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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 48, 00-03-08Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 48, 8 March 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT MAJORITY WARNS PRESIDENT NOT TO REJECTITS DEMANDS...Leaders of the Miasnutiun parliamentary majority alliance and Prime Minister Aram Sargsian on 7 March made clear their displeasure with statements made the previous day by President Robert Kocharian during an interview with Armenian National Television, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The Miasnutiun leaders said they will not take any further action against Kocharian in the next few days but warned that they may withdraw their support for the president if he declines to comply. Kocharian had rejected as "absurd" the 3 March demand by Miasnutiun that he fire two top officials for allegedly obstructing and misrepresenting the investigation into the 27 October parliament shootings (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 and 7 March 2000). LF [02] ...CALLS DECREE ON MILITARY 'UNCONSTITUTIONAL'...Also on 7March, Vladimir Nazarian, who heads the parliamentary legal department, circulated a report condemning as unconstitutional a decree issued by Kocharian the previous day underscoring his constitutional right (as commander in chief of the Armenian armed forces) to appoint and dismiss senior military personnel, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Andranik Markarian, who heads the Miasnutiun majority parliamentary bloc, told RFE/RL that Kocharian's decree "was meant to have an ideological effect...and to show that the army is his. But it belongs to the state." LF [03] ...REJECTS CHARGES OF PRESSURING MEDIAMarkarian also toldNoyan Tapan on 7 March that the 3 March demand by Miasnutiun that Kocharian fire Armenian National Television director Tigran Naghdalian constitutes neither an attempt to muzzle the Armenian media nor an ultimatum to the president. Markarian stressed that the Miasnutiun statement was directed only at national television as a "government structure." But at a round-table discussion convened by the Yerevan Press Club, Armenian journalists condemned the Miasnutiun statement as an infringement of media freedom, Noyan Tapan reported on 8 March. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-- Dashnaktsutiun (HHD), which supports Kocharian, issued a statement on 6 March condemning as "inadmissible" any attempt to restrict freedom of the media. LF [04] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT FINALLY APPROVES STATE BUDGETBy anoverwhelming majority, parliamentary deputies on 7 March finally endorsed the 2000 budget unveiled by Finance Minister Levon Barkhudarian in mid-January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 January 2000), RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. That draft, which has received the blessing of international financial institutions, does not differ greatly from last year's. It sets expenditures at 252.7 billion drams ($482 million) and revenues at 202 billion drams. The resulting deficit is equal to less than 5 percent of projected GDP and will be almost totally covered by Western loans and grants. Government officials predict an increase in GDP of 6 percent, compared with 3.7 percent in 1999. LF [05] ARMENIANS PETITION FOR RELEASE OF ASALA MEMBERSince thebeginning of the year, some 600,000 Armenians (of an estimated population of 3 million) have signed a petition calling on the Armenian leadership to ask the French government to release Varuzhan Karapetyan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a French court in 1983, Armenpress reported on 6 March. Karapetyan assumed sole responsibility for the 1983 bombing by members of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) of the Turkish Airlines office at Orly airport, in which eight people were killed and 55 injured. ASALA was formed in 1975 by diaspora Armenians and waged a series of bombings against Turkish targets in an attempt to coerce the Turkish government to acknowledge responsibility for the slaughter of Armenians in Turkey in 1915. LF [06] LANDSLIP IN AZERBAIJANI CAPITAL CAUSES DAMAGE BUT NOCASUALTIESA number of buildings were swept away or damaged by a landslide in Baku's Sabail district during the night of 6-7 March, Turan reported. The city's water-main was also damaged. No injuries were reported. The landslide was the most severe in the city's recent history. LF [07] ABKHAZIA ACCUSES GEORGIA OF RENEGING ON HOSTAGE EXCHANGEAGREEMENTSergei Tsargush, deputy security minister of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia, has accused Tbilisi of failing to implement an agreement reached last month whereby both sides would release all hostages they currently hold, Caucasus Press reported on 8 March (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 and 8 February 2000). Tsargush said Tbilisi is refusing to hand over two Abkhaz held since 1999. He admitted that Abkhazia will not release two prisoners on whose return Tbilisi is insisting. Tsargush said the men in question are serving jail sentences for war crimes. LF [08] NEW CRIMINAL CASE OPENED AGAINST KAZAKH EX-PREMIERTheRepublican People's Party of Kazakhstan has addressed a statement to Almaty City Prosecutor Yergali Merzadinov protesting the opening on 29 February of a new criminal case against the party's leader, former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, Interfax reported on 7 March. Kazhegeldin is accused of illegal possession of a pistol, which he was presented as a gift while serving as premier. One of his bodyguards subsequently handed over the weapon to the presidential bodyguard service, the statement said. Two of Kazhegeldin's former bodyguards are similarly under investigation for illegal possession of weapons (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 December 1999 and 24 February 2000). Kazhegeldin, who was earlier charged with tax evasion, left Kazakhstan early last year. LF [09] KAZAKHSTAN DETAINS TWO UZBEK ARMY OFFICERSKazakh borderguards apprehended and detained two Uzbek military officers in South Kazakhstan Oblast on 7 March, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported the following day, citing Interfax. The two officers had reportedly crossed the Uzbek-Kazakh border in a truck that also carried Kalashnikov machine guns and ammunition. LF [10] IRAN LOBBIES FOR OIL EXPORT PIPELINE FROM KAZAKHSTANHasanGashgavi, Iran's ambassador to Kazakhstan, told journalists in Almaty on 7 March that his country constitutes the most economical route for a pipeline to export Kazakhstan's oil, Interfax reported. Iranian National Oil Company Director Reza Majedi added that Tehran has proposed to the Kazakh leadership three separate variants of such a pipeline, with throughput capacity ranging from 315,000 barrels to 1 million barrels per day. LF [11] KYRGYZ DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST ELECTION RESTRICTIONSSeveralhundred people picketed a district court in Bishkek on 7 March that was scheduled to begin considering a suit brought by opposition El (Bei Bechara) Party Chairman Daniyar Usenov against the Central Electoral Commission, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. On 4 March, the commission had barred Usenov from contesting the 12 March runoff elections after a rival candidate accused him of falsifying his income declaration (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 March 2000). The demonstrators carried placards saying "Let us vote on our own!" and "The government should not interfere in the elections". The court postponed the hearing of Usenov's appeal until 9 March, according to Interfax. LF [12] MORE RUSSIANS EMIGRATING FROM KYRGYZSTANAlmost 8,000 ethnicRussians in Kyrgyzstan have applied to emigrate to Russia since the beginning of the year, compared with only 200 in the first two months of 1999, Interfax reported on 7 March, quoting a Russian Federal Migration Service official. Most of the 12,000 ethnic Russians who emigrated from Kyrgyzstan in 1999 did so in the last four months of the year, after the incursion and hostage-takings by ethnic Uzbek militants. Most of those wishing to leave say they are driven to do so by unemployment, fear of Islamic militants and the delay in passing legislation raising the official status of the Russian language. Ethnic Russians account for approximately 700,000 of Kyrgyzstan's 4.8 million population. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] SCORES INJURED AS VIOLENCE AGAIN FLARES UP IN MITROVICAAtleast 40 people were injured when a street fight broke out between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the divided Kosova city of Mitrovica on 7 March and gunfire and grenade explosions ensued, AFP reported. Along with 16 French NATO peacekeepers, 20 Serbs and four ethnic Albanians were injured. NATO said four ethnic Albanians were detained after the incident. Peacekeepers began door-to-door searches and lengthened a curfew already in effect in the town. A NATO official said the incident was a local dispute and the main job of the peacekeepers was to keep it local. NATO Supreme-Commander in Europe General Wesley Clark urged the leaders of both communities to remain calm. Clark also met with the leader of the Serb-dominated part of the town, Oliver Ivanovic. PB [14] RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WANTS TOUGHER MEASURES AGAINST'ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS'Igor Ivanov urged on 7 March that stronger measures be used in Kosova to prevent violent ethnic conflicts from occurring, ITAR-TASS reported. Ivanov made his comments after a meeting in Moscow with Carl Bildt, the UN secretary-general's Balkan envoy. Ivanov said it is necessary to increase the number of international police in the province and to be firm with Albanian "extremists and separatists." Ivanov added that "tensions will remain there as long as [Albanians] feel carefree." Bildt was reported to have agreed with Ivanov's call for more security forces in the area. PB [15] UN REGISTERS MORE ETHNIC ALBANIANS LEAVING SERBIAN REGIONThe UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on 7 March that anincreasing number of ethnic Albanians are fleeing the Presevo region of southern Serbia, which borders Kosova, AP reported. UNHCR spokesman Chris Janowski said in Geneva that at least 6,000 ethnic Albanians have fled the area since last June. He said the UNHCR estimates that at least 70,000 still live in that part of Serbia. Recent refugees say they fled to escape fighting between Serbian security forces and ethnic Albanians around the town of Dobrasin (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 March 2000). PB [16] SERBIAN OPPOSITION TO PAY FOR TV STATION 'DEBTTheopposition-run Belgrade city council said on 7 March that it will pay the some $850,000 owed by its Studio-B television station so that it can remain on air, dpa reported. Zarko Korac, the leader of the opposition Social Democratic Union, said the decision was backed by leaders from the democratic opposition. The Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry said the previous day that the fee must be paid in eight days or the station will be taken off the air (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 March 2000). The OSCE said on 7 March that the various actions in recent days against Studio-B seem to be politically motivated and could have been prompted by programs critical of Yugoslav officials. PB [17] MONTENEGRO COMPLAINS THAT MEDICINE SUPPLIES CUT OFFTheSerbian-imposed suspension of trade with Montenegro is preventing the delivery of urgently needed medicine to that republic, AP reported on 7 March. An association of Montenegrin pharmacists said in a protest letter that "the senseless and unscrupulous policies of Slobodan Milosevic's regime...are jeopardizing the health of Montenegrin patients." PB [18] WESTERN ENVOYS CRITICIZE IZETBEGOVIC FOR REMARKSThechairman of the presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegovic, was criticized on 7 March by Western officials for using "highly inflammatory language" at an election rally last week, Reuters reported. Wolfgang Petritsch, Bosnia's high representative, and Robert Barry, the head of the OSCE mission in Bosnia, said in a joint statement that "the liberty to campaign is not the same as a license to slander." Izetbegovic reportedly said at a Sarajevo campaign rally on 3 March that the "real enemies" of his Party for Democratic Action were "Chetniks and Ustashe," the Serbian and Croatian fascist paramilitary groups that were active during World War II. Zivko Radisic, the Serbian member of the Bosnian presidency, said the use of such terms is damaging to the country's peace process. PB [19] ALBRIGHT IN SARAJEVOU.S. Secretary of State MadeleineAlbright arrived in Sarajevo on 8 March and began meetings with opposition leaders, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. U.S. officials said Albright hopes to gain information on the prospects for next month's municipal elections by talking with Zlatko Lagumdzija and Kresimir Zubak. Albright will meet with other Bosnian officials before travelling to Brcko for a ceremony inaugurating the town's new multiethnic governing body. A senior U.S. official travelling with Albright said there may be more negotiations on Brcko because "not everyone is satisfied with the way things worked out." Brcko is the only territorial link between the western and eastern parts of Republika Srpska. PB [20] EU BEGINS EXPANSION OF TIES WITH MACEDONIAThe EUcommissioner for external relations, Chris Patten, began talks in Skopje on 7 March on an agreement expanding relations and trade between Macedonia and the EU, AP reported. Patten told the country's parliament that the talks are a recognition on the part of the EU of the substantial progress Macedonia has achieved and reflect the union's "admiration" for Macedonia's role during the air strikes against Yugoslavia last year. PB [21] ALBANIA SACKS JUDGES IN FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTIONTheAlbanian Justice Ministry said on 7 March that the country's Supreme Justice Council has fired 70 judges for corruption and incompetence in the last three years, dpa reported. The latest dismissals were on 4 March, when three judges were sacked and stripped of their immunity for releasing a rapist without sentencing him. In other news, the Albanian Foreign Ministry denied Greek reports that Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo was involved in the trafficking of Greek visas (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 March 2000). PB [22] ROMANIAN PREMIER ADVISES BABIUC TO RESIGNPrime MinisterMugur Isarescu on 7 March advised Defense Minister Victor Babiuc to resign in order to avoid being dismissed from the cabinet, RFE/RL's Bucharest Bureau reported. The leadership of the ruling coalition will take a decision on his dismissal on 9 March. Also on 7 March, Babiuc told Isarescu that the Foreign Ministry, which is headed by Petre Roman, has inflicted "great harm" on Romanian defense industry interests by canceling the Dutch defense minister's visit to Bucharest, which was scheduled to begin on 8 March, and Babiuc's trip to India from 27 February to 2 March. Babiuc said neither he nor the ministry he heads was consulted about those cancellations. MS [23] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN U.K.Roman on 7 Marchdiscussed with his British counterpart, Robin Cook, Romania's bid to join the EU and NATO and ways of increasing British investments in the country, Romanian Radio and Reuters reported. Roman said Cook repeated his country's support for Romania's integration into those structures. He also told journalists that "the most difficult economic reforms and restructuring are behind us." MS [24] ROMANIAN STATISTICAL OFFICE SAYS LIVING STANDARDSDECLININGPer capita GDP in 1999 was down 3.2 percent on the 1998 level, according to data released on 6 March by the National Commission of Statistics, Mediafax reported. Households spent an average of 4.9 percent less in 1999 than one year earlier. Exports grew by 8.8 percent, while imports dropped by 5.1 percent. Total investments in the economy were down 12.3 percent on 1998 levels. The private sector's share in GDP was 61.5 percent. MS [25] BUCHAREST REGRETS MOLDOVA'S 'HASTE'...The Romanian ForeignMinistry said in a 7 March statement that it "regrets the haste" with which Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi has responded to "statements attributed" to Foreign Minister Petre Roman (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 March 2000). The ministry said Roman has "never made negative remarks" about the situation in Moldova. "On the contrary, in all contacts with his counterparts from the EU he has backed the aspirations of the Moldovan Republic," Mediafax quoted the ministry as saying. MS [26] ...BUT CHISINAU ESCALATES DISPUTEForeign Ministryspokesman Iurie Vition on 7 March said Romania is "indirectly encouraging the infringement of Moldovan legislation," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Vition said Chisinau has learned from reports in the Romanian press that police in eight Romanian counties have been authorized to accept applications for Romanian citizenship from Moldovans. He said that Bucharest has not officially notified Chisinau of this measure and that Moldova has so far received no reply to a letter sent to Romania's Foreign Ministry asking for clarification and "a dialogue" to solve the problem. He also said Foreign Minister Nicolae Tabacaru may postpone a visit to Bucharest planned for 21-22 March if the issue has not been solved by then. MS [27] BULGARIA, SLOVAKIA, TO CO-ORDINATE POSITIONS ON EUACCESSIONVisiting President Rudolf Schuster and his Bulgarian counterpart, Petar Stoyanov, agreed on 7 March that their countries must coordinate positions in their accession talks with the EU and in their bids to join NATO, BTA and TASR reported. Schuster said Slovak firms are interested in participating in infrastructure projects within the Balkan Stability Pact. He also asked Stoyanov for Bulgaria's support in Bratislava's quest to be granted a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. MS [C] END NOTE[28] 'STANDARD' POLITICS IN THE CZECH REPUBLICby Victor GomezFew of the addresses and discussions surrounding the 150th anniversary of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk's birth are likely to attract as much media attention as last week's speech by Czech Chamber of Deputies Chairman Vaclav Klaus. Addressing a conference dedicated to the founder and first president of Czechoslovakia, Klaus blasted what he described as the "Masaryk myth." But, perhaps not surprisingly, his remarks reveal more about his own political style and the current flaws in the Czech political party system than they do about anything else. From the outset, Klaus noted that he is not a "Masarykologist" and that he did not intend to provide any direct assessment of Masaryk or his achievements. Instead, his stated aim was to interpret the effects of the "Masaryk myth" on current Czech society. In any case, it seems clear that the speech had a lot less to do with Masaryk than with its hidden protagonist, current Czech President Vaclav Havel. This became clear when Klaus noted that the "Masaryk ideal" has often been used in the current Czech Republic as a means to "defend a world without ideology, an underestimation of political parties, a verbal, squeaky clean "democratism," an underestimation of the nationalities problem, the effort to impress the foreign public more than the domestic public, [and] an elitist approach." Those formulations are almost identical to Klaus's oft- repeated criticisms of Havel's political style and beliefs. He has consistently accused Havel of misunderstanding the role of political parties in a democracy, of playing to a foreign audience, of moralizing about democracy, and of not respecting the results of free elections. Those accusations became more frequent after Havel played a key role in the formation of a caretaker government under Czech National Bank Governor Josef Tosovsky in 1997. The essential purpose of these and other criticisms is to depict Havel and what Klaus calls the president's "castle bloc" as a nonstandard, unusual, and elitist band that engages in various political intrigues behind the scenes. In contrast, Klaus promotes himself as the defender of "standard" democratic politics based on political parties and conflicting ideologies. For instance, Klaus has often argued that his own decision to form the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in the early 1990s played a key role in establishing a Western-style political party system in the country. But it was Klaus himself who threw a wrench into this shaky new system by entering into a strange pseudo-coalition with Milos Zeman's Czech Social Democratic Party under the so-called "opposition agreement." While he would like to claim that the agreement was somehow forced on him by the irresponsible ambitions of smaller parties or by Havel's intrigues, the fundamental decision to enter into such a deal with Zeman was his own. Klaus has argued that one of the central aims of the agreement was to effect changes to the electoral system that would favor large parties and thereby create a smaller system of political parties. In other words, the agreement is designed to bring about some sort of "standard" system. But the agreement itself has already done extensive damage to the existing political party system, and there is no guarantee that it will succeed in setting up a new one. To launch a political campaign based on "mobilization" against the leftist forces represented by Zeman and the Communist Party--as Klaus did in 1998--and subsequently sign a detailed "opposition agreement" with the Social Democrats places great strains on the party system, blurs the line between the government and the opposition, and disorients voters. What is more, the two parties are moving even closer together. They recently pledged to consult each other on the preparation of certain bills and on several major policy goals. As the two parties become even more immersed in their odd relationship with each other, the political scene in the country is becoming increasingly polarized between an ill- defined "opposition agreement" bloc and an equally ill- defined bloc of parties opposed to the "opposition agreement." As a result, the agreement is threatening to turn the Communist Party into the only truly independent and clearly defined political party in the parliament. Klaus may have had a point when he said in his recent speech that the constant formation and dissolution of coalition governments during Czechoslovakia's First Republic had the effect of diminishing the value of elections. One of the key problems with the party system in the Masaryk era was that power never fully changed hands as a result of a standard election. Coalitions came and went, prime ministers took office and resigned--usually according to deals concluded among the same old set of political parties. Similarly, today's political scene in the Czech Republic has yet to see a complete change of power as a result of an election. Against this background, it is easy to see how the "opposition agreement" fits in with its First Republic predecessors. But, as Klaus insists, it's not really a "standard" coalition in any case. 08-03-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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