RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 7, 00-01-11

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 7, 11 January 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER DETAINED IN CONNECTION

[02] FORMER ARMENIAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION ON TRIAL

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT VISITS TURKEY...

[04] ...COMMENTS ON UNREST IN TABRIZ

[05] GEORGIA CLAIMS TO INTERCEPT RUSSIAN ARMS BOUND

[06] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT OUTLINES ELECTION PROGRAM...

[07] ...DOWNPLAYS THREAT OF NEW ABKHAZ CAMPAIGN

[08] KAZAKH MIG SALE TRIAL RESUMES

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] SERBIAN OPPOSITION ADOPTS JOINT PROGRAM...

[10] ...WITH STRONG KOSOVA COMPONENT...

[11] ...PLUS INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS

[12] PREDICTABLE REACTIONS TO OPPOSITION PROGRAM

[13] MORE EU OIL FOR SERBIA

[14] GREEK ELECTRICITY FOR KOSOVA?

[15] ALBANIA, ITALY TO CURB MIGRATION

[16] AGREEMENT REACHED ON CROATIAN POWER TRANSFER

[17] CROATIAN TV DIRECTOR TO RESIGN

[18] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PROMULGATES LAND

[19] ROMANIA RENEWS PARLEYS WITH IMF

[20] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY WARNS DISSENTERS

[21] RUSSIAN PUBLICATION'S PREMISES DEFACED IN

[C] END NOTE

[22] Former Soviet Defense Minister Yazov Speaks Out

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER DETAINED IN CONNECTION

Police

lieutenant Artur Hakobian was detained on 10 January on

suspicion of operational negligence, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau

reported, quoting a senior official from the military

prosecutor's office. Hakobian commanded the police platoon

on duty at the parliament building on 27 October that failed

to prevent the five armed gunmen who murdered eight senior

officials including Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian from

entering the building. Hakobian is the third police officer to

be detained in connection with the shootings. A total of 16

people are under investigation for their alleged roles in the

killings. LF

[02] FORMER ARMENIAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION ON TRIAL

former minister of education and leader of the Nor Ughi (New

Path) Party, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Bleyan is

charged with abuse of power and embezzling public funds. He

has rejected those charges as politically motivated. LF

[03] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT VISITS TURKEY...

Ankara on 9-10 January, Heidar Aliev discussed with his

Turkish counterpart, Suleyman Demirel, the proposed Baku-

Ceyhan export pipeline for Azerbaijani oil and the prospects

for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Aliev said the

Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved without Turkish

participation, according to AP. Also on 10 January,

Azerbaijani presidential administration official Novruz

Mamedov rejected media reports citing Aliev as having said

prior to his departure from Baku that Azerbaijan might drop

its objections to the reopening of transport connections

between Turkey and Armenia, Turan reported. Such reports,

he said, are "misconstrued." On returning to Baku on 11

January, Aliev denied media reports that he underwent a

medical checkup in the Ankara military hospital where he was

treated for bronchitis in January 1999, Turan reported. LF

[04] ...COMMENTS ON UNREST IN TABRIZ

quoted President Aliev as saying that the ongoing

demonstrations by ethnic Azeris in the Iranian city of Tabriz

were orchestrated by unnamed forces interested in

exacerbating relations between Azerbaijan and Iran. Aliev

denied having received and rejected a request from

Mahmudali Chehragani, an Azerbaijani professor at the

University of Tabriz and one of the leaders of the so-called

South Azerbaijan National Liberation Movement, to be allowed

to travel to Azerbaijan for medical treatment. LF

[05] GEORGIA CLAIMS TO INTERCEPT RUSSIAN ARMS BOUND

Georgian parliamentary speaker Zurab

Zhvania told journalists in Tbilisi on 11 January that earlier

that day Georgian security officials detained a convoy of

military vehicles from an unnamed Russian base in Georgia

that was transporting arms to Chechnya, Caucasus Press

reported. LF

[06] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT OUTLINES ELECTION PROGRAM...

on 10 January that he will run for a second term in office in

the 9 April presidential poll. He said his primary objectives

are to improve social and economic conditions in Georgia, to

restore the central government's control over the entire

country, and to raise Georgia's international standing,

according to Caucasus Press. Also on 10 January, National

Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Irina Sarishvili-

Chanturia, who had been considered a possible presidential

candidate, said her party will not support any candidate in

the April poll. Socialist Party chairman Vakhtang Rcheulishvili

said that the parties aligned in the Batumi alliance may

propose as their presidential candidate either former

Georgian Communist Party First Secretary Dzhumber

Patiashvili or Adjar Supreme Council Chairman Aslan

Abashidze. Patiashvili ran unsuccessfully against

Shevardnadze in the November 1995 presidential poll. LF

[07] ...DOWNPLAYS THREAT OF NEW ABKHAZ CAMPAIGN

threat made by the newly-formed Interim Committee for

Liberating Abkhazia to resort to hostilities in order to bring

the region back under the central government's control is

not serious, Caucasus Press reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 10 January 2000). Georgian deputy parliamentary

speaker Vakhtang Kolbaya similarly expressed concern that

the committee's appeal could encourage ethnic Georgian

displaced persons from Abkhazia, whom his parliamentary

faction represents, to resort to arms. He called for the swift

resumption of talks on a political settlement to the conflict.

LF

[08] KAZAKH MIG SALE TRIAL RESUMES

suspected of arranging the illegal sale to North Korea of 40

obsolete MiG aircraft resumed in Almaty on 10 January,

Reuters and Interfax reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7

January 2000). Vladimir Abiev, a lawyer for businessman

Aleksandr Petrenko, said his client is accused of smuggling

military property, while co-defendant Bakhitzhan Ertaev, who

is chief of the army general staff, is accused of abusing his

official position. Ertaev, who had earlier protested his

innocence, claimed that Kazakhstan's Defense Ministry knew

of the sale and that he "was merely fulfilling orders" from his

superior, Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbaev, who he

demanded be summoned as a witness, RFE/RL's bureau in the

former capital reported on 11 January. Altynbaev was

dismissed when the scandal broke in August. Kazakh

government officials have denied any knowledge of the affair

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 August and 7 September 1999).

LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] SERBIAN OPPOSITION ADOPTS JOINT PROGRAM...

agreed in Belgrade on 10 January to begin joint protests on

9 March to demand that Serbian and Yugoslav elections be

held at all levels by the end of April (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

10 January 2000). The opposition representatives called for

an end to "state terror" and "repressive laws," including the

1998 media law, the private Beta news agency reported. The

signatories agreed to "cooperate in preparing for the

elections, as well as during and after those elections." The

opposition leaders added that they intend to "institutionalize"

cooperation among themselves. They demanded equality

between Serbia and Montenegro and decentralization of

political power at all levels. Signatories included

representatives of Vojvodina, Sandzak, and Kosova's Serbian

minority. PM

[10] ...WITH STRONG KOSOVA COMPONENT...

also appealed to the foreign ministers of the EU, the U.S.,

Russia, and China to fully implement Security Council

Resolution 1244 on Kosova and allow "Serbian soldiers and

police" to return there "in keeping with [existing] signed

agreements." The opposition demands that KFOR protect "the

state boundaries of Yugoslavia and Serbia with Albania and

Macedonia" in Kosova and ensure full rights and local self-

government for all minorities "in that Yugoslav and Serbian

province." They call for an end to lawlessness there and for

the return of all refugees and displaced persons. Kosova

Serb leader Momcilo Trajkovic told the BBC's Serbian Service

that he is pleased with the opposition's stand on Kosova.

Serbian Orthodox Archbishop Artemije also represented the

Serbs of Kosova at the opposition meeting. PM

[11] ...PLUS INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS

leaders appealed in their agreement for international aid for

"about 1 million refugees in Serbia and Montenegro and for

the more than 2 million [Yugoslav] citizens who live on the

brink of starvation." The signatories asked for an immediate

end to the ban on air flights and oil deliveries to Serbia. They

appealed to the U.S. and EU to end all sanctions once

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic agrees to hold

elections. The international community should also return

Yugoslavia to full membership in the OSCE and thereby help

thwart the "regime's [campaign] to satanize everything in

Serbia that is European and democratic," they commented.

The opposition leaders added that Belgrade should resume

full diplomatic relations with Washington, London, Paris, and

Berlin. They also called for full membership for Serbia and

Yugoslavia in the EU's Balkan stability program. PM

[12] PREDICTABLE REACTIONS TO OPPOSITION PROGRAM

agreement is the first such pact between the main opposition

groups in more than two years, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported on 10 January. Alliance for Change coalition leader

Veran Batic hailed the move. Evidence of political jockeying

among leaders was nonetheless evident. For example,

Democratic Party chairman Zoran Djindjic and the Serbian Civic

League's Goran Svilanovic did not sign the documents

personally, but Batic did so on their behalf, "Danas" reported.

This reflects Djindjic's insistence that he will not subordinate

himself to the Serbian Renewal Movement's Vuk Draskovic,

who hosted the meeting, the BBC's Serbian Service

commented. Former General Momcilo Perisic said that he

agreed with the documents but did not sign them because

they did not include his key demand for the immediate ouster

of Milosevic. Regime media claimed that the opposition also

concluded an additional "secret" agreement pledging loyalty

to "their masters" in the West, the BBC noted. PM

[13] MORE EU OIL FOR SERBIA

trucks left the oil refinery in Skopje for the Serbian border

with heating oil for the cities of Nis and Pirot (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 8 December 1999). The shipment is a gift from the

EU in its Energy for Democracy program, which provides

heating oil to municipalities governed by the opposition. PM

[14] GREEK ELECTRICITY FOR KOSOVA?

spokesman said in Athens on 10 January that Greece will

supply some 60 percent of Kosova's imported electricity.

Greece will send the electricity via Albania, but it is not clear

when the program will begin, AP reported. On 11 January,

however, a spokesman for Greece's Public Power Corporation

said he doubts that either Albania or Macedonia has the

technical ability to transfer the electricity, which his company

is willing to provide. Kosova needs to import about 100

megawatts daily, which is roughly half of its total

consumption. Its main power plant is operational but in need

of repair and improvements. PM

[15] ALBANIA, ITALY TO CURB MIGRATION

officials signed an agreement in Rome on 10 January aimed at

reducing illegal migration from Albania to Italy across the

Otranto Strait. Italy will supply two police helicopters to its

neighbor and convert a Kosovar refugee camp in Albania for

use by non-Albanians being repatriated, AP reported. Italian

Interior Minister Enzo Bianco said that some 80 percent of

the illegal immigrants leaving Albania for Italy are non-

Albanians. PM

[16] AGREEMENT REACHED ON CROATIAN POWER TRANSFER

Racan and Drazen Budisa agreed in Zagreb on 10 January

that Pavletic will call on Racan to form a government as soon

as the recent parliamentary elections are repeated in 11

polling places and the result of that vote officially confirmed

(see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 3 January 2000). The repeat

elections are slated for 16 January, which means that Racan

can expect to receive a mandate from Pavletic by early

February, "Jutarnji list" reported. The three men agreed on

the importance of a smooth transfer of power from the

Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) to the opposition

coalition with minimum delay. PM

[17] CROATIAN TV DIRECTOR TO RESIGN

heads state-run television (HRT), said in Zagreb on 10

January that he will offer his resignation once the new

parliament convenes. This is the first time that a top HDZ

appointee has publicly offered to resign once the transfer of

power begins, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported.

"Jutarnji list" wrote on 11 January that German Chancellor

Gerhard Schroeder replaced 51 top political appointees when

he succeeded Helmut Kohl in 1998, but it noted that Racan

"can expect to replace even more" top officials once the

HDZ's 10-year reign formally ends. The Zagreb daily added

that evidence is increasingly coming to light of the HDZ's links

to Herzegovinian mafia structures and even to international

terrorists. PM

[18] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PROMULGATES LAND

President Emil Constantinescu went on

nationwide television on 10 January to promulgate the land

restitution law, which the parliament had passed in December.

Also last month, the Constitutional Court rejected an

opposition appeal to declare the legislation unconstitutional.

The law allows former owners to claim back up to 50

hectares of arable land and 10 hectares of forest; a law

passed in 1989 allowed the return of only 10 hectares of

land and one hectare of forest. Constantinescu said he

wanted to promulgate the law on television "not as a

gratuitous gesture but as a sign that the year 2000 will

remain in history as the year when land was finally returned

to its lawful owners." He also harshly criticized the Party of

Social Democracy in Romania for having attempted to block

the legislation. MS

[19] ROMANIA RENEWS PARLEYS WITH IMF

headed by the fund's chief negotiator for Romania, Emmanuel

Zervoudakis, began a new round of talks in Bucharest on 10

January on the implementation of the agreement reached

with Bucharest last year. In August 1999, the IMF released

the first tranche of a $547 million loan, but the second

tranche has been delayed since October owing to IMF doubts

about whether Romania can meet the fund's condition of a

tight fiscal policy and given the political crisis in the country.

Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu on 10 January convened a

cabinet meeting to discuss strategy at the negotiations with

the IMF, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Government

sources said a deficit equal to 3 percent of GDP and annual

inflation at 25-30 percent remain Romania's objectives for

2000. MS

[20] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY WARNS DISSENTERS

Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) Chairman Ion

Diaconescu said on 10 January that no disciplinary measures

have been taken "thus far" against the so-called Brasov

group supporting former Premier Radu Vasile. He added,

however, that the PNTCD intends to be "stern" in its handling

of those who do not comply with the party statutes. The

same day, members of the Brasov group met with Vasile to

discuss "strategies" at a meeting of the PNTCD's leading

executive body planned for later this month. Meanwhile, at a

gathering that the Civic Alliance Movement had organized,

the PNTCD, the National Liberal Party, the Union of Rightist

Forces, and the National Christian Democratic Alliance all

agreed that "solidarity" of the center-right forces is required

to "coherently counter-balance" leftist "anti-reform"

tendencies, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS

[21] RUSSIAN PUBLICATION'S PREMISES DEFACED IN

Unidentified persons have painted a swastika on

the building housing the editorial offices of the Russian-

language publication "Novii poryadok" (The New Order) in

Chisinau, Flux reported on 10 January. They also painted

slogans demanding that "Russian occupants, go home!" and

"Freedom to Chechnya." "Novii poryadok" said the attack was

"an intimidation attempt or a provocation." It added that a

movement calling itself "Novii poryadok" will soon be formed

in Moldova. Moldovan Journalists' Association Chairman Valeriu

Sahnareanu said his group cannot respond to the incident

before the results of a police investigation are made public,

but he said he does not rule out that "Novii poryadok"

staged the incident itself and that the publication has "neo-

fascist leanings." The name of one of Aleksandr Barkashov's

Russian National Unity publications in Russia is "Russkii

poryadok." MS

[C] END NOTE

[22] Former Soviet Defense Minister Yazov Speaks Out

This interview with the Soviet Union's last defense

minister, Dmitrii Yazov, first appeared in the Czech daily

"Lidove noviny" on 25 November 1999 (Part 1 was published

in "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 January 2000). Petra Prochazkova

conducted the interview.

Q: Today, your name is mainly associated with

the events of August 1991, which are interpreted as

an attempt at a putsch. You and then KGB chief

[Vladimir] Kryuchkov allegedly gave orders to isolate

Gorbachev in Crimea on 18 August.

This is an inaccurate interpretation of those events. We

wanted to prevent the illegal break-up of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev wanted to liquidate the USSR against the will of

the majority in August 1991. We tried to rectify the situation.

Gorbachev was terribly confused, he had no idea what to do.

He was most influenced by [Eduard] Shevardnadze,

[Aleksandr] Yakovlev, and to a certain extent the Americans,

the Germans, and Western European politicians. We went to

Crimea to convince him that he was making a mistake, to

remind him that on 17 March 1991, almost 77 percent of the

USSR's citizens had voted to preserve the USSR. He took

offense. That was the whole putsch. I told him that we have

to fulfill the will of the people and preserve the integrity of

the country. But Gorbachev went against the people, that's

why I consider him to be a traitor.

Q: Do you regret that you didn't arrest Boris

Yeltsin back then?

Perhaps it would have been better. I knew that things

would be bad. But it was not in my jurisdiction to arrest

Yeltsin. We had a legal president in Gorbachev.... But

Gorbachev is a coward. He was the commander in chief of the

Russian Federation's armed forces. Not me.... Gorbachev

listened to his advisers, who were greater in number than

the generals in our army. Thatcher, Reagan, and Bush

unofficially belonged among them.... However, everything was

just beginning in August 91.

Q: And it resulted in the Belovezha accords on

the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

But that was a crime, don't you understand? What right

did the Ukrainian [Leonid] Kravchuk, the Belarusian [Stanislau]

Shushkevich, and the Russian Yeltsin have to sign an

agreement on the liquidation of a superpower? That did not

conform to the law or democratic principles. Three drunkards

met in a forest almost on the Polish border and signed a

piece of paper. And Gorbachev, who was the head of state,

didn't do anything. So who's guilty...? Gorbachev should have

ordered the deployment of the paratroopers, and he should

have had all three of them arrested as traitors.

Q: Why do you think he didn't do it?

Because he sold himself. Him and Yeltsin. For example,

[former Czechoslovak communist leader] Gustav Nikodimovich

Husak, who I met many times, was an extremely honorable

man. Just like [Czechoslovak communist Jozef] Lenart. What,

they were bad Czechs? Was [Klement] Gottwald a bad

Czech? None of them was a Nobel Prize laureate. Why didn't

a single socialist politician ever win that award--and then

suddenly Gorbachev won it? He didn't win it for ending the

Cold War, as they say he did, but because he sold the

interests of socialist countries. In reality, the Cold War didn't

end. It continues.... The Cold War is also continuing in relation

to the events in Chechnya.

Q: Who do you think is responsible for Chechnya?

It is the result of the misguided policies of our

leadership. They should have negotiated with [Dzhokhar]

Dudaev as early as 1991. I knew him personally. He was an

excellent airforce commander. An intelligent person, and you

could talk to him.

Q: So the Western protests against the military

operation are justified?

What business is it of the Americans? Why are they

interfering in Russia's internal affairs? They say we don't have

the right to bomb Chechnya.... War is not a political matter,

but an economic matter. Politics only serves economics. Lenin

correctly said that politics is just a concentrated expression

of economics. Economic interests were also behind the

disintegration of the USSR. And separatism was added into

the mix. Western politicians had been preparing the situation

for a long time. We knew it. But what were we supposed to

do? Bomb the USA? The main goal of certain American

politicians was to destroy the Soviet Union. Their radio

stations did some 500 hours worth of broadcasts in the

languages of all nations of the USSR. They induced people to

get out of the evil empire, Ukraine to fight for its

independence. But look at what their so-called freedom

brought them! For a Ukrainian who worked in the mines, it

means unemployment. Back then, he was not free according

to you, but now he is free and has nothing. Many people

became the presidents of sovereign states. That's the

essence of the matter....

Q: And us?

Not even you. In the times of the USSR, Czechoslovakia

produced a ton of grain per head and a ton of steel per head

annually. Fifteen million people gained 15 million metric tons of

steel and grain. Try asking how much you produce today....

Q: Were you better off under the USSR?

I wouldn't say so. The Communist leadership didn't have

any privileges. We were allowed to buy goods directly from

the warehouses without waiting in line, but I never used that

advantage. I sent my assistant, sometimes my wife did the

shopping. Otherwise, we didn't need anything. We drove in a

government car to the government dacha. Now the Defense

Ministry has sold off 427 of its sanatoriums and dachas. They

were all bought up by businessmen, and the soldiers are left

with nothing.

Translated by Victor Gomez.

11-01-00

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

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