the

BBC that if the opposition parties agree to the EU's demands,

they will open themselves to charges by Milosevic and his

supporters that they have betrayed fellow Serbs to Western

countries. The previous day, the pro-Milosevic "Politika"

accused prospective participants in the Luxembourg meeting of

being "puppets" of the Western countries that bombed Serbian

targets in the spring. Observers note the opposition needs

financial, political, and technical support from abroad to

wage a successful election campaign. PM

[17] HOW MANY SERBS WILL ATTEND?

Orthodox Church said in Belgrade on 11 October that the

Church will not send representatives to Luxembourg. They said

the reason is that the Church leadership has yet to discuss

the EU's invitation to attend the gathering, RFE/RL's South

Slavic Service reported. In Podgorica, Prime Minister Filip

Vujanovic said that he and Foreign Minister Branko Perovic

will represent Montenegro at the gathering. The EU had

invited President Milo Djukanovic, who is an outspoken critic

of Milosevic, to head the Montenegrin delegation. In

Belgrade, an unnamed Serbian opposition politician told AP on

11 October that Washington pressured the EU into demanding

that the Serbian opposition pledge to extradite war

criminals. But representatives of several smaller opposition

groups stressed that they will go to Luxembourg in any event.

PM

[18] EU TELLS SERBIA: NO MAJOR AID WITH MILOSEVIC

Secretary Robin Cook told the private Serbian news agency

Beta that the U.K. "remains firmly resolved not to make

Milosevic's position easier.... Serbia should not expect any

significant help in reconstruction so long as Milosevic is in

power," AP reported on 11 October. In Bari, Bodo Hombach, who

is the coordinator for the EU's Balkan Stabilization Pact,

said two days earlier that the EU does not want to isolate

Serbia but that it is increasingly impatient for change

there. Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema said that the

international community should have acted to isolate

Milosevic earlier than it did. The Italian leader stressed

that Serbia is welcome to become a major actor in Balkan

affairs again but only once it is no longer led by indicted

war criminals. PM

[19] DRASKOVIC DEMANDS 'RESULTS' ON ACCIDENT

Draskovic said in Belgrade on 9 October that he may "take

matters into my own hands" if the authorities do not quickly

identify and punish those responsible for the recent traffic

accident that he says was an attempt to kill him (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 8 October 1999). He said the police report on the

accident is a cover-up. Police officials claim that Draskovic

and his colleagues were driving at 150 kilometers per hour

and were thereby at least partially responsible for the

deaths of four of his party. The police have yet to identify

the driver or owner of the truck that swerved in front of the

SPO leader. PM

[20] SOCCER FANS PELT OPPOSITION LEADERS WITH BEER CANS

20,000 people crowded central Belgrade on 9 October to

celebrate the Yugoslav national team's 2-2 draw against

Croatia in Zagreb in the qualifying match for the European

cup championships. The draw enables Yugoslavia to advance to

the next stage in the play-offs. Leaders of the opposition

Alliance for Change led 5,000 people through the streets in

an anti-Milosevic protest that merged with the crowds

celebrating the soccer victory. Soccer fans then threw beer

cans at several opposition politicians who tried to speak to

the gathering. In Zagreb, police arrested 69 persons in

conjunction with post-match violence, which resulted in

damage to 11 trams and one bus. PM

[21] SERBIAN AGENTS INTO KOSOVA?

provisional government, which is sponsored by the former

Kosova Liberation Army (UCK), said in Prishtina on 10 October

that Serbian secret services are attempting to destabilize

Kosova. He charged that the agents provocateurs have recently

arrived in the province in ever increasing numbers. He added

that the Yugoslav army has failed to respect the

demilitarization of the border region between Serbia and

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

[22] KOSOVARS REBURY MASSACRE VICTIMS

attended the reburial of 27 people in Plocica on 9 October.

Uniformed, armed leaders of the newly formed Kosova

Protection Force, who are former UCK officers, addressed the

gathering. Serbian forces shot 13 of the victims at short

range after they fled the shelling of their village in 1998.

PM

[23] BOSNIAN SERB GOVERNMENT SLAMS MILOSEVIC MEETING

of caretaker Prime Minister Milorad Dodik issued a statement

on 10 October saying that the government does not approve of

the recent meeting of three Bosnian Serb leaders with

Milosevic. The three are parliamentary speaker Petar Djokic,

ousted Republika Srpska President Nikola Poplasen, and Zivko

Radisic, who is the Serbian representative on the Bosnian

joint presidency. PM

[24] TUDJMAN'S PARTY BLOCKS AGREEMENT ON ELECTORAL LAW

of the governing Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) on 8

October rejected an opposition request that top officials of

state-run television resign their membership in the HDZ. The

opposition has demanded the depoliticization of the only

nationwide television broadcaster as a key component of

electoral law reform. Opposition parties and foreign

observers agree that state-run television broadcasts are

heavily biased in favor of President Franjo Tudjman and the

HDZ. PM

[25] FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT NOMINATED AS 2000 CANDIDATE

opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) voted

at the party's national conference on 9 October to nominate

former President Ion Iliescu as its candidate in next year's

presidential elections, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported.

Iliescu promised that when the PDSR returns to power, it will

"not replace today's profiteers with its own." He harshly

attacked the ruling coalition's economic policy and warned

PDSR members against the "dangers of euphoria" over polls

predicting the party's return to power in 2000. Adrian

Nastase, who was re-elected PDSR first deputy chairman, said

the party intends to "stop the process of de-

industrialization and revise the role of the state in the

economy." MS

[26] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS ASK LUCINSCHI TO FOREGO

The leaders of the four parliamentary

groups have called on President Petru Lucinschi to give up

his plan to revise the constitution and introduce a

presidential system, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported on 8

October. The appeal was signed by For a Democratic and

Prosperous Moldova Bloc leader Dumitru Diacov, Democratic

Convention of Moldova leader Mircea Snegur, Party of

Democratic Forces Chairman Valeriu Matei, and Communist

leader Vladimir Voronin. The four warned that "society is

being dragged into hot debates that only amplify political

confrontation, inflicting considerable damage on the country

and its international prestige." MS

[27] BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS NATIONALISM 'USELESS'

Blagoevgrad on 8 October, said the Kosova conflict has

demonstrated that it is not enough for Bulgaria to be "an

enclave of stability in the region," BTA reported. She noted

that the country must be "surrounded by stable, democratic

countries" to avoid being held "hostage" to its neighbors'

problems. In the new context of European integration, she

continued, "nationalism is useless" because it "gives the

false impression of protecting national interests" but in

fact jeopardizes them. She pointed to the example of

neighboring Serbia: "The more Serbian public opinion was

pushed to uphold the slogan 'One country for all Serbs,' the

more disunited the Serbs became. The more the idea of Great

Serbia was raised, the less plausible it grew." MS

[C] END NOTE

[28] SHADOWS OF STATUES

During a visit to Bucharest in late July, Hungarian

Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi agreed with his Romanian

counterpart, Andrei Plesu, on a symbolic gesture: a

"historical reconciliation park" would be set up in the

Transylvanian town of Arad, and its foundation stone would be

jointly laid by the two countries' premiers.

Moreover, the park would include both a monument

commemorating 13 Hungarian generals executed in Arad by the

Austrians in 1849 and statues of Romanian historical figures

in Transylvania. Martonyi had raised the issue of the

monument with Plesu, emphasizing its considerable historical

significance to Hungarians. Plesu, one of the more

enlightened members of the government, readily obliged. The

agreement was reconfirmed at a meeting in Timisoara of the

two countries' justice ministers, Valeriu Stoica and Ibolya

David, who announced that the foundation stone would be laid

on 6 October, the 150th anniversary of the generals'

execution.

Bucharest and Budapest apparently overlooked two "small

details": the part of the continent in which the neighboring

states are located and the timing. As Timothy Garton Ash

recently remarked in an interview on German television, when

Americans say "that is history," they mean that things have

lost their relevance. When it comes to Eastern Europe, Ash

remarked, "that is history" means that trouble is around the

corner.

Indeed, the manipulation of history has a long tradition

in Eastern Europe. When an election is looming, as is the

case in Romania, such manipulation is bound to be an almost

irresistible temptation.

The monument to the generals is also history. Known as

"Hungarian Liberty," it is composed of a group of statues of

the 13 generals, whom Hungarians consider to be the "martyrs"

of their nation. The monument is the work of sculptor Gyorgy

Zala and was unveiled in Arad in 1890.

The trouble is that one nation's "martyrs" are the

other's "villains." The Transylvanian Romanians fought on the

side of the Austrians for most of the 1848-1849 Hungarian

"liberation war." After World War 1, when the region became

part of Romania, the National Liberal Party government of

Ionel I. C. Bratianu decided in 1924 to dismantle the

monument, on the grounds that the generals had massacred some

40,000 ethnic Romanians, which the Hungarians vehemently

deny.

Since then, the monument has been stored in a military

fort and has deteriorated considerably. Its restoration may

take as long as three years.

For some time, both the ruling coalition parties--with

the inevitable exception of the Hungarian Democratic

Federation of Romania--and the nationalist opposition have

been courting the ethnic Romanian electorate in Transylvania

ahead of the 2000 elections. The opposition could not

possibly miss an opportunity to outbid the coalition.

Ever ready to contribute to the minimization of the

Holocaust, Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim

Tudor said that the intention to open the park and reinstate

the monument is comparable to "demanding that the Jews erect

a statue of Hitler at the Auschwitz concentration camp." The

Party of Romanian National Unity "firmly condemned" the

agreement, saying it is "humiliating...for the Romanians'

national dignity.'" The Alliance for Romania commented that

it was "surprised by the tactless decision," which

"undermines the [Romanian-Hungarian] reconciliation spirit,

since it may create inter-ethnic tensions." And the Romanian

National Party announced that it opposes reinstating "the

Greater Hungary monument" in Arad "or anywhere else in

Romania."

The main opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania

(PDSR), as usual jumping on the nationalist band wagon when

it serves its purposes, said the monument has a "profound

anti-national and anti-Romanian character." PDSR First Deputy

Chairman Adrian Nastase accused the ruling coalition of being

"an accomplice in serving the interests of Hungarian

revisionism." PDSR leader and former President Ion Iliescu,

for his part, warned Vasile to stay away from the ceremony,

claiming that the Hungarians are "setting a trap" to make

claims on Transylvania.

The main blow, however, came from the Democratic Party,

a member of the ruling coalition. The Democrats said that

reinstating the monument would "bring back the tragic memory

of a Transylvania where the national rights of Romanians were

not recognized." More important, Democrats on the Arad town

council joined the opposition in passing a resolution

expressing opposition to making available the land earmarked

for the park.

In face of this opposition, Vasile backed down. Citing

health reasons, he designated Stoica to represent him at the

stone-laying ceremony. Orban, who on 5 October arrived in

Arad and attended an evening function organized by the UDMR,

left the same night, delegating David as a "fittingly

appropriate" representation. Stoica responded the next

morning by announcing that he would not be taking part in the

ceremony and by designating the local prefect to represent

the government.

In the end, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone

did not take place. What did take place, however, was a

demonstration by PRM sympathizers, who heckled David and

members of the Hungarian delegation as they left a church

where they had attended Mass and as they laid wreaths at an

obelisk dedicated to the generals' memory.

Chanting nationalist slogans, the demonstrators were

unlikely to have been impressed by the reaction of Plesu's

ministry. Deeming "the manipulation of national sentiment for

the purpose of building political capital" to be

"irresponsible," spokeswoman Simona Miculescu said the two

countries' relations must not be influenced by "fears of

historical shadows or the shadows [cast by] statues." Perhaps

they shouldn't, but they nonetheless are.

11-10-99

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

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