RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 232, 99-12-01

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 232, 1 December 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] TRIAL OF FORMER ARMENIAN INTERIOR MINISTER AGAIN ADJOURNED...

[02] ...AS DOUBTS EXPRESSSED OVER HIS WARNING TO MURDERED PREMIER

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT IN TURKEY, UKRAINE

[04] AZERBAIJAN OIL OFFICIAL RULES OUT NATO GUARD FOR PIPELINE

[05] GEORGIA'S MILITARY PROSECUTOR SAYS FUNDS EMBEZZLED

[06] U.S. COMPANY BEGINS EXTRACTING OIL IN GEORGIA

[07] FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES BARRED FROM CONTENDING KYRGYZ POLL

[08] KYRGYZSTAN, UZBEKISTAN REACH AGREEMENT ON GAS SUPPLIES

[09] UZBEK OFFICIALS DESCRIBE ISLAMIC THREAT

[10] UZBEKISTAN REJECTS OSCE CRITICISM OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] MACEDONIAN GOVERNING COALITION BREAKING UP...

[12] ...AMID MUTUAL RECRIMINATIONS

[13] CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S CONDITION BLEAK

[14] CROATIAN PARTY DISTANCING SELF FROM OWN POLICIES?

[15] HUNGER STRIKE OVER SERBIAN OIL DELIVERIES

[16] U.S. INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE KOSOVA AID FRAUD

[17] UN LAUNCHES KOSOVA CAR REGISTRATION PROGRAM

[18] MESSAGES OF SUPPORT FOR BOSNIAN SACKINGS

[19] U.S., BALKAN MILITARY CHIEFS SET UP NEW STRUCTURES IN

[20] ROMANIAN FASCISTS MARK LEADER'S ASSASSINATION

[21] ROMANIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CLEARS LAW ON ACCESS TO

[22] COMMUNIST LEADER APPOINTED MOLDOVAN PREMIER-DESIGNATE

[23] EU WELCOMES BULGARIA'S DECISION ON KOZLODUY

[C] END NOTE

[24] EAST EUROPEAN STATES WELL REPRESENTED IN WTO

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] TRIAL OF FORMER ARMENIAN INTERIOR MINISTER AGAIN ADJOURNED...

court on 30 November, one day after having failed to appear

to answer charges of ordering a series of contract killings

from 1993-1996, Noyan Tapan reported. Siradegian, who claims

the charges against him are politically motivated, told the

court he is engaging a new defense lawyer (his seventh) and

demanded an adjournment to allow that attorney to familiarize

himself with the case. The presiding judge adjourned the

trial until 9 January 2000. LF

[02] ...AS DOUBTS EXPRESSSED OVER HIS WARNING TO MURDERED PREMIER

investigation into the authenticity of what is claimed to be

a letter sent by Siradeghian to Prime Minister Vazgen

Sargsian in November 1998, Noyan Tapan reported. The letter

was published in the Dashnak-funded daily "Haykakan zhamanak"

on 25 November. In that letter, which was said to have been

discovered among Sargsian's papers after his murder in

October, Siradeghian warned Sargsian, who was then defense

minister, of a possible move by President Robert Kocharian to

curb his political influence or even to liquidate him.

Several commentators have suggested that letter was written

after the 27 October parliament shootings in an attempt to

compromise Kocharian. "Azg" on 26 November quoted Military

Prosecutor Gagik Jahangirian as saying that no such letter

was found among Sargsian's personal papers after his death.

LF

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT IN TURKEY, UKRAINE

to Kyiv on 30 November to attend the inauguration of recently

re-elected President Leonid Kuchma, according to Turan on 1

December. He also met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir

Putin to discuss the future course of bilateral relations. On

27-28 November, Aliev visited Ankara at the invitation of his

Turkish counterpart, Suleyman Demirel, where he participated

in a seminar on soil erosion and other environmental issues,

Turan reported. LF

[04] AZERBAIJAN OIL OFFICIAL RULES OUT NATO GUARD FOR PIPELINE

oil company SOCAR, told Interfax on 30 November that the

Azerbaijani leadership has not asked for NATO help in

protecting the planned Baku-Ceyhan oil export pipeline

against possible terrorist attacks. Aliev said Azerbaijan

believes it has the resources to protect the pipeline on its

own. He added that discussion of Azerbaijan's possible NATO

membership is "an illusion," given the aspirations of former

East bloc countries to join the alliance. LF

[05] GEORGIA'S MILITARY PROSECUTOR SAYS FUNDS EMBEZZLED

Prosecutor Davit Bitsadze has accused unnamed senior military

officials of misappropriating budget funds, Caucasus Press

reported on 30 November. He claimed that the incidence of

such thefts is currently greater than under former Defense

Minister Vardiko Nadibaidze. Defense Minister David Tevzadze

blames his ministry's chronic financial problems on the non-

receipt of budget funds. Tevzadze also told journalists on 30

November that it will be impossible for the Georgian armed

forces to comply with NATO standards unless a 5-10 year

development plan is drafted. Such a plan is not feasible if

budget funds are allocated only on an annual basis, Tevzadze

argued. On 17 November a ministry official told Caucasus

Press that army personnel have not been paid for six months.

He said the 2000 budget allocates only 42 million lari ($20

million) for the armed forces instead of the necessary

minimum of 98 million lari. LF

[06] U.S. COMPANY BEGINS EXTRACTING OIL IN GEORGIA

President Eduard Shevardnadze attended a ceremony at

Dedoplistskaro in eastern Georgia on 30 November to mark the

beginning of drilling of an oil well built by the U.S.

company Frontera Resources, AP and Caucasus Press reported.

The well is expected to yield some 150 tons of crude per day,

which will be refined for domestic needs. LF

[07] FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES BARRED FROM CONTENDING KYRGYZ POLL

correspondent in Bishkek on 30 November that four political

parties have been banned from contending the parliamentary

poll scheduled for 20 February 2000 because of irregularities

in the documents they submitted. The parties in question are

the Manas-El Party, the El (Bei-Bechara) Party, the Party of

Bishkek Residents, and the Labor-Popular Party. Fifteen other

parties have been registered to participate in the election.

LF

[08] KYRGYZSTAN, UZBEKISTAN REACH AGREEMENT ON GAS SUPPLIES

company, told journalists in Bishkek on 30 November that gas

deliveries from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan will be resumed

"soon," according to an RFE/RL correspondent in the Kyrgyz

capital. Uzbekistan halted supplies two weeks ago in

retaliation for Kyrgyzstan's failure to pay for earlier

supplies (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November 1999).

Kyrgyzstan has since paid about 75 percent of its estimated

$4 million debt. LF

[09] UZBEK OFFICIALS DESCRIBE ISLAMIC THREAT

Washington on 30 November, Uzbekistan's Mufti Abdulrashid

Kory Bakhromov and Tashkent's Ambassador to the U.S. Sodyq

Safaev said that hundreds of young Uzbeks are being recruited

and trained as terrorists in Chechnya, Afghanistan, and

Pakistan by radical Islamic organizations, an RFE/RL

correspondent in Washington reported. A spokesman for the

Pakistani embassy denied that allegation. Safaev said that

radical Islamists are hindering the development of democracy

in Uzbekistan. He called for cooperation to thwart their aim

of "spreading Islamic fundamentalism throughout Central

Asia," according to AP. LF

[10] UZBEKISTAN REJECTS OSCE CRITICISM OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Central Electoral Commission, on 30 November rejected as

unsubstantiated criticism by the OSCE's Office for Democratic

Institutions and Human Rights of preparations for the 5

December parliamentary elections, Interfax reported. ODIHR

had charged that the Uzbek election law does not guarantee

free and fair elections and that the country's authorities

are interfering in the election campaign (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 23 November 1999). LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] MACEDONIAN GOVERNING COALITION BREAKING UP...

Alternative (DA) leader Vasil Tupurkovski said in Skopje on

30 November that his party will leave the governing coalition

soon because "our participation in the government is not

sustainable any longer," Reuters reported. The DA has eight

of the 28 seats in the cabinet, which also consists of the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO-DPMNE)

and the Democratic Party of the Albanians (PDSH). Relations

between the DA and VMRO-DPMNE have been strained for some

time following the latter's refusal to back Tupurkovski in

the recent presidential elections. The departure of the DA

from the coalition will leave the government with 61 out of

120 votes in the parliament. The DA ministers are expected to

announce their resignations from the government in the next

few days. PM

[12] ...AMID MUTUAL RECRIMINATIONS

November was triggered by the other coalition partners'

refusal to grant the DA additional seats in the government,

AP reported. It was also prompted by Prime Minister Ljubco

Georgievski's (VMRO-DPMNE) demand that Justice Minister Vlado

Kambovski (DA) resign. VMRO-DPMNE officials have charged that

Kambovski encouraged the Supreme Court to make its recent

decision to re-run the presidential election in 221 precincts

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November 1999). Most of those

precincts are in western Macedonia, where PDSH supporters

voted en masse for the VMRO-DPMNE's Boris Trajkovski in the

second round of the presidential election on 14 November. PM

[13] CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S CONDITION BLEAK

is close to the governing Croatian Democratic Community

(HDZ), reported on 1 December that President Franjo Tudjman's

"doctors are having more and more difficulties in finding

ways to preserve his life." They continue to monitor his

heartbeat, but his digestive system, kidneys, and liver have

ceased to function. The president is able to breathe thanks

only to a respirator, the daily added. "Jutarnji list" noted

that officials have already begun preparations for Tudjman's

funeral and burial site. PM

[14] CROATIAN PARTY DISTANCING SELF FROM OWN POLICIES?

speaker of the parliament and leading hard-line HDZ

politician Vladimir Seks told Vienna's "Die Presse" of 30

November that his party will seek to curb the powers of the

president after the 3 January legislative elections. The

constitution gives extensive powers to the president and the

opposition wants most of those prerogatives transferred to

the parliament. Elsewhere, Ivic Pasalic, who leads the

Herzegovinian faction within the HDZ, told the state-run

daily "Vjesnik" of 1 December that his party made economic

mistakes because it followed "neo-liberal" advice from

"international financial institutions." Observers note that

many Croats feel that the HDZ has enabled many of its

loyalists to amass great wealth at a time when most people

have difficulty making ends meet. In other news, Vlatko

Pavletic, who is acting president, said after talks with

Defense Minister Pavao Miljavac that the army will respect

the results of the elections, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. PM

[15] HUNGER STRIKE OVER SERBIAN OIL DELIVERIES

Panajotovic of Pirot said that he and the town council will

soon go on a hunger strike if the central authorities do not

allow EU heating oil shipments to cross from Macedonia into

Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 30 November

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 November 1999). In Nis, Mayor

Zoran Zivkovic said he will call on citizens to "seek out the

guilty ones in Belgrade and Dedinje" (where Yugoslav

President Slobodan Milosevic lives) if the authorities do not

allow EU oil to reach his town. In Brussels, the EU's Chris

Patten said that the Energy for Democracy program will

continue regardless of whether the Serbian authorities allow

the current oil shipment to cross the border. Elsewhere, a

shipment of heating oil bought by the city government of Novi

Sad has arrived from Hungary, Montenegrin Television reported

on 1 December. PM

[16] U.S. INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE KOSOVA AID FRAUD

relief officials are looking into reports that an unnamed

employee of the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee in

Macedonia diverted up to $1 million to a fictitious company

for building materials that were never delivered, AP reported

from Prishtina on 30 November. The employee, who was also one

of the owners of the company, has meanwhile "disappeared." A

spokeswoman for USAID in Washington stressed that officials

launched the investigation as soon as they suspected

irregularities. Aid agencies face the huge task of rebuilding

or repairing 125,000 homes in Kosova amid winter weather

conditions. PM

[17] UN LAUNCHES KOSOVA CAR REGISTRATION PROGRAM

UN-led civilian administration in Kosova began distributing

new green-and-white automobile registration plates in

Prishtina on 30 November. The UN's Bernard Kouchner hailed

the introduction of the license plates as a "most visible

sign of law and order" in the troubled province, Reuters

reported. Police hope that the license plates will help them

to crack down on organized crime and auto smuggling, much of

which is in the hands of criminals from Albania. Serbian

forces often removed license plates from ethnic Albanians'

cars during the ethnic cleansing campaign in the spring of

1999. UN officials acknowledged that introducing the license

plates is "a bit unorthodox" but hailed it as "a public

necessity." The Serbian authorities see the move as a

violation of Serbian sovereignty. PM

[18] MESSAGES OF SUPPORT FOR BOSNIAN SACKINGS

international community's Wolfgang Petritsch said in Sarajevo

on 30 November that his office has received numerous

messages, telephone calls, and e-mails from ordinary citizens

of Bosnia expressing support for the recent sacking of 22

nationalist officials (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 November

1999). The spokesman stressed that the firings are intended

to "kick-start" the return of refugees and displaced persons

whose homes are now controlled by a different ethnic group

from their own. Officials of several leading nationalist

parties criticized the firings, Reuters reported. PM

[19] U.S., BALKAN MILITARY CHIEFS SET UP NEW STRUCTURES IN

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, meeting in

Bucharest on 30 November with defense ministers from several

Balkan countries and Italy, signed agreements on establishing

a military intelligence network to control and prevent crises

and on setting up an engineering task force to build road

infrastructure across the region. The Balkan signatories to

the agreement are Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia,

Romania, Slovenia, and Turkey. Cohen told participants to the

meeting that Yugoslavia will not be accepted as a partner as

long as President Slobodan Milosevic remains in power. In

meetings with Romanian leaders, Cohen praised Romania's

progress in military and economic reforms and pledged that

Washington will continue helping Bucharest climb "the steep

steps" toward gaining NATO membership, RFE/RL's Bucharest

bureau reported. MS

[20] ROMANIAN FASCISTS MARK LEADER'S ASSASSINATION

members of the Iron Guard gathered at the Tancabesti forest

near Bucharest on 30 November to mark the anniversary of the

1938 assassination of their leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu,

on King Carol II's orders, AP reported. They raised their

hand in the Guard's Nazi-like salute and sang Guardist hymns

and songs. MS

[21] ROMANIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CLEARS LAW ON ACCESS TO

The Constitutional Court on 29 November

ruled that the recently passed law on access to Communist-era

secret police files is constitutional. Last month the Supreme

Court asked the Constitutional Court to review the

stipulation that only the files of the heads of postcommunist

secret services can be accessed, Mediafax reported. MS

[22] COMMUNIST LEADER APPOINTED MOLDOVAN PREMIER-DESIGNATE

Voronin, leader of the Party of Moldovan Communists, as

premier-designate, Infotag reported. Addressing the

parliament, Lucinschi said Voronin's "wish to shoulder the

responsibility for improving the country's situation should

only be welcomed." He called on legislators to speedily

approve the nomination, saying that if they do not, he might

be compelled to dissolve the parliament and call early

elections. Speaking on Moldovan Television one day earlier,

Lucinschi said it was the "usual practice in many countries"

to appoint as premier the leader of the largest parliamentary

group in the legislature. The Communists, he said, "have 40

seats in our parliament, more than any other political

force." To appoint their leader to that position would be "an

absolutely democratic and civilized act." MS

[23] EU WELCOMES BULGARIA'S DECISION ON KOZLODUY

November welcomed Bulgaria's commitment to shut down the two

aging reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant and said

it expects the other two reactors to be shut down by 2006. It

also said that in addition to Bulgaria, it has now secured

commitments from Slovakia and Lithuania to close unsafe

reactors as a precondition for launching accession

negotiations. Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Fiori told

journalists in Brussels that Bulgaria will receive some $200

million in aid to help alleviate the effects of the closure,

Reuters reported. MS

[C] END NOTE

[24] EAST EUROPEAN STATES WELL REPRESENTED IN WTO

Several states from Central and Eastern Europe will be

among the full members of the World Trade Organization

sending representatives to the organization's meetings in

Seattle this week.

Estonia became the 135th country in the organization

when it officially joined last month. Also among the full

members are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary,

Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Most of the other states from the region have observer

status and have applied for full membership. They are

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina,

Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova,

Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky recently

made the argument that countries in the region have benefited

from membership. In testimony before the U.S. Senate, she

cited the cases of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Attaining membership forces countries in transition from

communism to make the reforms necessary for a free-market

economy, Barshefsky argued, noting that this in turn helps to

bring about long-term growth.

But concerns have been raised in both the region's full

WTO member states and in candidate states about some of the

consequences of participation in the world trade body.

Latvia became a full member early this year, even though

farmers had raised concerns that the step would undermine

their ability to compete with agricultural imports. They

worry in part because duties on grain imports are to be cut

from 75 percent to 50 percent next year.

Others in Latvia, including makers of pharmaceuticals,

have complained that WTO membership has forced legal changes

that are too rapid. However, Latvia's timber industry is

expected to benefit from new trading terms with other WTO

states.

With Estonia also now a member, Lithuania is alone among

the Baltic States in remaining outside the WTO. Earlier this

year, then Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Vagnorius

complained that reforms demanded by the WTO did not conform

with demands made by the EU on its candidate states.

Kyrgyzstan remains the only CIS state to have won full

WTO membership, something it accomplished a year ago. Some

Western observers at the time said membership demonstrated

the country's progress in establishing the rule of law and

transparency in economic matters.

But membership has also complicated Kyrgyzstan's

relations with some of its neighbors. First Russia and then

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan imposed new tariffs.

Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus

Institute at John Hopkins University in Washington, told

RFE/RL earlier this year that he believes Moscow engineered

the tariff hikes to send a message to Bishkek. He said

Russian officials wanted to punish Kyrgyzstan for seeking

closer ties with the West while drifting away from Moscow's

economic and political control. Starr added that another

reason may have been that in going so far in meeting WTO

standards, Kyrgyzstan, as a fellow CIS member, may have

undermined Russia's hopes of winning entry on less demanding

terms.

Despite such incidents, many states from Eastern Europe

and the former Soviet Union are likely to use the meetings in

Seattle to press ahead with their efforts to win full WTO

membership. Their delegates are expected to be joined in

Seattle by thousands of anti-WTO demonstrators, who are

pressing for an end to child labor, for environmental

safeguards, and for a number of other causes.

RFE/RL asked representatives of two of the region's

observer states whether they are concerned the protests might

detract from their membership efforts.

Nijole Zambaite is minister counselor at the Lithuanian

Embassy to the U.S. She said she believes that her country's

accession will proceed "according to our merits and

negotiations. And I don't think it will be stalled by the

demonstrations."

Elmar Mamedyarov, the charge d'affaires at the

Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, is not concerned either

that the demonstrations will interfere with the WTO's work.

In fact, he welcomes the protests: "From one point of view,

it's good because sometimes demonstrations are raising the

issues--which is also very important--and give a fresh

approach to the issues which maybe sometimes can be skipped."

Only a few states from Central and Eastern Europe are as

of yet neither full members of nor observers at the WTO. They

are Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Yugoslavia.

Among states of the Middle East, neither Iran nor Iraq

is either a member or observers. The region's full members

include Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Israel, and Kuwait.

Observers from the region include Jordan, Lebanon, Oman,

Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. All but Yemen have applied for full

membership.

The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Washington.

01-12-99

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

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