RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 240, 99-12-13

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 240, 13 December 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH PARLIAMENT LEADERS

[02] OSCE MINSK GROUP CHAIRMEN IN ARMENIA...

[03] ...AS ARMENIAN OPPOSITION SAY KARABAKH'S INTERESTS ARE BEING

[04] KARABAKH ARMY COMMANDER RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT'S ATTACK

[05] AZERBAIJAN HOLDS LOCAL ELECTIONS

[06] GEORGIA CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL MONITORING OF BORDER WITH

[07] GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER DENIES HE WILL RESIGN

[08] GEORGIA'S STUDENTS DEMAND ALLOWANCES

[09] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT DECLARES WAR ON SEPARATISM,

[10] LEADER OF KAZAKHSTAN'S CHECHENS DENIES DANGER OF

[11] TAJIK PRESIDENT SETS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION DATE

[12] TURKMENISTAN CLAIMS HIGH TURNOUT IN CONTROVERSIAL ELECTIONS

[13] RUSSIAN PREMIER TERMS UZBEKISTAN 'STRATEGIC PARTNER'

[14] UZBEKISTAN SCHEDULES PARLIAMENTARY RUNOFF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] CROATIA'S TUDJMAN BURIED IN STATE FUNERAL...

[16] ...WITH LOW-KEY FOREIGN PRESENCE...

[17] ...AS DOMESTIC QUESTIONS TOP AGENDA

[18] ALBANIA ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY

[19] KOSOVARS DEMAND RELEASE OF PRISONERS

[20] ANOTHER AIRPORT INCIDENT IN MONTENEGRO

[21] ROMANIAN SUPREME COURT SUSPENDS RAILWAY WORKERS' STRIKE

[22] ROMANIAN POLITICIANS HAIL EU DECISION

[23] OUTGOING PREMIER SAYS MOLDOVA TOO POOR TO PAY BACK DEBTS

[24] BULGARIAN PREMIER UPBEAT ABOUT EU DECISION

[25] BULGARIA TO SEEK LOANS TO MODERNIZE NUCLEAR REACTORS

[C] END NOTE

[26] ARMENIAN POLITICS IN UNIFORM

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH PARLIAMENT LEADERS

Kocharian held talks on 10 December with parliamentary

speaker Armen Khachatrian, his deputies, and the chairmen of

parliamentary committees, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported.

Deputy speaker Tigran Torosian told RFE/RL after the meeting

that all parties expressed concern at the "atmosphere of

mistrust" between the president and the parliament and tried

to identify measures to overcome it. Torosian also denied

that most members of the Yerkrapah union of veterans of the

Karabakh war endorse the demand for Kocharian's resignation,

which was made at that organization's congress in early

December (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 and 7 December 1999 and

also "End Note" below). Kocharian, for his part, denied that

he plans to dissolve the parliament on 30 May 2000, one year

after its election, which is the earliest date he is

constitutionally empowered to do so. LF

[02] OSCE MINSK GROUP CHAIRMEN IN ARMENIA...

and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group arrived in

Yerevan on 10 December and held talks the following day with

President Kocharian, Premier Aram Sargsian, Foreign Minister

Vartan Oskanian, and Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian,

RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. French representative Jean-

Jacques Gaillard said after the talks with Oskanian that the

aim of the co-chairmen's visit was to collect information

about the current situation. He added that the peace process

in general, but no specific proposal, was discussed. He added

that the co-chairmen are not proposing any new initiatives

during their current visit to Yerevan, Stepanakert, and Baku.

Turan on 11 December quoted former Russian representative to

the Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov, who is accompanying the

co-chairmen, as denying that he will replace the present

Russian representative, Nikolai Gribkov. LF

[03] ...AS ARMENIAN OPPOSITION SAY KARABAKH'S INTERESTS ARE BEING

Eight Armenian opposition parties and groups--the

21st Century, Liberal-Democratic, Azatutiun, Christian-

Democratic, Conservative, Nor Ughi parties as well as

Shamiram and the Armat organization--issued a statement on 9

December accusing the Armenian leadership of lacking a

concept for resolving the Karabakh conflict and of failing to

defend the interests of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh

Republic at the OSCE Istanbul summit in November, Noyan Tapan

reported. They claimed that the Karabakh leadership has been

excluded from talks on resolving the conflict. They also

argued that the signing at the summit of agreements on the

use of the Baku-Ceyhan oil export pipeline will lead to

Armenia's isolation from regional economic integration and

preclude it playing a stabilizing role in the region. LF

[04] KARABAKH ARMY COMMANDER RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT'S ATTACK

faxed response to questions from RFE/RL's Stepanakert

correspondent, former Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Minister

Samvel Babayan on 11 December criticized remarks by the

enclave's president, Arkadii Ghukasian, who, Babayan said,

does not behave as a head of state should. Ghukasian had told

journalists in Stepanakert on 7 December that Babayan should

concentrate his attention on the enclave's armed forces as he

is not qualified to engage in politics (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 8 December 1999). Also on 11 December, 13 deputies

to the Karabakh parliament issued a joint statement accusing

Ghukasian of "destabilizing" the political situation. LF

[05] AZERBAIJAN HOLDS LOCAL ELECTIONS

Commission official said that 52.6 percent of Azerbaijan's

4.3 million electorate cast their votes in the 12 December

municipal elections, according to RFE/RL's Azerbaijani

Service the next day, citing the Independent Center for Local

Elections. Those elections should have been held in 1997. The

minimum required turnout was 25 percent. More than 36,000

candidates, half of them nominally independent, were

contesting 22,000 seats on local councils. Thousands of

domestic observers as well as contingents from the OSCE and

the Council of Europe monitored the poll. Two of the

country's three main opposition parties, the Azerbaijan

Popular Front and the Musavat Party, fielded candidates,

while the Azerbaijan National Independence Party boycotted

the poll to protest procedural violations during the election

campaign. LF

[06] GEORGIA CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL MONITORING OF BORDER WITH

Levan Mikeladze, who is Georgia's envoy to the

OSCE, proposed to that body's Permanent Council on 9 December

that international monitors be dispatched to patrol Georgia's

frontier with Chechnya, Caucasus Press reported the following

day. Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili has made a

similar request to the UN Security Council, according to

Georgian Foreign Ministry official Avtandil Napetvaridze.

Georgian officials on 11 December again rejected Russian

charges that arms and mercenaries are entering Chechnya from

Georgian territory or that Chechen militants plan to

establish a base in Georgia. LF

[07] GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER DENIES HE WILL RESIGN

Ministry spokesman Koba Liklikadze told Caucasus Press on 11

December that there is no truth to rumors circulating in

Tbilisi that Defense Minister David Tevzadze intends to step

down. Tevzadze has been accused of financial mismanagement

within the ministry (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 December 1999).

LF

[08] GEORGIA'S STUDENTS DEMAND ALLOWANCES

members at Tbilisi State University and the city's Technical

University staged a demonstration on 10 December outside the

finance ministry to demand payment of wages and grants for

the past seven months, Caucasus Press reported. They were

promised that the monies would be made available beginning

the following day. On 9 December, Minister for Refugees

Valeri Vashakidze warned that displaced persons from Abkhazia

have not received their allowances for the past three months

and may not do so this year. He added that the Ministry of

Finance owes his ministry a total of 14.5 million lari (about

$7.5 million). The state budget owes a further 100 million

lari in pensions and state sector wages, Caucasus Press

reported on 9 December. LF

[09] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT DECLARES WAR ON SEPARATISM,

Addressing representatives of Kazakhstan's

various ethnic groups on 10 December, Nursultan Nazarbaev

warned that the country's leadership will move swiftly to

curtail the activities of separatist and extremist religious

organizations, Russian agencies reported. He blamed the

spread of extremism on globalization and condemned the

recently thwarted attempt to establish a separate Russian

republic on the territory of eastern Kazakhstan (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 23 and 29 November 1999). LF

[10] LEADER OF KAZAKHSTAN'S CHECHENS DENIES DANGER OF

Akhmed Muradov, chairman of the Vainakh

Association of Chechen and Ingush Centers of Kazakhstan, told

journalists in Almaty on 11 December that official reports of

Chechen militants trying to infiltrate Kazakhstan are

unfounded, Interfax reported. He said some 5,000 refugees

from Chechnya are currently in Kazakhstan but have not been

formally granted refugee status because Kazakhstan "lacks the

appropriate legal base." Kazakhstan's Interior Minister

Kairbek Sulaimanov said last month that screening at points

of entry to the country has been intensified. Ferry services

between Aktau and Baku were subsequently suspended to prevent

an influx of Chechens via Azerbaijan (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

24 and 30 November 1999). LF

[11] TAJIK PRESIDENT SETS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION DATE

Rakhmonov on 11 December scheduled the elections to the lower

and upper houses of the new bicameral parliament for 27

February and 25 March, respectively, ITAR-TASS reported.

Addressing parliamentary deputies the previous day after the

passing of the new election law, Rakhmonov said "we must do

everything possible" to ensure that the poll is free and

democratic and a model for other countries." Khalifabobo

Khamidov, who is Rakhmonov's adviser on parliamentary

affairs, termed the election of the new legislature "an

important and conclusive step" toward peace, according to

Reuters. On 11 December, the parliament also named a 15-

member Central Electoral Commission. LF

[12] TURKMENISTAN CLAIMS HIGH TURNOUT IN CONTROVERSIAL ELECTIONS

parliamentary elections, Turkmen officials claimed that

turnout was 98.9 percent of the country's 2.2 million

electorate. Free watches were distributed to first-time

voters. A total of 104 candidates, almost all of them members

of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, which is the only

legally functioning party in the country, contested the 50

seats in the new legislature. The OSCE declined to send any

monitors on the grounds that "the legislative framework is

inadequate for even a minimally democratic election" (see

"RFE/TRL Newsline," 10 December 1999). President Saparmurat

Niyazov on 9 December termed the poll "an important step in

the history of Turkmenistan," according to Reuters. LF

[13] RUSSIAN PREMIER TERMS UZBEKISTAN 'STRATEGIC PARTNER'

signed a military cooperation agreement in Tashkent on 11

December, Russian agencies reported. Putin described that

document as marking "a qualitatively new level of relations

in security matters" and Uzbekistan as "Russia's strategic

partner for many, many years." He added that "Russia has its

interests in Central Asia" and that Russia is soliciting

Uzbekistan's help in maintaining peace and stability in the

region. Putin also discussed with Karimov preparations for

the latter's summit in Moscow next year with Russian

President Boris Yeltsin. LF

[14] UZBEKISTAN SCHEDULES PARLIAMENTARY RUNOFF

voting will take place on 19 December in 66 constituencies

where no candidate won a majority in the 5 December

parliamentary poll, Reuters reported on 10 December. Of the

184 candidates elected during the first round, 32 represent

the People's Democratic Party, 19 the Fidokorlar National

Democratic Party, nine each the Adolat (Justice) and Vatan

Tarikietti (Fatherland Progress Party) and six the Milli

Tiklanish Party. Another 11 deputies represent citizens'

groups. Central Electoral Commission head Nazhmiddin Komilov

rejected Western criticism of the ban on opposition parties

and of restrictions enshrined in the election law, Reuters

reported. He argued that the fact that each seat was

contested by five or six candidates proves that the poll was

democratic. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] CROATIA'S TUDJMAN BURIED IN STATE FUNERAL...

thousands of people have turned out in Zagreb on 13 December

for the funeral of President Franjo Tudjman, who died late on

10 December after a long battle with cancer. Archbishop Josip

Bozanic of Zagreb is presiding over the funeral ceremony.

Over the weekend, some 15,000 people paid their last respects

to Tudjman at the presidential palace. Messages of condolence

arrived for his family and acting President Vlatko Pavletic

from around Croatia. Some 15 Croatian prisoners at the Hague

war crimes tribunal also sent their condolences, the state-

run Hina news agency reported. PM

[16] ...WITH LOW-KEY FOREIGN PRESENCE...

also arrived over the weekend from several world leaders,

including Pope John Paul II. Among the leaders in the region,

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, Macedonia's President-

elect Boris Trajkovski, Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic, and the former Kosova Liberation Army's Hashim

Thaci also sent messages to Pavletic or to the Tudjman

family. The only important foreign head-of-state to attend

the funeral on 13 December, however, is Turkey's Suleyman

Demirel. Slovenia, Hungary, and Macedonia are represented by

their respective prime ministers. The U.S. and Germany, which

are Croatia's most important allies, are represented by their

respective ambassadors. Former German Foreign Minister Hans-

Dietrich Genscher is present as a private citizen, as is

former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith. The former

U.S. envoy told the BBC that he expects that the end of

Tudjman's authoritarian rule will lead to a rapid integration

of Croatia into Euro-Atlantic structures. PM

[17] ...AS DOMESTIC QUESTIONS TOP AGENDA

Croatia and abroad noted that two questions top the agenda

following Tudjman's death (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 16

November 1999). The first is what effect his passing will

have on the 3 January parliamentary elections. Polls prior to

his death indicated that his Croatian Democratic Community

(HDZ) will trail behind six opposition parties. Opposition

spokesman Tihomir Ladisic told Reuters on 12 December,

however, that "one funeral is worth 1,000 election rallies,"

and many observers expect that Tudjman's death will lead to a

"sympathy vote" for the HDZ. The second question is who will

succeed Tudjman. Polls suggest that Social Democrat Ivica

Racan is the front-runner but that Foreign Minister Mate

Granic, who is the leader of the HDZ's moderate wing, is also

a strong contender. According to law, presidential elections

must be held within 60 days of a president's death. PM

[18] ALBANIA ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY

ruled on 9 December to abolish the death penalty, dpa

reported. The Council of Europe threatened to expel Albania

unless it ends capital punishment. The legal status of the

death penalty has been ambiguous for some time. The 1998

constitution forbids it, but the Criminal Code provides for

it for 15 crimes, including murder. Supporters of the death

penalty claim that it is necessary because of the high crime

rate. They also argue that abolition of capital punishment

would encourage families of murder victims to take matters

into their own hands in a country where the traditional code

of honor demands blood for blood. In Rome on 11 December,

supporters of a Vatican-backed, world-wide movement to

abolish the death penalty turned on a special set of lights

at the Coliseum to mark Tirana's abolition of capital

punishment. PM

[19] KOSOVARS DEMAND RELEASE OF PRISONERS

thousands of mainly ethnic Albanians demonstrated in

Prishtina on 10 December to demand that the Serbian

authorities free the 3,000 or so Kosovars they are holding in

various prisons in Serbia. The OSCE's Daan Everts told a

conference on human rights in the Kosovar capital that

international opinion should condemn the Serbian authorities'

recent sentencing of Kosovar human rights activist Flora

Brovina to 12 years in prison (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10

December 1999). PM

[20] ANOTHER AIRPORT INCIDENT IN MONTENEGRO

Service reported on 11 December that "strong contingents of

Montenegrin police" deployed at Tivat airport after a brief

confrontation there between police and "several vehicles"

belonging to the Yugoslav army (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9

December 1999). During a similar incident the previous week

at Podgorica airport, army forces were placed on full alert

and issued live ammunition. A paratroop unit in Nis was also

placed on full alert, the broadcast added. Shortly after the

Podgorica incident, army General Spasoje Similjanovic arrived

at that airport from Belgrade to inspect federal troops

there. In Niksic on 11 December, Yugoslav Prime Minister

Momir Bulatovic warned that if NATO troops try to occupy

Podgorica airport, "they will meet with the armed resistance

of the army and the people." Bulatovic is the arch-rival of

President Djukanovic. PM

[21] ROMANIAN SUPREME COURT SUSPENDS RAILWAY WORKERS' STRIKE

Romanian Supreme Court on 10 December ordered the country's

striking railway workers to suspend their strike for 45 days.

The government had asked for a 90-day suspension. Union

leader Gheorghe Sultana said the workers would respect the

ruling, but he added that the unions "reserve our right to go

on strike again if our pay demands are not settled during

talks in over the coming days." The Supreme Court said the

ruling was designed to prevent any further losses to the

country's economy owing to the strike. The workers are

demanding a 70 percent wage increase (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

10 December 1999). VG

[22] ROMANIAN POLITICIANS HAIL EU DECISION

Constantinescu on 10 December said that by securing an EU

invitation to entry talks, the country has "fulfilled the

ideal which had claimed the lives of the heroes of the 1989

December revolution." The president also thanked the Romanian

people for expressing a willingness to integrate into the EU.

Adrian Nastase, vice president of the opposition Party of

Social Democracy in Romania, also welcomed the EU decision,

describing it as a "landmark in Romania's foreign policy

strategy for many years." In a televised address on 12

December, Constantinescu called for better coordination among

government ministries as a key pre-requisite to successful EU

membership negotiations. VG

[23] OUTGOING PREMIER SAYS MOLDOVA TOO POOR TO PAY BACK DEBTS

television on 10 December that the country will default on

$95 million worth of debt payments next year owing to a lack

of hard currency, Infotag reported. He said the default could

come in the first or second quarter of next year. Meanwhile,

Democratic Convention of Moldovan leader and former President

Mircea Snegur on 11 December said he believes early elections

are inevitable following the failure of two cabinets to

secure a parliamentary vote of confidence, (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 10 December 1999). BASA-Press reported. Communist

deputy chairman Victor Stepaniuc said early elections are a

possibility but added that his party would prefer to avoid

them. VG

[24] BULGARIAN PREMIER UPBEAT ABOUT EU DECISION

December said the EU's decision to invite his country to EU

entry talks was a reward for the country's "European

solidarity." Kostov said he brought up the issue of visa

restrictions on Bulgarians in many EU member states, saying

his country's citizens want to be "treated on the same

footing as the citizens of the other countries the EU is

holding accession negotiations with," according to an 11

December BTA report cited by the BBC. Kostov also said the

EU's decision to formally recognize Turkey as a membership

candidate will lay "new tracks for the development of

bilateral relations" between Sofia and Ankara. National

Assembly Chairman Yordan Sokolov noted that as part of its

efforts to get into the EU, Bulgaria will probably have to

amend its constitution to allow foreigners to own land, BTA

reported. The leader of the opposition Euroleft Party,

Alexander Tomov, said the EU invitation is an "important test

and a serious challenge for Bulgaria." VG

[25] BULGARIA TO SEEK LOANS TO MODERNIZE NUCLEAR REACTORS

Bulgarian National Assembly voted to authorize the government

to sign agreements on loans to finance the modernization of

two reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, Bulgarian

Radio reported on 10 December. Some 362 million euros ($367

million) in loans will be provided by the U.S. City Bank and

Exim Bank, the Russian Export-Import Bank, and the European

Nuclear Energy Community. The modernization program includes

measures to improve the safety of the two reactors. VG

[C] END NOTE

[26] ARMENIAN POLITICS IN UNIFORM

Recent developments in Armenia following the attack on

the parliament have highlighted an increasingly assertive

military and a widening split between the president and

elements of the Unity bloc, the dominant group in the

parliament.

The killings of the two leaders of the Unity bloc,

parliamentary chairman Karen Demirchian and Prime Minister

Vazgen Sargsian, have led to a serious reconfiguration of the

balance of political power in the country. This shift first

became apparent in the negotiations between President Robert

Kocharian and his newly appointed prime minister, the brother

of the late premier, Aram Sargsian, on the lineup of a new

cabinet. The military reportedly submitted a list of

preferred appointments to the president during the

negotiations and was the driving force behind the appointment

of the new prime minister. Moreover, the deepening internal

tension has been exacerbated by Kocharian's recent moves

promising a possible settlement of the long-standing Nagorno-

Karabakh conflict.

This political confrontation was most evident at the

early December party congress of the Yerkrapah Union of

veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Having formed the

Republican Party, a key partner of the People's Party in the

Unity Bloc, the Yerkrapah organization is led by several

senior military figures aspiring to exert political leverage.

Although the Yerkrapah group backed the new premier, it

remains to be seen to what degree Sargsian will serve as a

Yerkrapah figurehead or if he will attempt to distance

himself from the group.

Within Yerkrapah, a new core leadership has emerged that

is strongly critical of the president, even threatening to

force new presidential elections. The party congress elected

Major General Manvel Grigorian as its chairman, signaling a

step toward "politics in uniform." This assertive and

military-affiliated Yerkrapah leadership promises a looming

confrontation with the Kocharian camp and has already

fostered a growing split with its own Republican Party

supporters.

Moreover, the appointment of Vahan Shirkhanian as

minister of industrial infrastructure constitutes a

concession by the president that demonstrates his tenuous

position in resisting the Yerkrapah leadership directly.

Shirkhanian is former deputy defense minister and the

military's initial choice for new premier. And it was he who

led the military's very vocal demands calling for the

dismissal of the power ministers in the wake of the attack on

the parliament.

The military boldly asserted itself immediately

following that attack, responding to the crisis with a

demonstrable show of force. Although the Armenian military

had been engaged in political affairs with President Levon

Ter-Petrossian government's deployment of the army in

response to an opposition demonstration in Yerevan, this new

trend of politics in uniform poses the threat of a "creeping

coup." Following the success in forcing the resignations of

the interior and national security ministers and the

prosecutor-general, the military has now entered the

political arena through the Yerkrapah organization.

The ominous trend of a politically assertive military

has roots in Armenia's body politic. The use of the military

as a springboard to political power was evident in both

Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia with the rise of the powerful

former Karabakh Defense Minister Samvel Babayan and late

Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian.

Now, politics in uniform has emerged as an alternative

avenue to power, offering a new source of political

legitimacy for ambitious elements of the military as the

traditional path to political power has become discredited by

rampant corruption and feuding political elites. Armenia's

political landscape is somewhat similar to Russia's in that

rival factions within the government are struggling for

control over the key economic sectors. These feuding

political elites are committed to democracy in varying

degrees, casting the competition not as a battle for

maintaining democratic and economic reforms but as a struggle

over who controls reform.

As the military-influenced leadership of the Yerkrapah

organization escalate a confrontation with the Kocharian

government, it will be interesting to see what role the

defense minister will play. Widely respected as a

professional military officer with a disdain for partisan

politics, the defense minister may well hold the key for

ensuring the stability of the Kocharian government. The most

likely scenario is a confrontation between the Yerkrapah-

dominated parliament and the presidency, with the defense

minister preventing the military establishment from directly

engaging the government in open political combat. But the

military is an essential element in the long-term necessity

of securing the peace after a negotiated peace agreement over

Nagorno-Karabakh.

A more fundamental element common to all the players is

the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. It was, in fact, the Karabakh

conflict that brought Robert Kocharian to power in Armenia,

first as prime minister and then as president. Karabakh also

heralded the rise of Vazgen Sarkisian and provided the

pivotal political legitimacy for the Yerkrapah movement. It

also hastened the demise of former President Ter-Petrossian,

forced into resignation by the Kocharian camp.

Most significantly, the future course of both Armenia

and Nagorno-Karabakh rests on the looming Karabakh

settlement. It remains to be seen whether the increasing

pressure on President Kocharian will mean a lost opportunity

for peace or just another obstacle on the path toward

consolidating democracy in Armenia.

The author is the editor of the monthly newsletter

"TransCaucasus: A Chronology."

13-12-99

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

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