RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 133, 00-07-13

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 133, 13 July 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN CHURCH IN ST. PETERSBURG RE-CONSECRATED

[02] TURKISH PRESIDENT WRAPS UP VISIT TO AZERBAIJAN

[03] KARABAKH LIBERATION ORGANIZATION ACCUSES AZERBAIJANI JUSTICE

[04] GEORGIAN PROSECUTOR-GENERAL REJECTS CORRUPTION FINDINGS

[05] GEORGIAN CUSTOMS OFFICERS INTERCEPT RADIO-ACTIVE CARGO

[06] GEORGIAN REBEL COLONEL'S COMRADES IN ARMS DETAINED, CHARGED

[07] KAZAKH INTERIOR MINISTER DENIES RUSSIAN 'SEPARATISTS'

[08] COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCES ON FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER'S

[09] U.S. DIPLOMAT VISITS KYRGYZSTAN

[10] TAJIKISTAN REGISTERS RISE IN FOREIGN TRADE

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] G-8 MINISTERS SLAM MILOSEVIC'S CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

[12] DJUKANOVIC TO RUN FOR YUGOSLAV PRESIDENCY?

[13] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SACKS 16 JUDGES

[14] SERBIAN JOURNALIST TO GO ON TRIAL

[15] DID YUGOSLAV ARMY PLAN MONTENEGRIN COUP?

[16] KARADJORDJEVIC PRINCE DIES

[17] SERBIAN PRIEST WOUNDED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING

[18] MS. KARADZIC TAKES STOCK

[19] RACAN APPEALS FOR CALM...

[20] ...AS DOES MESIC

[21] NEW CROATIAN BANK CHIEF NAMED

[22] QUESTIONS RAISED OVER ROMANIAN LIBERAL-APR ALLIANCE...

[23] ...WHILE RIGHTIST ALLIANCE MAKES PROGRESS

[24] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT 'NOT RUSHING' TO PROMULGATE PARLIAMENTARY

[25] BULGARIA, GEORGIA TO COOPERATE IN MILITARY AFFAIRS

[C] END NOTE

[26] POWERLESS IN KYRGYZSTAN

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN CHURCH IN ST. PETERSBURG RE-CONSECRATED

Garegin II, the patriarch of All Armenians, presided over the

re-opening and re-consecration of St. Catherine's Armenian

Church in St. Petersburg on 11 and 12 July, RFE/RL's Armenian

Service reported. The church was closed after the 1917

October Revolution. The consecration of the altar and the

main church took place on 11 and 12 July during two separate

ceremonies in which Patriarch of All Russia and Moscow

Aleksii II also participated. St. Petersburg Mayor Vladimir

Yakovlev and Armenian clergy from the diaspora also attended

the ceremonies. Garegin II said the re-opening of the church

will further strengthen the friendship between Russia and

Armenia. LF

[02] TURKISH PRESIDENT WRAPS UP VISIT TO AZERBAIJAN

the Azerbaijani parliament on 12 July, Turkish President

Ahmet Necdet Sezer said that Turkey will not endorse any

plans for resolving the Karabakh conflict that are

unacceptable to the people of Azerbaijan, AP reported. He

also expressed interest in increasing Turkish investments in

Azerbaijan providing the country's legislation is amended to

facilitate such investment. Sezer also told parliamentary

speaker Murtuz Alesqerov that while Turkey is prepared to

import Azerbaijani gas from the Shah-Deniz Caspian deposit,

it also intends to abide by an earlier agreement to purchase

Turkmen gas to be exported via the planned Trans-Caspian

pipeline. LF

[03] KARABAKH LIBERATION ORGANIZATION ACCUSES AZERBAIJANI JUSTICE

The Karabakh Liberation Organization

founded early this year issued a statement on 11 July saying

that the Justice Ministry's refusal to register the movement

is a betrayal of Azerbaijan's national interests, "525

gazeti" reported. The Ministry had ruled that the

organization's call for a new war to restore Azerbaijani

jurisdiction over Nagorno-Karabakh violates both Article 8 of

the Azerbaijani Constitution, which defines the defense of

the country's territorial integrity as the prerogative of the

president, and the law on political parties, which bars those

groups from propagating military activities. The

organization's leader, Akif Nagiev, estimated membership in

his organization in March at more than 10,000. LF

[04] GEORGIAN PROSECUTOR-GENERAL REJECTS CORRUPTION FINDINGS

proceedings against several senior officials whom the Control

Chamber last week identified as responsible for

misappropriations within the energy sector that led to

chronic electricity shortages, Caucasus Press reported.

Babilashvili said the findings of the chamber do not

constitute adequate grounds for legal action. On 13 July,

Mikhail Saakashvili, the parliamentary faction leader of the

majority Union of Citizens of Georgia, slammed Babilashvili's

ruling, which he described as proof that "the prosecutor's

office is part of the corrupt system we have declared war

on." LF

[05] GEORGIAN CUSTOMS OFFICERS INTERCEPT RADIO-ACTIVE CARGO

active caesium-137 on board a Romanian vessel chartered by

Turkish Petroleum when the ship docked at Poti, Caucasus

Press reported on 12 July. The ship's crew had no

documentation for that cargo. President Eduard Shevardnadze

is to issue a special decree obliging the owner of the cargo

to remove it from Georgian territory. Caesium-137 causes

irreparable damage to the human immune system. LF

[06] GEORGIAN REBEL COLONEL'S COMRADES IN ARMS DETAINED, CHARGED

by Georgian security officials on 9 July, have been detained

for three months and will be charged with illegal possession

of weapons, Caucasus Press reported on 12 July (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 10 July 2000). The three men were traveling with

Eilava when their car was intercepted by Georgian road police

near Zestafoni on 9 July. LF

[07] KAZAKH INTERIOR MINISTER DENIES RUSSIAN 'SEPARATISTS'

Kazakhstan Interior Ministry spokesman Argyn Ospanov

told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service on 12 July that there is no

truth to a Russian press report that two of the men convicted

last month by a court in East Kazakhstan Oblast on charges of

separatism have escaped from a labor camp in Arqalyk, in

northern Kazakhstan. "Nezavisimaya gazeta" had reported on 12

July that the two had escaped. Thirteen people received

prison sentences ranging from four to 18 years on charges of

plotting to overthrow the authorities in East Kazakhstan

Oblast and declare the region a Russian Altai republic (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 9 June 2000). Ospanov said that the East

Kazakhstan Oblast Court has reduced by up to three years the

sentences handed down by the Oskemen City Court to 10 of the

accused. LF

[08] COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCES ON FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER'S

After reviewing the court case against two former

bodyguards of former Kazakh Prime Minister Akezhan

Kazhegeldin, the Almaty City Court decided on 11 July not to

revise the jail sentences of three-and-a-half years handed

down to them in April for illegal weapons possession,

RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26

April 2000). Lawyers for the two men, who are members of the

Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan which Kazehgeldin

heads, said they will appeal the sentences before

Kazakhstan's Supreme Court. LF

[09] U.S. DIPLOMAT VISITS KYRGYZSTAN

Sestanovich, special adviser on CIS affairs to the U.S.

secretary of state, held talks in Bishkek on 12 July with

Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akaev on bilateral relations and

regional security, including the security of Kyrgyzstan's

borders, Interfax reported. Sestanovich reportedly said that

Washington considers it necessary to send U.S. observers to

monitor the 29 October Kyrgyz presidential election. LF

[10] TAJIKISTAN REGISTERS RISE IN FOREIGN TRADE

foreign trade turnover for the first six months of 2000

amounted to $728.7 million, which is an increase of 17

percent or $103.2 million over the corresponding period in

1999, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 12 July. Exports for the

first half of this year totaled $393.8 million, which is 31

percent more than in the first half of 1999. Aluminum

accounted for more than half of all exports. Also on 12 July,

Interfax quoted the head of investment policy at Tajikistan's

Ministry of Economics and Foreign Economic Relations, Aleksei

Kozlov, as predicting that foreign investment in Tajikistan

will double over the period 2001-2005 to reach $170 million.

LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] G-8 MINISTERS SLAM MILOSEVIC'S CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

foreign ministers of the U.S., U.K., Germany, Russia, France,

Japan, Italy, and Canada issued a statement in Miyazaki,

Japan, on 13 July ahead of the G-8 summit on Okinawa from 21-

23 July. The ministers expressed strong concern "about the

motivation for and the possible consequences of the revision

of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia constitution," Reuters

reported (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report, 11 July 2000). At the

insistence of Russia's Igor Ivanov, who worked to tone down

the language of an original Western draft, the statement did

not mention Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic by name.

Germany's Joschka Fischer and France's Hubert Vedrine

stressed that Ivanov and his delegation sought to play a

constructive role and show that Russia wants to help prevent

future Balkan conflicts. Fischer argued that the statement is

"exclusively aimed at Milosevic. Whether you name him or not

makes no difference." Ivanov, however, said that the problem

in the Balkans "is not something that can be reduced to one

question or one person." PM

[12] DJUKANOVIC TO RUN FOR YUGOSLAV PRESIDENCY?

Change leader Milan Protic said in Belgrade on 12 July that

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic would be the "best

candidate" to oppose Milosevic in eventual direct elections

for the Yugoslav presidency, "Danas" reported. The Social

Democrats' Vuk Obradovic also proposed that the opposition

select Djukanovic as its joint candidate, "Vesti" added. A

spokesman for Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement said

that the question of a Djukanovic candidacy will be on the

agenda when Serbian opposition and Montenegrin leaders meet

in Sveti Stefan on 14 July. PM

[13] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SACKS 16 JUDGES

12 July to fire 14 pro-opposition judges in Belgrade and two

in Pozarevac, Reuters reported. Dragan Veselinov, who is a

deputy for the Vojvodina-Sandzak coalition, said that the

move is aimed at "turning judges into slaves, whose verdicts

will now suit the regime." PM

[14] SERBIAN JOURNALIST TO GO ON TRIAL

court in Nis said on 12 July that journalist Miroslav

Filipovic will go on trial on 25 July for "spreading false

news reports" and "espionage" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 June

2000). PM

[15] DID YUGOSLAV ARMY PLAN MONTENEGRIN COUP?

in Montenegro went on a high state of alert during the recent

emergency session of the Montenegrin parliament and were

prepared to move against the Montenegrin authorities if they

had called for an immediate referendum on independence,

Montenafax news agency reported on 12 July (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 10 July 2000). The independent news agency cited

unnamed "important military circles" in Podgorica as its

source. There has been no independent confirmation of the

report. PM

[16] KARADJORDJEVIC PRINCE DIES

died in Oplenac on 12 July after what his family described in

a press release as a long and serious illness. He was the

second son of King Aleksandar of Yugoslavia and the brother

of King Petar II, who was Yugoslavia's last monarch. Tomislav

was born in Yugoslavia in 1928 but spent most of his life in

England, moving back to Serbia in 1991. Prince Aleksandar

Karadjordjevic, who is Tomislav's nephew and the claimant to

the throne, plans to attend his uncle's funeral on 16 July,

AP reported. Aleksandar holds a British passport and will

require a Yugoslav visa from Milosevic's government to enter

Serbia. PM

[17] SERBIAN PRIEST WOUNDED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING

gunmen shot and wounded Father Dragan Kojic and two seminary

students near Kllokot on 12 July. U.S. peacekeepers found the

three men by the side of a road and took them to Camp

Bondsteel. They are in stable condition pending surgery,

Reuters reported. Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN's

civilian administration, said: "I am not only shocked but

deeply depressed that today criminals choose religious men as

their targets. It is totally unacceptable that this kind of

revenge killing substitute itself for justice," he added. PM

[18] MS. KARADZIC TAKES STOCK

of indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic, attended a meeting

in Pale on 12 July to mark the 10th anniversary of her

husband's founding of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS). She

stressed that his "work was not in vain because [Bosnian]

Serbs have gotten their state," also known as the Republika

Srpska, AP reported. "Serbs now live in relative peace,

without fear that a great tragedy will happen to them again,"

she added. The SDS, she argued, "never had any war in its

program...or any idea about ethnic enmity." Referring to her

husband's indictment for war crimes, she argued that

"everybody knows the attitude of the international community

toward our party and my husband. It was not something that

depended on us, but on the needs and aims of the

international community regarding this region." She added

that the SDS was "shaken" by SFOR troops' arrest of former

party leader Momcilo Krajisnik in April. PM

[19] RACAN APPEALS FOR CALM...

Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan criticized speculation in

the media and elsewhere on possible cabinet changes in the

fall (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 July 2000). He stressed that

such reports are not helpful. He added that he will be glad

to discuss the composition of the government with his

coalition partner Drazen Budisa when Budisa returns to

Zagreb, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The prime

minister argued that he does not want a clash with Budisa.

Racan stressed, however, that his Social Democrats will not

yield to what he called pressure from its smaller coalition

partners, "Jutarnji list" reported. PM

[20] ...AS DOES MESIC

unnamed sources close to President Stipe Mesic say that he is

concerned that the dissent within the governing coalition may

damage Croatia's image abroad. Mesic reportedly believes that

such publicity is particularly unhelpful at a time when

Croatia has been steadily improving its reputation abroad and

when the economically important tourist season is in full

swing. Mesic hopes that the tensions can be put aside soon

and without recourse to early elections, the Zagreb daily

added. His aides say that he supports Racan and the prime

minister's efforts aimed at promoting political stability. PM

[21] NEW CROATIAN BANK CHIEF NAMED

parliament on 12 July approved the nomination of Zeljko

Rohatinski as the governor of the Croatian National Bank,

RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

[22] QUESTIONS RAISED OVER ROMANIAN LIBERAL-APR ALLIANCE...

day between the leaderships of the National Liberal Party

(PNL)-Alliance for Romania (APR) as "a step backward." It

said the two sides decided to ask their respective Standing

Bureaus to reconsider whether an alliance or merger is

feasible. The PNL National Conference on 15 July will take a

final decision on the matter. Both Radio Bucharest and

Mediafax reported that the APR continues to insist on the

candidacy of its leader, Teodor Melescanu, and the PNL on

that of former Premier Theodor Stolojan. But the news agency

said they have agreed to run on a joint list and that the APR

will later be "absorbed" by the PNL. Stolojan did not

participate in the meeting but said earlier on 12 July that

he is willing to join the PNL if a merger take place. He

added that he does not insist on being the alliance's

presidential candidate. MS

[23] ...WHILE RIGHTIST ALLIANCE MAKES PROGRESS

Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) leader Ion Diaconescu and

the two co-chairmen of the Union of Rightist Forces, Adrian

Iorgulescu and Varujan Vosganian, signed a joint declaration

on 12 July confirming the intention of their parties to set

up an alliance by 1 August, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau

reported. They said they still hope the PNL will join the

alliance and that former Premier Victor Ciorbea's National

Christian Democratic Alliance and other "civic formations"

will follow suit. They also agreed to back President Emil

Constantinescu's candidacy for a second term and the

candidate for premier that Constantinescu proposes. That

candidate is incumbent Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu, with

whom the PNTCD leadership met again on 12 July, assuring him

that it backs his reform program. MS

[24] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT 'NOT RUSHING' TO PROMULGATE PARLIAMENTARY

Petru Lucinschi on 12 July told journalists that

the text of the law passed by the parliament on changing the

semi-presidential system into a parliamentary one has reached

him "only now" and that he will "not rush" into deciding

whether to promulgate the law or veto it. He has two weeks to

make that decision. Lucinschi pointed to the 10 July ruling

by the Constitutional Court that his initiative for a

legislative amendment enlarging the presidential powers is in

line with the basic law's provisions. Lucinschi hinted that

he may ask the parliament to approve a referendum on both his

initiative and the law approved by the legislature.

Presidential Counselor Mihai Petrache said Lucinschi will

"almost certainly" veto the law, adding that Moldova is

facing "a constitutional clash." MS

[25] BULGARIA, GEORGIA TO COOPERATE IN MILITARY AFFAIRS

Minister Boiko Noev on 11 July told his visiting Georgian

counterpart, David Tevzadze, that he will propose to the

government that it supply Georgia with military equipment

that has been decommissioned, BTA reported. Noev told

journalists that he has in mind two landing craft for the

Georgian navy. He also said that "it is in Bulgaria's

interest that Georgia develop a strong and stable statehood

under the leadership of President [Eduard] Shevardnadze." The

two armies' deputy chiefs of staff signed an agreement on

cooperation between their respective Defense Ministries in

2000. Among other things, the agreement stipulates that

Georgian forces will participate in military exercises in

Bulgaria held within the framework of the Partnership for

Peace program. MS

[C] END NOTE

[26] POWERLESS IN KYRGYZSTAN

Kyrgyzstan is increasingly turning to authoritarian

rule, but beneath its tough exterior, the country's

government appears extremely fragile. Recent parliamentary

elections, the OSCE concluded, were marred by a high degree

of interference by state officials in the electoral process.

And this abuse of power, the U.S. State Department notes,

calls into question Kyrgyzstan's international commitments to

democracy and respect for the rule of law. But as disturbing

as this authoritarianism is, field research in the country's

regions reveals something even more alarmingónamely, how

dangerously weak and ephemeral President Askar Akaev's

authoritarian rule may prove to be.

By giving his prosecutor-general and central election

commission free rein to intimidate, de-register, and imprison

independent-minded candidates, President Akaev undermined the

Kyrgyz parliament both as an alternative branch of power and

as a credible institution of representative rule. Moreover,

Akaev has not demonstrated any ability to effect his desired

alternative to representative democracy: coherent,

centralized power. On the contrary, rudderless and sitting

atop an ethnically and regionally divided society, Akaev's

presidential administration has become the sick man of

Central Asia.

Governments, even authoritarian ones, require

legitimacy. By undermining the parliamentary elections,

Akaev's government has lost whatever legitimacy it once had.

Of course, legitimacy need not always be based on principles

of representative democracy. Islam Karimov's regime in

Uzbekistan, for example, employs a mix of militarism,

nationalism, and state socialism to maintain centralized and

often brutal power. Nursultan Nazarbaev's government in

Kazakhstan, presiding over a rich natural resource base and

the largest per capita foreign investment in the CIS, points

to economic stability and a vision of spreading wealth as

justification for its sometimes heavy-handed rule.

Akaev, however, can rely on neither Kazakhstan's natural

resources nor Uzbekistan's ethnic homogeneity. And as recent

protests in Bishkek and western Talas show, he can bully but

not silence the increasingly restless population. Akaev

appears not to understand that his power, propped up in the

past decade by Western aid, stemmed from his image as Central

Asia's only reformer. As that image dissolves, Akaev's

government risks becoming a facade with few constructive

links to society.

The cracks in Akaev's chain of command are already

visible. Terrified that his field officers may seek to defend

local interests rather than those of the top leadership,

Akaev has attempted to maintain compliance through the

constant rotation of oblast governors and raion akims. Over

the past two years, turnover of appointed village and town

administrative heads has averaged 80 percent, reaching 132

percent and 116 percent in Chui and Naryn Oblasts,

respectively.

Frequent administrative reshuffling is not unique to

Kyrgyzstan. What is unusual in the Kyrgyz case, however, is

the state administration's inability to deliver. At best, the

Kyrgyz parade of cadres is a local joke. Responding to the

author's questions as to the whereabouts of the frequently

absent state administrator to Karakol, one assistant asked

"who knows?" while another smiled and added "who cares?"

At worst, the constantly changing face of local

authority is disruptive to the fabric of local society, as

freshly appointed local akims are often indifferent to the

recent history of their new jurisdictions. The new Kyrgyz

akim in the overwhelmingly Uzbek southern city of Uzgen, for

example, initiated a street clean-up and thereby tapped the

services of local Uzbek school children. In this way, he

ignored the impact of such a move on the latent tensions that

have existed between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan

since the Osh riots 10 years ago in which at least 200 people

died.

By most accounts, ethnic tensions have grown since 1998.

Border controls between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have become

increasingly draconian, making Uzbeks in souther Kyrgyzstan

feel ever more isolated. Few people in southern Kyrgyzstan

believe those ethnic tensions will subside any time soon. A

1998 Kyrgyz Institute of Regional Studies survey conducted

among 1,000 respondents in the south of the country revealed

that 45 percent of those interviewed in Osh and only 25

percent of respondents in Djalalabad believe interethnic

relations will change for the better in the near future.

Equally alarming, the study found that only a small number of

local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz (11 percent each) believe the state

administration has the ability to mediate ethnic conflict

should it arise.

It is to Akaev's credit that his administration has

carefully avoided exacerbating ethnic tensions. In contrast

to the divisive nature of the country's worsening poverty and

its low intensity border war with Uzbekistan, Akaev's clumsy

authoritarianism seems to have given opposition leaders in

the north and south a new sense of common cause.

In addition, now that the very system of representative

government is at stake, the line between moderate and radical

opposition in Kyrgyzstan is disappearing. Joint statements by

leading opposition figures and parties, backed by sources as

diverse as the Russian State Duma, the U.S. State Department,

and the OSCE, have become the norm in the independent Kyrgyz

press. And although this concern abroad may reflect complex

international agendas, the concern in Kyrgyzstan is real and

immediate. For the Kyrgyz, representative institutions offer

the potential for peace in a divided society. Akaev may have

forgotten this, but the Kyrgyz opposition, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz and

Russians, north and south, have not.

The author is a Ph.D. candidate in politics at Princeton

University and an IREX research fellow currently in Central

Asia.

13-07-00

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

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