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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 98, 00-05-22Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 98, 22 May 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] NEW ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPOINTEDPresident Robert Kocharianissued a series of decrees on 20 May detailing the composition of the new cabinet headed by Andranik Markarian and increasing the number of ministries, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Most ministers from the outgoing cabinet retain their posts, including the ministers of finance and the economy, industry and trade, national security, justice, foreign affairs, and internal affairs. In an unexpected move, Kocharian appointed his close associate, former Interior and National Security Minister Serzh Sarkisian, as defense minister. Both the Ministry of Health and Social Security and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection were split into two separate components. The second-largest parliamentary faction, Kayunutiun, received the portfolios for the environment and for transport and communications. LF [02] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT FACTIONS REJECT EXCHANGE OF TERRITORYMeeting on 19 May, the leaders of parties and factionsrepresented in the Armenian parliament issued a statement rejecting any proposed exchange of territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a violation of Armenia's territorial integrity, Noyan Tapan and RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. It added that any proposed settlement of the Karabakh conflict must be endorsed by the Armenian parliament. The statement noted presidential spokesman Vahe Gabrielian's denial the previous day that Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Heidar Aliev, had reached any such agreement (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 2000). LF [03] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION CALLS FOR FREE ELECTIONSBetween10,000 and 20,000 people marched through central Baku on 20 May to demand amendments to the existing election legislation to ensure that the November elections to the legislature are truly democratic, Turan and Reuters reported. Some also chanted "Karabakh!" and "Resignation!" Hundreds of armed police lined the route taken by the demonstrators but did not intervene. Leaders of several opposition parties addressed a subsequent meeting, whose participants adopted 14 demands, including that parliament debate the election law drafted by the opposition, that the Azerbaijani leadership comply with its human-rights pledges to the Council of Europe, and that police refrain from violence against opposition representatives and release those persons imprisoned for participating in the unsanctioned opposition demonstration in Baku on 29 April. LF [04] NEW AZERBAIJANI CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION CHAIRMANAPPOINTEDCentral Electoral Commission department head Mazakhir Magomed ogly Panakhov has been named chairman of the commission, replacing Djafar Veliev, who was appointed chairman of Azerbaijan's Economic Court, ITAR-TASS and Turan reported on 19 May. Panakhov, who is a physicist, formerly edited "Azerbaijan International Magazine." LF [05] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA DENY HOSTING ISLAMIC ORGANIZATIONThehead of the Azerbaijani cabinet's department for religious affairs, Mustafa Ibragimov, told ITAR-TASS on 19 May that the Ministry of Justice closed down the Azerbaijan office of the Saudi Arabia-based international Islamic organization Al- Haramein two months earlier on the grounds that its activities did not correspond to its charter. The office was opened in early 1999, A second Justice Ministry official said that some of the organization's activities posed a threat to Azerbaijan's statehood. On 20 May, the Georgian National Security Ministry denied that Al-Haramein ever had a representative office in Georgia, according to ITAR-TASS. LF [06] SEVEN KILLED IN TWO GEORGIAN SHOOTINGSFive people diedearly on 20 May when unidentified attackers opened fire on their car near Tskhinvali, the capital of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, Reuters and Caucasus Press reported. The previous day, two Abkhaz police officers were killed and three wounded in an attack on their post in Abkhazia's Gali Raion, Caucasus Press reported. LF [07] KAZAKHSTAN SELLS PART OF TENGIZCHEVROIL STAKEEnding monthsof speculation and contradictory statements, the Kazakh government last week finally sold 20 percent of its 25 percent stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture to Chevron for $450 million, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on 18 May. Chevron now has a 50 percent stake in Tengizchevroil. The Kazakh government and the U.S. oil company had discussed the sale last fall but failed to agree on terms (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 December 1999). Kazakh government officials have been debating since last August the advisability of selling part or all of Astana's share in the company, which is developing oil fields in eastern Kazakhstan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 September 1999 and 16 March 2000). LF [08] SUSPECTS IN MURDER OF KAZAKH ARMS EXPORTER APPREHENDEDPolice last week arrested two men in connection with themurder last month in Almaty of Talgat Ibraev, the head of Kazakhstan's state-owned arms export company, RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported on 18 May (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 April 2000). The suspects are Ibraev's driver and his deputy's driver. LF [09] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION ENUMERATES DEMANDSKyrgyz oppositionrepresentatives released in Bishkek on 19 May a list of demands they intend to present to the government during the roundtable discussion scheduled for early June, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The opposition is demanding the release of and a fair trial for detained opposition leaders Feliks Kulov and Emil Aliev, a halt to the persecution of opposition leaders Jypar Jeksheev and Daniyar Usenov,an end to harassment of the independent media and NGOs, an objective appraisal of the parliamentary elections held in February- March, and registration of the Guild of Prisoners of Conscience, formed last month (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 April 2000). On 18 May, Russian politicians including State Duma deputies Sergei Kirienko and Irina Khakamada, wrote to Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev expressing their concern at Kyrgyzstan's retreat from democracy and appealing to Akaev to guarantee human rights. They, too, called for Kulov's release and a halt to pressure on the media. LF [10] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT SEEKS TO HALT RUSSIAN EMIGRATIONAkaevissued a special decree on 20 May outlining measures to improve the situation of Kyrgyzstan's dwindling ethnic Russian minority in order to stem the accelerating emigration of competent personnel, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. "Vremya-MN" reported last month that 2,200 Russian families left Kyrgyzstan in January and 4,200 in February, compared with last year's average of 500-600 families a month. LF [11] TAJIK TV AND RADIO HEAD MURDEREDIn Dushanbe late on 20 May,Tajik State TV and Radio Chairman Saifullo Rakhimov was shot dead by six unidentified attackers in camouflage uniforms, who managed to escape. President Imomali Rakhmonov condemned the shooting as "a terrorist act," Reuters reported. LF [12] PUTIN VISITS TURKMENISTANRussian President Vladimir Putinpaid a one-day visit to Ashgabat on 19 May, together with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Defense Minister Igor Sergeev, and Gazprom head Rem Vyakhirev. Before their talks, Putin and Turkmen President Sapamurat Niyazov visited a bazaar and toured local construction projects. Putin stressed Moscow's support for Turkmenistan's neutrality and termed Turkmenistan a "leading partner." He said the development of "large-scale cooperation" between the two countries would benefit Central Asia as a whole. Putin also told journalists that Russia has agreed to purchase an additional 10 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas annually at a price still to be negotiated. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] THACI RE-ELECTED PARTY LEADER IN KOSOVAThe Party for theDemocratic Progress of Kosova began a three-day congress in Prishtina on 20 May. Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN's civilian mission in the province, called the gathering a "vivid sign of a democratic culture," Reuters reported. He urged the delegates to promote "open debate...without intimidation of any kind" in Kosova. This is the first congress of any party in the province since the 1999 war. On 21 May, the delegates re-elected the former Kosova Liberation Army's (UCK) Hashim Thaci as chairman and changed the party's name to Democratic Party of Kosova (PDK). The PDK regards itself as the political home of former UCK fighters, but many of them have organized or joined numerous locally-based smaller parties and coalitions in various parts of the province. PM [14] KOSOVA SERBS, ROMA END HUNGER STRIKESome 41 non-Albanianprisoners ended a hunger strike in Mitrovica on 21 May. They had launched the protest on 12 April to demand that they stand trial soon before foreign judges. Kouchner said that he has agreed to their demand. AP reported that it is unclear where he will find the judges. PM [15] ARTEMIJE LINKS KOSOVA ELECTIONS TO REFUGEE RETURNSSerbianOrthodox Archbishop Artemije, who is a moderate leader of Kosova's Serbs and is opposed to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, said in Brussels on 19 May that it will be too early to hold elections in Kosova this fall unless Serbian and other non-Albanian refugees are able return to their homes before then. He added that his Serbian National Council will continue to work with Kouchner's advisory council only if the refugees can come home and live in security, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [16] SERBIAN OPPOSITION WANTS DETAINEES FREEDSome of Serbia'skey opposition leaders told several thousand protesters in Belgrade on 21 May that the authorities must not continue to detain opposition supporters without charging them (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 2000). In recent days, police have detained several dozen opposition activists, including one man whose offense was to wear an opposition T-shirt in public, AP reported. Most detainees were freed after questioning. Under current legislation, police can detain people for 72 hours without filing charges. The authorities may soon implement a new law that would "create an informal state of emergency," "The New York Times" reported on 22 May. Under the new law, the police could detain people "on grounds of national security" for up to 60 days without filing charges. Police would be entitled to conduct searches without warrants and confiscate any firearms, including legally registered ones. PM [17] HAVE SERBIAN POLICE INTIMIDATED PUBLIC?Milosevic pledged inBelgrade on 19 May to defend Serbia against all "enemies." General Branko Djuric, who heads the Belgrade police, told the opposition-led city government that the police will intervene "every time that public order and peace are threatened," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Some observers have suggested that the tough police response to protests has discouraged many people from taking part in the demonstrations, where attendance has been generally limited to a few thousand. Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic told AP on 21 May that the opposition will win only when large numbers of people take to the streets. The "Financial Times" suggested on 22 May that many Serbs do not join the protests because they are apathetic, poorly informed, or disillusioned with politics. PM [18] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS SEEKING HELP FROM 'BIG, DEMOCRATICCOUNTRY'?Nationalist opposition leader Vuk Draskovic said on 21 May that the opposition will "ask from that big, democratic country [Russia] to do everything to help stop the terror in Serbia...and help our efforts to have free and fair elections here," AP reported. Djindjic said that he and two other unnamed opposition leaders will soon travel to Moscow to meet with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and other top officials to "clarify certain things concerning the Russian government's views toward the undemocratic authorities in Serbia." The private news agency Beta reported from Moscow, however, that the Foreign Ministry denied having "any contacts whatsoever" with Draskovic. PM [19] ALBRIGHT CALLS ON SERBIAN OFFICIALS TO 'CHOOSE'U.S.Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Washington on 19 May that "officials in Serbia face a choice. They can stand for the freedom and the rights of all Serbs, or they can prolong Milosevic's rule by participating in the oppression," AP reported. She warned that in particular judges, police, prosecutors, and leaders of the security forces will have to "face the consequences" if they remain loyal to the regime. Speaking to a joint press conference with Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, she praised the "courageous men and women who are demanding their rights in the cities and towns across Serbia." PM [20] BELGRADE DECRIES SANCTIONS--AND MONTENEGRO'S EXCLUSION FROMTHEMThe Yugoslav Foreign Ministry said in a letter to the EU in Brussels on 21 May that EU sanctions constitute "continuing pressure aimed at destabilizing Yugoslavia," Tanjug reported. The sanctions have "also inflicted great losses on Yugoslavia's neighbors." Belgrade "demands that the EU immediately lift all sanctions," the message stressed. The text added, however, that the exclusion of Montenegro from the sanctions "is a direct attack on the constitutional system of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the unity of the people." PM [21] SERBIAN COURT SENTENCES 143 KOSOVARSA court in Nis hassentenced some 143 ethnic Albanians from the Gjakova area of Kosova to prison terms of up to 13 years for "terrorism." All defendants allegedly took part in attacks on Serbian forces in 1999. It was the biggest mass trial ever held in Serbia, AP reported on 22 May. PM [22] MONTENEGRO 'WON'T WAIT'Montenegrin Foreign Minister BrankoLukovac said in Ancona, Italy, on 20 May that his country "won't wait forever" and will have to "go it alone" if the Serbian opposition does not oust Milosevic. "We can't afford to lose another decade, not even a year," Reuters reported. He was attending a meeting on Adriatic cooperation that included foreign ministers and other top officials from Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Greece, and Albania. Lukovac attended as an observer. The Italian and Croatian defense ministers signed an agreement on military cooperation. PM [23] BUSY WEEKEND IN CROATIAN POLITICSThe lower house of theparliament on 19 May failed for the third time to pass the government's bill on reconstruction, which will make funds available to Serbian refugees. The Croatian Democratic Community, Croatian Democratic Center, and Croatian Party of [Historic] Rights opposed the measure on the grounds that it will "give the [Serbian] aggressors rights equal to those of the [Croatian] victims," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The next day, the Social Liberals re-elected Drazen Budisa as their leader. He denied that the party is moving to the right and reaffirmed its commitment to the coalition with the Social Democrats. Elsewhere, the Peasants' Party re- elected Zlatko Tomac as its head. Tomac had asked for a vote of confidence following the party's poor performance in the recent Zagreb municipal vote. PM [24] ROMANIAN POLITICIANS CALL ON ILIESCU TO QUIT PRESIDENTIALRACEJustice Minister Valeriu Stoica on 20 May said that both the "Adrian Costea affair" and the implication of former President Ion Iliescu in the "hot-line" link to Moscow are damaging Romania's international credibility. "The most reasonable solution," he concluded, would be for Iliescu to withdraw from the 2000 presidential race, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Stoica said that the money-laundering affair surrounding Costea clearly indicates that the 1996 presidential campaign was financed illegally, and he called on the parliament to adopt stricter legislation on the funding of political parties. Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania Chairman Bela Marko also called on Iliescu to withdraw from the race. But Party of Social Democracy in Romania Executive Vice Chairman Adrian Nastase said Iliescu remains the party's candidate. Nastase was questioned as a witness on 19 May by French investigators. MS [25] ROMANIA ASKS INTERPOL TO LOCATE CONVICTED GENERALTheRomanian authorities on 19 May asked Interpol to help locate General Victor Stanculescu, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the attempt to quash the December 1989 uprising in Timisoara, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Also on 19 May, General Mihai Chitac, who received the same prison term as Stanculescu, was indicted for the role he played as interior minister in the June 1990 miners' rampage in Bucharest. The Prosecutor-General's Office accuses Chitac of having ordered the opening of fire on demonstrators who were also attacked by the miners. Four people died as a result, and several hundred were injured during the clashes. MS [26] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REFUSES TO RATIFY TREATY WITH UKRAINELawmakers on 19 May refused to ratify the basic treaty withUkraine and indefinitely suspended the debate on that accord, Romanian Radio reported. Moldova's legislators debated the treaty in closed session, but Romanian radio said the deputies objected to the provision on a swap of small pieces of territory. MS [27] MOLDOVAN TRANSDNIESTER PRISONER OPPOSED TO BASIC TREATY WITHROMANIAIlie Ilascu, who has been sentenced to death by the separatist authorities and is in prison in Tiraspol, has urged Romanian President Emil Constantinescu to refuse to promulgate the basic Romanian-Moldovan treaty, Mediafax reported on 19 May. In a letter to Constantinescu, Ilascu said the treaty is an "enormous mistake" that will result in Romania's abandoning "a part of her people." He added that he is not surprised by the pro-treaty position of the leadership in Chisinau, whose views he called "pro-Russian and pro- Communist." Ilascu also accused the Moldovan leadership of failing to solve the conflict with the Transdniester because it knows it "can be blackmailed by its KGB files, which are in Tiraspol." MS [28] CORRUPTION ENDEMIC TO BULGARIA'S PAST OR PRESENT?Prosecutor-General Nikola Filichev on 19 May said 24 trials related to the country's economic crash of 1996-1997 will begin by mid- July, AP reported. Individuals close to the Socialist Party are suspected of having channeled public money to private accounts abroad and causing the collapse of 15 banks through illegal borrowing and defaults on debts. On 20 May, former Interior Minister Bogomil Bonev said in an interview published in "24 Chasa" that the ruling Union of Democratic Forces is guilty of using undeclared funding of doubtful origin. Bonev said every privatization deal involves at least one deputy from the union acting as intermediary. And he added that individuals with links to the ruling coalition have been involved in smuggling gold and weapons. MS [29] BULGARIAN PREMIER VOWS TO PUSH REFORMS, CUT UNEMPLOYMENTIvan Kostov on 21 May said anyone in his government who comesunder a "well-based suspicion" of being corrupt will be fired even before evidence is collected on his or her deeds, AP and Reuters reported. Kostov pledged to continue the reform process, despite a sharp drop in his cabinet's popularity due to resentment over the social costs of restructuring. He said coping with unemployment will be the main concern of his government but expressed confidence that "the greatest hardships are past us." He said his government intends to privatize the BTC telecom monopoly as well as Bulgaria's largest bank, Bulbank, in line with pledges it made to the IMF, the World Bank, and other international lenders. MS [C] END NOTE[30] A BIG BANG OUTSIDE A CLOSELY GUARDED DOORBy Paul GobleSeveral East European countries are calling on NATO to admit all nine applicant states in 2002, an appeal that reflects their concerns about developments in Moscow and their fears that the alliance may put off any further expansion well into the future. Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas has labeled this the "big bang" approach, as he explained at a meeting of applicant states in Vilnius late last week. According to Usackas, this idea is designed to reenergize discussions about European security by highlighting the anxieties of the countries located between NATO and the Russian Federation. After admitting Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in 1999, the alliance pledged that the door to alliance membership would remain open to all other countries interested in joining. But as Munich's "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" pointed out on 17 May , this door has turned out to be "a very closely guarded" one. On the one hand, NATO's current members are experiencing some difficulties in fully integrating the three newest members and also in defining what role the alliance should play relative to other defensive organizations such as the West European Union and the EU security initiative. Moreover, several NATO countries, including the U.S., are now involved with elections or recent changes in government that have in effect stalled foreign policy initiatives, such as NATO expansion. On the other hand, many NATO countries appear reluctant to move the borders of the alliance further east out of concern over a Russian backlash. Moscow has made it very clear that it would view any further expansion of the alliance as a hostile act, and as a result, the alliance has devoted a great deal of work to restoring ties with Russia. Last week, for example, the Russia-NATO Joint Permanent Council met in Brussels at the ambassadorial level. That meeting set the stage for Russian participation at the ministerial level in the NATO council meeting in Florence on 24 May--the first time since NATO's Kosova operation that the Russian government will have been represented at that level. The nine countries which seek to join the alliance- -Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, and Albania--have drawn various conclusions from this. Some have expressed doubt that NATO will ever take in any new members. Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar, for example, said recently that "the big question is less a matter of who will be admitted in the next NATO expansion than whether there will be another round of expansion at all." Others have counted on being among the chosen few, an approach that has sometimes put these countries at odds with one another. Slovakia, for example, is counting on Hungarian backing. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pointedly said that "without Slovakia, there won't be a second expansion round." Usackas's call for a "big bang" approach to expansion is clearly intended to overcome both these competing assessments and what many of these countries see as a certain Western complacency about developments in Russia. Many of these countries are extremely worried by the newly assertive Russian foreign policy of President Vladimir Putin and by the West's obvious desire to find a common language with the new Russian leader. Some of them fear that in the absence of NATO expansion anytime soon, they will fall into a dangerous gray area of insecurity where their politics will be about national survival rather than about domestic development. And many are concerned that the inclusion of some, rather, than all will provoke Russia to put new pressure on those not taken in. These fears are not new, but the call from Vilnius suggests they are growing. That may not prompt the alliance to move more quickly on some or all of the applicant states. But the introduction of the term "big bang" may have the effect of leading to a renewed discussion of just how open the door to NATO membership really is. 22-05-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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