RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 31, 00-02-14

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 31, 14 February 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT COMMENTS ON KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS...

[02] ...RULES OUT TERRITORIAL EXCHANGE

[03] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION DIVIDED OVER KARABAKH REFERENDUM

[04] OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER RELEASED IN NAKHICHEVAN

[05] SEVERAL INJURED IN GEORGIAN BLAST

[06] PRELIMINARY AGREEMENT REACHED ON LINEUP OF GEORGIAN ELECTORAL

[07] THIRTEENTH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NOMINATED IN GEORGIA

[08] GEORGIAN NON-PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION FORMS NEW ALLIANCE

[09] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] NATO ARRESTS 40 AFTER MITROVICA VIOLENCE

[11] FRANCE'S VEDRINE DENIES PRO-SERBIAN BIAS

[12] EU PREPARES TO SEND MORE POLICE TO KOSOVA

[13] ANOTHER UNDERWORLD FIGURE GUNNED DOWN IN BELGRADE

[14] SERBIA WANTS COMPENSATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE...

[15] ...LASHES OUT AT 'MEDIA TERRORISM'

[16] BURZAN SEES MONTENEGRIN FUTURE WITHOUT SERBIA

[17] MACEDONIA RETIRES OLD-GUARD MILITARY

[18] BALKAN NEIGHBORS SIGN CHARTER IN BUCHAREST...

[19] ...WHILE ROMANIA, BULGARIA SIGN DEFENSE COOPERATION ACCORD

[20] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MOLDOVA

[21] BULGARIAN PREMIER SETS NEW CHALLENGE

[C] END NOTE

[22] LITHUANIA ASKS KGB COLLABORATORS TO CONFESS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT COMMENTS ON KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS...

an interview with Armenian National Television on 11

February, Robert Kocharian said that he and his Azerbaijani

counterpart, Heidar Aliev, have discussed "all possible

variants and questions" relating to a possible solution to

the Karabakh conflict but that over the past year they have

not yet reached agreement on a concrete formula for resolving

that issue, ITAR-TASS reported. Kocharian said if it proves

impossible to do so in direct talks, the two presidents will

solicit the help of international mediators, RFE/RL's Yerevan

bureau reported. Responding to statement one week earlier by

the Yerkrapah union of veterans of the Karabakh war warning

against a settlement that would require the withdrawal of

Armenian forces from occupied Azerbaijani territory (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 7 February 2000), Kocharian said any draft

peace settlement should be approved by the governments of

Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and

might also be submitted to a nationwide referendum in

Armenia. LF

[02] ...RULES OUT TERRITORIAL EXCHANGE

his 11 February interview that the OSCE mediators have

proposed an exchange of territory between Armenia and

Azerbaijan as one way of resolving the Karabakh conflict but

that he rejected that proposal, Caucasus Press and RFE/RL's

Yerevan bureau reported. Such an exchange would have enabled

Yerevan to retain Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor

linking it with Armenia, while Armenia would have ceded its

southern Meghri region, which lies between Azerbaijan and the

Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhcichevan. The Yerkrapah union had

made clear its opposition to such an exchange of territory.

LF

[03] ARMENIAN OPPOSITION DIVIDED OVER KARABAKH REFERENDUM

The newspaper "Haykakan Zhamanak," which is

sympathetic to former President Levon Ter-Petrossian and the

Armenian Pan-National Movement, commented on 12 February that

Kocharian's referendum proposal indicates that his leadership

is not ready to accept responsibility for resolving the

Karabakh conflict. The newspaper added that a referendum

would be easier to falsify than either presidential or

parliamentary elections. On 10 February, Arshak Sadoyan of

the opposition National Democratic Union told parliamentary

deputies that it would not be "correct" to ask the Armenian

people to evaluate and approve a "highly complex" document on

resolving the conflict. But Artur Baghdasarian, leader of the

Orinats yerkir party, which is sympathetic to Kocharian,

expressed support for the idea of a referendum, reasoning

that "no one, not even the president," should take sole

responsibility for a peace settlement, Armenpres reported. LF

[04] OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER RELEASED IN NAKHICHEVAN

Djavadli, the leader of the Nakhichevan branch of the

Azerbaijan Popular Front, was released from detention late on

10 February, Turan reported the following day, citing "Yeni

Musavat." Djavadli had been detained several days earlier and

severely beaten. Representatives of several opposition

parties had picketed the office of the Nakhichevan

prosecutor-general on 10 February to demand his release. LF

[05] SEVERAL INJURED IN GEORGIAN BLAST

agency reports, between two and four people were injured on

14 February when either a bomb or a grenade exploded in a

Tbilisi metro station. It is unclear whether the Georgian

authorities hold terrorists responsible for the blast. LF

[06] PRELIMINARY AGREEMENT REACHED ON LINEUP OF GEORGIAN ELECTORAL

The inter-factional group charged with approving

proposed amendments to Georgia's election law reached

tentative agreement on 10 February on the future composition

of the Central Electoral Commission, Caucasus Press reported

(see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 5, 4 February

2000). Under the compromise proposal, which must be approved

by both majority and minority parliamentary factions, seven

of the 16 members of the commission will be selected by the

parliament majority faction and another seven by opposition

parties, including those not represented in parliament.

Abkhazia and Adjaria will each be represented by one member.

All members of the commission must be elected by a two-thirds

majority, while the commission chairman will be a member of

the majority nominated by President Eduard Shevardnadze. LF

[07] THIRTEENTH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NOMINATED IN GEORGIA

Communist Party of Georgia on 11 February nominated 46-year-

old Ivane Tsiklauri as its candidate for the 9 April

presidential election, Caucasus Press reported. By 29

February, Tsiklauri and his fellow nominees must collect and

submit to the Central Electoral Commission at least 50,000

signatures in their support. LF

[08] GEORGIAN NON-PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION FORMS NEW ALLIANCE

represented in the Georgian parliament elected last October

have aligned in a bloc named For Freedom and Democracy,

Interfax and "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 10 February.

Those parties, including the Labor Party and the National

Independence Party of Georgia, are demanding that the 9 April

presidential elections be postponed and a census conducted to

determine the precise number of people in Georgia entitled to

vote. The Labor Party says that its failure in last October's

poll to surmount the 7 percent minimum required for

representation in the parliament can be attributed to vote

falsification by the ruling Union of Citizens of Georgia. On

14 February, Shevardnadze said that postponing the elections

would be unconstitutional. He added that a postponement could

jeopardize the granting of new loans by international

financial organizations, Caucasus Press reported. LF

[09] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] NATO ARRESTS 40 AFTER MITROVICA VIOLENCE

said in Prishtina on 14 February that peacekeepers arrested

39 ethnic Albanians and one Serb following several days of

violence in primarily Serbian northern Mitrovica (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 11 February 2000). Two ethnic Albanians died--

including one sniper--and a total of at least 15 people were

injured on 13 February. They include French peacekeepers,

Serbs, and Albanians. The authorities imposed a curfew from

6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. until further notice. The UN and

KFOR said in a joint statement that "the only people who have

benefited from this shameful day are those who have an

interest in preventing the return of peace and order." The

spokesman stressed that the latest clashes marked "the first

time that we were a target of such widespread attacks,"

Reuters reported. Observers note that this was the most

violent confrontation between KFOR and ethnic Albanians. NATO

intervened in Kosova in 1999 primarily to protect the lives

and safety of the province's ethnic Albanian majority. PM

[11] FRANCE'S VEDRINE DENIES PRO-SERBIAN BIAS

Minister Hubert Vedrine said in Paris on 14 February that

France does not have a policy of its own vis-a-vis Kosova,

stressing that it carries out the common policy of all

countries participating in KFOR, AP reported. Vedrine noted,

however, that the situation in Mitrovica is more tense than

in most cities in the province because a large Serbian

population has remained there. He argued that "our objective

is not to guarantee the ethnic homogeneity of [Kosova] solely

on an Albanian basis. We should make this clear. We also have

to protect the rights of the Serbs who have remained." He was

responding to charges by ethnic Albanians that France follows

a pro-Serbian policy in Mitrovica by condoning the de facto

partition of the city into Serbian and Albanian halves. The

Albanians oppose partition, which they see as part of a

Serbian plan to divide all of Kosova. PM

[12] EU PREPARES TO SEND MORE POLICE TO KOSOVA

told Reuters in Brussels on 14 February that EU foreign

ministers will soon agree to send another 400 police to

Kosova. Spain, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, and Germany

will thereby fulfill or increase their earlier pledges. The

UN's Bernard Kouchner and NATO's General Klaus Reinhardt have

frequently complained that they need more police and that

many countries have not made good on their pledges to send

police. Only 2,055 police out of a total of 4,718 promised

are currently serving in the province. In related news, the

ministers are expected to agree to a six-month suspension of

a ban on civilian air flights to Serbia. The ministers are

also slated to meet with Ivica Racan, who is Croatia's new

prime minister. PM

[13] ANOTHER UNDERWORLD FIGURE GUNNED DOWN IN BELGRADE

gunmen in a passing car killed Mirko "Bosanac" Tomic, 28, in

the Novi Beograd section of the Serbian capital on 13

February. Tomic was a well-known gambler and underworld

personality. His death is the latest in a series of gangland-

style killings in Belgrade (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 8

February 2000). PM

[14] SERBIA WANTS COMPENSATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE...

Serbian government will appeal to the International Court of

Justice at The Hague for compensation for losses caused by

the recent pollution of the Tisa and Danube rivers, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported on 13 February. The Serbian

authorities fear long-lasting damage to agriculture in

Vojvodina as a result of cyanide and heavy-metal pollution

that originated in a mining accident in northwestern Romania.

Spokesmen for the Australian Green Party told the BBC that

safety conditions at the mine, which is half Australian-

owned, do not meet Australian standards. PM

[15] ...LASHES OUT AT 'MEDIA TERRORISM'

Minister Goran Matic said in Belgrade on 13 February that

unnamed independent media and NGOs receive financial support

"from the same aggressors who bombed us" during the 1999

Kosova conflict (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 February 2000). He

drew attention to recent remarks by Serbian Deputy Prime

Minister Vojislav Seselj against the independent media (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 11 February 2000). In Vienna, the

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights called on

the Serbian public prosecutor's office to "take legal action"

against Seselj. The Vienna-based NGO's statement stressed

that Seselj had "threatened" civil society in Serbia when he

warned several independent media and NGOs that "you can't

really think that you will survive our possible liquidation."

PM

[16] BURZAN SEES MONTENEGRIN FUTURE WITHOUT SERBIA

Deputy Prime Minister Dragisa Burzan told Reuters in Banja

Luka on 13 February that "there is no possibility for

Montenegro and Serbia to co-exist in any functioning

federation." The previous day, he told the private Serbian

news agency Beta: "I don't think that a civil war is possible

in Montenegro, as it was in Bosnia, but even if something

like that happens, it would be a series of local incidents."

PM

[17] MACEDONIA RETIRES OLD-GUARD MILITARY

Trajkovski announced the retirement of army chief General

Trajce Krstevski and two other top commanders on 12 February.

General Jovan Andreevski replaces Krstevski, who was close to

former President Kiro Gligorov and who opposed Macedonia's

cooperation with NATO during the 1999 Kosova conflict.

Trajkovski also named General Sava Janev as deputy chief-of-

staff, AP reported. General Djordji Karakutovski will head

the First Corps and General Ilija Nikolovski the Second

Corps. PM

[18] BALKAN NEIGHBORS SIGN CHARTER IN BUCHAREST...

third meeting of the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process,

President Emil Constantinescu and the premiers of Albania,

Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, and Turkey signed a 21-point

"Charter on Good-Neighborly Relations, Stability, Security,

and Cooperation in Southeast Europe," RFE/RL's Bucharest

bureau reported on 12 February. Yugoslavia, which is a member

of the organization, was not invited to attend, but the

participants expressed the hope that the country will resume

participation when it has "democratically elected leaders."

The participants pledged to promote the principles of the UN

charter and to work for creating "conditions for the

prosperity of our nations in an environment of peace,

security, good-neighborliness, and stability." MS

[19] ...WHILE ROMANIA, BULGARIA SIGN DEFENSE COOPERATION ACCORD

and Bulgaria signed an accord to cooperate in seeking to

expedite their countries' integration into NATO and to boost

bilateral political-military cooperation. Mugur Isarescu and

Ivan Kostov said consultation mechanisms will be set up,

joint exercises conducted, and cooperation in air-defense,

logistics, and improving compatibility with NATO promoted.

The two countries' defense industries will also cooperate.

Isarescu and Transportation Minister Traian Basescu met with

Bodo Hombach, EU coordinator of the Stability Pact, to

discuss how to improve access routes to a second bridge over

the River Danube, which is to be built by Bulgaria. Hombach

said the construction of the bridge will begin this year. MS

[20] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MOLDOVA

journalists on 11 February after talks with President Petru

Lucinschi, Premier Dumitru Barghis, and other government

officials that NATO does not intend to play a role in

settling the Transdniester conflict, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau

reported. Rather, he said, this role must be "primarily"

played by the OSCE. Robertson praised Moldova's participation

in the Partnership for Peace program. He also said it was "up

to each neutral country," such as Moldova, to define how it

envisages its collaboration with NATO, adding that it is

important to work toward "extending the zone of European

stability" to as many countries as possible. Responding to

Lucinschi's statement that Moldova wants to become a member

of the South East European Stability Pact, Robertson pointed

out that such a decision is not within the competence of

NATO, but of the EU. MS

[21] BULGARIAN PREMIER SETS NEW CHALLENGE

parliament on 11 February, Prime Minister Ivan Kostov said

that by having secured an invitation to start accession talks

with the EU, his cabinet has fulfilled the main objective of

its medium-term program, BTA and AP reported. Kostov said the

next challenge is to increase competitiveness of the economy,

achieve sustainable economic growth, and increase living

standards. He said during its two-and-a half years in office,

the cabinet has privatized 70 percent of state assets and

restored 95 percent of communist-nationalized land. The

parliament later approved the government's report by a vote

of 125-76 but recommenced it take measures to improve living

standards. MS

[C] END NOTE

[22] LITHUANIA ASKS KGB COLLABORATORS TO CONFESS

In general, the Baltic experience of coming to terms

with Communist collaborators sharply contrasts with that of

the rest of Eastern Europe.

Countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and

Hungary had their own secret services. The post-communist

governments of those countries set up procedures to make the

files available to the public. The Baltic countries, on the

other hand, were Soviet republics and fell within the

jurisdiction of the KGB. As the Soviet Union began to

disintegrate and the KGB withdrew from the Baltic region, it

took with it a large part of the Estonian, Latvian, and, to a

lesser extent, Lithuanian secret files.

Since the Baltic countries had no access to the bulk of

the KGB records, they have had to seek out collaborators.

Both Estonia and Lithuania have passed laws requiring

collaborators to come forward and register themselves.

As of 1 February, all Lithuanian citizens who

collaborated with the KGB have six months to report to a

special commission. Lithuania's deputy minister of justice,

Gintaras Svadas, explained to RFE/RL how this process will

work: "Those citizens who took part in the secret activities

of the KGB are required, as it were, to use any means to

inform the commission of that fact. They will then have to

visit the Committee of National Security of the Republic of

Lithuania, where they will fill out a special form providing

details of their collaboration with the KGB."

Svadas said that the identities of those who come

forward will not be revealed. But collaborators who do not

come forward within six months risk having their names

disclosed to the public. Some of their identities are known

to the authorities from salvaged KGB files, while others may

be identified by other collaborators.

Dalia Kuodite, the director of Lithuania's Genocide and

Resistance Research Center, which is represented on the

special commission, says the law will be an important means

of setting the historical record straight. But she says that

from a practical point of view, it may come too late either

to limit the effect of collaborators on society or to punish

them.

Last November, the Lithuanian parliament adopted a law

banning former KGB operatives from certain government

positions. The new law on collaborators is expected to help

monitor compliance with that ban.

RFE/RL's Lithuanian Service Director Kestutis Girnius

says Lithuania took so long to address the role of

collaborators because, after independence, the Communist

Party transformed itself into a major force in the country.

The often dominant role of that party in the 1990s has

hindered the process of lustration.

In contrast to Lithuania's Communists, Estonia's local

Communist Party was widely seen as an agent of Russification.

When the country regained independence in 1991, the party

found itself out of favor, and Estonia swiftly passed a law

banning former KGB operatives from high office. Alone among

the Baltic states, Estonia requires anyone seeking such

office to take an "oath of conscience," declaring that they

did not collaborate with the KGB. The ban expires in 2002.

Lithuania's new law on collaborators follows the example

set by Estonia five years ago, when Estonia passed a law

requiring people those who collaborated with the security

services of any occupying power to register themselves with

the security police within a year. The information gleaned

from collaborators was treated as confidential, and those who

did not comply faced public exposure.

The author is an RFE/RL correspondent currently based in

Prague.

14-02-00

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

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