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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 135, 00-07-17

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 135, 17 July 2000


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] ARMENIA, EU, IRAN DISCUSS ENERGY COOPERATION
  • [02] THREE ARMENIAN SOLDIERS DESERT, KILL EIGHT
  • [03] AZERBAIJAN, RUSSIA DISCUSS CASPIAN
  • [04] GEORGIA, U.S. DISCUSS CLOSURE OF RUSSIAN MILITARY BASES
  • [05] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, ADVISER APPEAR AT ODDS OVER ABKHAZ
  • [06] ...WHILE LEADER OF GEORGIAN DISPLACED PERSONS REJECTS THAT
  • [07] GEORGIA SEEKS TO CO-OPT AUTHOR OF POLAND'S 'SHOCK THERAPY'
  • [08] ITALIAN POLICE RELEASE KAZAKHSTAN'S EX-PREMIER
  • [09] BOMB KILLS ONE IN TAJIK CAPITAL

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [10] MONTENEGRIN RULING PARTY ACCEPTS OPPOSITION OFFER OF TALKS
  • [11] SLOVENIA PRESENTS MONTENEGRIN RESOLUTION TO UN
  • [12] NO BIG NEWS FROM SVETI STEFAN MEETING
  • [13] EU PROMOTES CITY-TO-CITY COOPERATION
  • [14] LARGE TURNOUT FOR KARADJORDJEVIC FUNERAL
  • [15] PRESEVO ALBANIANS REPORT GROWING TENSIONS
  • [16] VOTING REGISTRATION EXTENDED IN KOSOVA AMID DIFFICULTIES
  • [17] SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH BLOWN UP
  • [18] KOSOVAR ALBANIANS BLOCK HIGHWAY
  • [19] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS DEMONSTRATE FOR UNIVERSITY
  • [20] BALKAN AGREEMENT IN OHRID
  • [21] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT REAFFIRMS PROPERTY RIGHTS
  • [22] HERZEGOVINIAN PARTY KEEPS JELAVIC
  • [23] ROMANIAN MINISTER SLAMS HUNGARIAN PRESS
  • [24] ALLIANCE FOR ROMANIA REMAINS AMBIVALENT ON ELECTORAL PACT...
  • [25] ...WHILE LIBERALS ARE EMBROILED IN CONFLICT
  • [26] ROMANIAN PEASANT PARTY SAYS PNL SHOULD QUIT GOVERNMENT
  • [27] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT TO POSTPONE RATIFYING MOLDOVAN TREATY?

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [28] 'OFFICIAL' RELIGION AND 'UNOFFICIAL' FAITH

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] ARMENIA, EU, IRAN DISCUSS ENERGY COOPERATION

    Representatives

    of the EU have held talks in Yerevan with Armenian and

    visiting Iranian government officials on the EU's possible

    involvement in construction of the planned $120 million gas

    export pipeline from Iran to Armenia, Caucasus Press reported

    on 15 July. The Iranian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign

    Minister Mohammad Hossein Adeli and Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad

    Raagozar, also met with Armenian President Robert Kocharian,

    Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, and Foreign Minister

    Vartan Oskanian, IRNA and Armenpress reported. During those

    talks Adeli welcomed the recently adopted program Armenian

    government program to develop the country's southern Meghri

    region, which borders on Iran (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 June

    2000). Markarian proposed construction of an oil pipeline

    from Iran to Armenia and of a refinery in Meghri. LF

    [02] THREE ARMENIAN SOLDIERS DESERT, KILL EIGHT

    Three Armenian

    servicemen who deserted from their unit in Vardenis Raion in

    south-eastern Armenia on 13 July killed a total of eight

    people, including two police officers and a child, in two

    separate incidents later that day, Interfax and RFE/RL's

    Yerevan bureau reported. One of the three soldiers was

    wounded in the second shootout and was taken into custody on

    13 July; the other two other were apprehended on 17 July.

    "Hayots ashkharh" reported on 15 July that shortly before,

    one of the three servicemen had been court-martialed for

    insulting his commanding officer. Prime Minister Markarian

    has expressed his condolences to the families of the eight

    people killed, Noyan Tapan reported. LF

    [03] AZERBAIJAN, RUSSIA DISCUSS CASPIAN

    A Russian delegation

    headed by Deputy Foreign Minister and presidential envoy for

    the Caspian Viktor Kalyuzhnyi met behind close doors in Baku

    on 13 July with Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev to

    discuss expediting an agreement between the five Caspian

    littoral states on the status of that sea, Turan and ITAR-

    TASS reported. Aliev said he believes disagreements on that

    issue can be resolved. Kalyuzhnyi also proposed creating a

    "strategic and economic center" to address Caspian-related

    problems, including ecological problems and commercial

    shipping. Meeting the following day with Natik Aliev,

    president of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, Kalyuzhnyi

    proposed that the Caspian littoral states agree to jointly

    develop oil and gas deposits whose ownership is disputed,

    including the Kyapaz (Serdar) field, to which both Azerbaijan

    and Turkmenistan lay claim, according to Turan. Kalyuzhnyi

    said ownership of four fields is disputed between Russia and

    Kazakhstan but that he does not consider Turkmenistan's claim

    to part of the Azerbaijani and Chirag oil fields valid. LF

    [04] GEORGIA, U.S. DISCUSS CLOSURE OF RUSSIAN MILITARY BASES

    During talks in Tbilisi on 14 July with Georgian President

    Eduard Shevardnadze, Minister of State Gia Arsenishvili,

    Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili, and parliamentary

    speaker Zurab Zhvania, Ambassador Stephen Sestanovich, who is

    adviser on the CIS to the U.S. secretary of state, again said

    that the U.S. is prepared to meet part of the financial cost

    of the closure of Russia's military bases in Georgia, Russian

    agencies reported. A third round of Russian-Georgian talks on

    the timetable and conditions of the closure of those bases

    begins in Moscow on 29 July. Georgian Foreign Ministry

    spokesman Avtandil Napetvaridze said last week that Tbilisi

    will reject Moscow's proposal made last month that its base

    in Gudauta be transformed into a support center for the CIS

    peacekeeping troops currently deployed in Abkhazia (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 June 2000). Under an agreement signed

    last November, Moscow is to vacate that base by 1 July 2001.

    LF

    [05] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, ADVISER APPEAR AT ODDS OVER ABKHAZ

    PROTOCOL...

    In his traditional Monday radio broadcast on 17

    July, President Shevardnadze expressed approval of the joint

    protocol signed in Sukhum on 11 July by Abkhaz and Georgian

    government representatives, Caucasus Press reported (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 July 2000). Shevardnadze termed that

    document a step toward establishing "normal relations" with

    the Abkhaz side. But Interfax on 14 July quoted

    Shevardnadze's adviser on international legal issues, Levan

    Aleksidze, as complaining that the protocol was hastily

    prepared and not adequately reviewed by the Georgian side and

    consequently contains formulations that have angered

    Georgians. Specifically Aleksidze condemned the pledge by

    both sides to take legal proceedings against persons calling

    for the use of force to resolve the conflict, pointing out

    that this could be applied to persons calling for military

    intervention in Abkhazia by the international community. LF

    [06] ...WHILE LEADER OF GEORGIAN DISPLACED PERSONS REJECTS THAT

    DOCUMENT

    Also on 14 July, Tamaz Nadareishvili, who is

    chairman of the Abkhaz parliament in exile, told Iprinda that

    the parliament will suspend cooperation with the Georgian

    leadership unless the latter abjures the 11 July protocol.

    Nadareishvili said the leadership of the parliament and

    government in exile is demanding a meeting with Shevardnadze

    and Zhvania to discuss that document (see "RFE/RL Caucasus

    Report," Vol. 3, No. 28, 14 July 2000). LF

    [07] GEORGIA SEEKS TO CO-OPT AUTHOR OF POLAND'S 'SHOCK THERAPY'

    Georgian presidential adviser for economic reform Temur

    Basilia told Caucasus Press on 15 July that on Shevardnadze's

    initiative an economic council will be established and headed

    by Polish economist Leszek Balcerowicz, who oversaw Poland's

    successful transition to a market economy. The World Bank is

    conducting talks with Balcerowicz on that issue, Basilia

    said. Shevardnadze in his 17 July radio broadcast said that

    the proposal that Tbilisi engage Balcerowicz's services

    originated in the U.S., which will cover all expenses

    involved, Caucasus Press reported. LF

    [08] ITALIAN POLICE RELEASE KAZAKHSTAN'S EX-PREMIER

    Akezhan

    Kazhegeldin returned from Rome to London on 14 July after the

    Italian Ministry of Justice ruled there were no grounds for

    his further detention, Reuters reported. Kazhegeldin had been

    detained on his arrival in Rome two days earlier (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 14 July 2000). The 'Wall Street Journal" on 17

    July quoted an unnamed Italian government official as saying

    that the Italian authorities had realized that the Kazakh

    government's request for Kazhegeldin's arrest may have been

    politically motivated. Kazhegeldin's lawyer Charles Both

    accused Astana of abusing the Interpol system in the hope of

    preventing Kazhegeldin's cooperation with an ongoing U.S.

    investigation into possible financial irregularities by top

    Kazakh officials, including President Nursultan Nazarbaev and

    Kazhegeldin's successor as premier Nurlan Balghymbaev. The

    Kazakhstan Prosecutor-General's Office told RFE/RL's Kazakh

    Service on 17 July, however, that Astana played no part in

    Kazhegeldin's detention by the Italian authorities. LF

    [09] BOMB KILLS ONE IN TAJIK CAPITAL

    One person was killed and

    four people injured, including three children, when a jeep

    belonging to the EU's humanitarian mission exploded in

    Dushanbe on 16 July, Russian agencies reported. A bomb that

    exploded during the night of 12-13 July in a building

    adjacent to the Dushanbe police headquarters caused major

    damage but no injuries, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 15

    July. President Imomali Rakhmonov convened a meeting of

    senior law enforcement officials on 13 July to discuss the

    crime situation, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [10] MONTENEGRIN RULING PARTY ACCEPTS OPPOSITION OFFER OF TALKS

    Svetozar Marovic, who is the speaker of the Montenegrin

    parliament and a member of the governing Democratic Socialist

    Party (DPS), said in Podgorica on 15 July his party accepts

    an opposition offer of talks on the republic's political

    future (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 11 July 2000). "If they

    really want talks, we'll talk.... We [propose] that the talks

    start as early as next week," the private Beta news agency

    reported. Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic added that it is

    "exceptionally important" that his DPS enter talks soon with

    the Socialist People's Party (SNP), which is loyal to

    Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and with the pro-

    independence Liberal Alliance, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

    reported on 16 July. SNP leader Predrag Bulatovic said that

    "everyone who wants the best for Montenegro" should welcome

    Marovic's statement. PM

    [11] SLOVENIA PRESENTS MONTENEGRIN RESOLUTION TO UN

    Slovenian

    diplomats, acting on behalf of Montenegro, presented the

    Security Council on 14 July with a copy of the Montenegrin

    parliament's resolution rejecting Milosevic's recent

    constitutional changes (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 July 2000).

    Samuel Zbogar, who is Slovenia's deputy ambassador to the UN,

    wrote the council that his government considers the

    Montenegrin decision to be of "great importance, adopted in

    the crucial moments for the future of the Republic of

    Montenegro, as well as for the future of the Federal Republic

    of Yugoslavia," AP reported. PM

    [12] NO BIG NEWS FROM SVETI STEFAN MEETING

    Leaders of the

    Montenegrin government and Serbian opposition ended a one-day

    meeting in the resort town of Sveti Stefan on 14 June by

    issuing a "mildly-worded joint statement" that pledged

    themselves to further talks but to little else, Reuters

    reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 July 2000). That same

    day, army commanders headed by Chief-of-Staff General Nebojsa

    Pavkovic met in Podgorica to "assess the level of combat

    readiness and give instructions for concrete tasks in the

    coming period," Tanjug reported but did not elaborate. PM

    [13] EU PROMOTES CITY-TO-CITY COOPERATION

    Javier Solana, who is

    the EU's chief spokesman for foreign and security policy, is

    slated to host a group of mayors from EU countries and from

    Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosova on 17 July. He recently wrote

    EU mayors that the advent of "local elections in Serbia and

    in Kosovo in the autumn makes it even more urgent to consider

    how to step up cooperation with local cities and districts,"

    Reuters reported. The Serbian mayors are from the opposition-

    run towns of Nis, Novi Sad, and Pancevo. The Kosova towns of

    Leposaviq, Gjilan, and Suhareka are also represented by their

    mayors, as is Podgorica. On the EU side are the mayors of

    Athens, Dortmund, Barcelona, Lille, Bologna, Konstanz, and

    the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. PM

    [14] LARGE TURNOUT FOR KARADJORDJEVIC FUNERAL

    More than 3,000

    people attended the funeral of Prince Tomislav Karadjordjevic

    in Oplenac, Serbia, on 16 July, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

    reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 July 2000). Crown Prince

    Aleksandar led the mourners from the royal family. Serbian

    Orthodox Patriarch Pavle and Bishop Sava of Sumadija

    officiated. Mourners came from many places in the former

    Yugoslavia and from abroad. Among the political personalities

    present was former Republika Srpska President Biljana

    Plavsic, who called Tomislav a great friend and supporter of

    the Bosnian Serbs, "Vesti" reported. Known among his admirers

    as "the prince with a big heart," Tomislav was active in

    numerous charitable activities after returning from England

    to Serbia in 1991. Muslims and Croats in Bosnia tend to

    regard him as a Serbian nationalist. PM

    [15] PRESEVO ALBANIANS REPORT GROWING TENSIONS

    The Party for

    Democratic Action, whose leaders include Mayor Riza Halimi,

    said in a statement on 16 July that "the latest explosions

    [near Serbian military or government facilities] have been

    followed by rising political tensions and aggravation of

    citizens' security...mass searches of apartments and

    detentions of [ethnic] Albanians," Reuters reported (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 July 2000). The statement added that "a

    state of emergency is gradually being introduced in the area

    without being formally declared." It is clear that tensions

    are on the rise in southwestern Serbia, but reliable

    information on developments in the region is often difficult

    to come by. PM

    [16] VOTING REGISTRATION EXTENDED IN KOSOVA AMID DIFFICULTIES

    An

    unspecified number of Belgian peacekeepers evacuated a group

    of OSCE election registrars from the mainly Serb town of

    Leposaviq in northern Kosova on 16 July. The troops

    intervened after receiving reports that some 40 hard-line

    Serbs were en route to Leposaviq from Mitrovica to disrupt

    the voting registration. On 14 July, Bernard Kouchner, who

    heads the UN's civilian administration in Kosova, extended

    the registration deadline from 15 to 19 July to enable

    potential voters, including a group of Serbs in Leposaviq, to

    register for the fall local elections. On 15 July, the

    moderate Gracanica-based Serbian National Council said in a

    statement that it urges Serbs to end their boycott of the

    elections and take part in them where sufficient security is

    assured, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

    [17] SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH BLOWN UP

    On 16 July, an explosion

    involving 30 kilograms of unidentified explosive materials

    destroyed the medieval Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah near

    Fushe Kosova. The building had been extensively damaged

    during the 1999 conflict and was not guarded by NATO troops.

    KFOR is investigating, AP reported. PM

    [18] KOSOVAR ALBANIANS BLOCK HIGHWAY

    A wedding party of ethnic

    Albanians blocked the Prishtina-Prizren road near the capital

    on 16 July after Swedish peacekeepers refused to let them fly

    the Albanian flag from their car, as is the local custom. The

    Swedes argued that displaying the flag would cause undue

    tensions in the Serbian village of Caglavica along the route.

    The Albanians responded that they fought for their flag in

    the 1999 conflict and demanded that KFOR assert its authority

    in all Serb-populated areas in the province. In the end, the

    Swedes returned the confiscated flag to the Albanians, AP

    reported. PM

    [19] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS DEMONSTRATE FOR UNIVERSITY

    Some 2,000

    people demonstrated in Skopje on 15 July to demand that the

    underground Albanian-language university in Tetovo be

    transformed into a full-fledged state institution. They

    reject a compromise proposal from the OSCE aimed at making

    the university a recognized but private establishment (see

    "RFE/RL Balkan Report" 28 April 2000). The parliament is

    slated to vote on the OSCE proposal on 18 July, AP reported.

    The Tetovo university question is one of the most acrimonious

    in Macedonian politics. PM

    [20] BALKAN AGREEMENT IN OHRID

    The interior ministers of Albania,

    Bulgaria, and Macedonia agreed on unspecified joint measures

    to combat organized crime, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

    reported on 16 July. The Macedonian and Albanian ministers

    also signed an agreement on preventing illegal traffic and

    migration across their common border. The Macedonian and

    Bulgarian ministers signed a similar pact in June. PM

    [21] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT REAFFIRMS PROPERTY RIGHTS

    In a long-

    awaited move, the parliament on 14 July confirmed the right

    of all citizens to the property they owned before the 1991-

    1995 war. In cases where a citizen is unable to re-acquire a

    former home or property, the government will provide

    assistance to enable them to obtain something similar,

    RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

    [22] HERZEGOVINIAN PARTY KEEPS JELAVIC

    Meeting in Sarajevo on 15

    July, delegates to the party congress of the Croatian

    Democratic Community (HDZ) of Bosnia-Herzegovina re-elected

    hard-line chairman Ante Jelavic. He stressed that the HDZ is

    a "modern, centrist" party. Spokesman Zoran Tomic told

    Reuters that the HDZ's newly-adopted statute "formally and

    legally" made the party independent of its Croatian

    counterpart. The delegates did not elect the party's leading

    reformer, Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic, to one of the five

    deputy positions. Prlic told reporters: "My political concept

    has not received a majority of votes, so now I will think

    about my future political engagement," dpa reported (see

    "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 27 June 2000). He told "Dnevni avaz"

    of 17 July that the HDZ "has closed the door to democratic

    change." Prlic added that he will make his future political

    plans known "in a few days." PM

    [23] ROMANIAN MINISTER SLAMS HUNGARIAN PRESS

    Romanian

    Environmental Minister Romica Tomescu said the Hungarian

    press misinformed the public when it claimed that the Aurul

    mining company, which caused the cyanide spill into Tisza

    River in January, resumed its operations with the approval of

    the authorities, Hungarian media reported on 15 July. Tomescu

    said that a trial run is under way at the mine and that all

    parties, including the Hungarian authorities, had been

    informed about it (see also "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 July 2000).

    In other news, lawyers representing two small business owners

    in Hungary's tourism industry have filed a lawsuit against

    Aurul, seeking compensation for loss of income due to the

    decrease in tourism along the Tisza. MSZ

    [24] ALLIANCE FOR ROMANIA REMAINS AMBIVALENT ON ELECTORAL PACT...

    The National Council of the Alliance for Romania (APR) on 14

    July named APR leader Teodor Melescanu as the party's

    candidate in the fall presidential elections and said talks

    with the national Liberal Party (PNL) on setting up "a new

    political structure" will continue. The APR says its main

    condition for the continuation of the discussions with the

    PNL is support for Melescanu as president and Stolojan as

    premier. Negotiations with the PNL are to continue throughout

    August and a decision is to be taken by the National

    Convention in September, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported.

    Meanwhile, preparations for running on separate lists are to

    continue, and Melescanu said talks will begin on a post-

    electoral coalition with the Party of Social Democracy in

    Romania and with the Democratic Party. MS

    [25] ...WHILE LIBERALS ARE EMBROILED IN CONFLICT

    Finance Minister

    Decebal Traian Remes on 15 July tendered his resignation in

    protest against the PNL's decision to continue negotiations

    with the APR. PNL National Council Chairman Nicolae Manolescu

    also resigned from the party, and the PNL's decision was

    criticized by many other prominent PNL council members. The

    resignations followed the PNL National Council's decision of

    the same day to continue talks with the APR and postpone

    deciding on the alliance's future until 18 August, when an

    extraordinary PNL congress is to be convened. This decision

    was virtually forced on the council by PNL First Deputy

    Chairman Valeriu Stoica, who one day earlier had received an

    endorsement from 39 out of the 46 local branches chairmen to

    continue the talks and convene an extraordinary congress. MS

    [26] ROMANIAN PEASANT PARTY SAYS PNL SHOULD QUIT GOVERNMENT

    National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) First

    Deputy Chairman Ioan Muresan said on 16 July that the PNL

    cannot remain in government and hold talks with the

    opposition at the same time. He added that it would be

    "normal" for the PNL to withdraw from the cabinet. On 14 July

    PNTCD Chairman Ion Diaconescu accused the PNL of "duplicity"

    and said running on joint lists is no longer possible,

    regardless of the outcome of the negotiations the PNL is

    conducting with other formations. MS

    [27] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT TO POSTPONE RATIFYING MOLDOVAN TREATY?

    Romanian parliamentary deputy Mihai Dorin told journalists in

    Chisinau on 14 July that the Romanian parliament will

    postpone ratifying the basic treaty with Moldova. The treaty

    was initialed by the two countries' foreign ministers in

    Chisinau in late April. Dorin, a PNTCD member, said the

    Romanian parliamentary deputies are now primarily preoccupied

    with the fall election campaign. Deputy Petru Bejenaru, a

    member of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR),

    said his formation has "doubts" whether the treaty will be

    approved and objects in particular to the compromise

    formulation mentioning "a common language" instead of "the

    Romanian language." Bejenaru also said the PDSR is opposed to

    the failure to mention in the treaty the 1939 Ribbentrop-

    Molotov pact, Romanian radio reported. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [28] 'OFFICIAL' RELIGION AND 'UNOFFICIAL' FAITH

    by Paul Goble

    An official at Turkmenistan's Council for Religious

    Affairs has acknowledged that his government agency

    controls the selection, promotion, and dismissal of all

    Sunni Muslim mullahs and Russian Orthodox clergy in that

    republic.

    Last week, Mered Chariyarov, a longtime official at

    the Turkmenistan Council, told a representative of the

    Keston Institute, an Oxford-based religious rights

    watchdog organization, that his state body has

    registered only Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodox

    Christianity and actively controls the assignment of

    Muslim mullahs and Christian priests and hierarchs.

    That policy leaves Turkmenistan in violation of the

    principles of the OSCE. Indeed, it could become the

    basis for Ashgabat's expulsion from that organization.

    But what is more significant, it also threatens to

    recreate the Soviet-era division between tightly

    controlled "official" Churches and often radicalized

    "unofficial" religious activities.

    The re-emergence of such underground religious

    groups, particularly among Muslims who had significant

    experience with them in Soviet times, could contribute

    to the rise of precisely the kind of fundamentalist

    challenge to political stability in Central Asia that

    both regional leaders and many outside powers say they

    most fear.

    As was the case during the Soviet period, both the

    requirement for registration and the ability to assign

    religious leaders appear to give the government enormous

    power over those believers who do register: the regime

    is allowed to pressure religious leaders into

    cooperating with the state by informing on their

    congregations or even to place secret police agents in

    place of genuinely religious people.

    But this Soviet approach also had the effect of

    depriving the mullahs and Christian clergy who

    participated in such "official" Churches of their

    authority and of driving many of the religious leaders

    and their followers underground into "unofficial"

    congregations far beyond the control of the state and

    often in clear opposition to it.

    For no other faith was that trend greater than

    Islam. On the one hand, Islam does not have a clergy as

    such. Any believer who can read the Koran can serve as a

    leader. And on the other, the communist authorities were

    contemptuous of Islam, an attitude that appears to have

    made them particularly clumsy in promoting their own

    "official" version.

    Indeed, across Central Asia, followers of what was

    sometimes called "underground" or the "non-state"

    version of Islam simultaneously subverted efforts by the

    Communist Party authorities to maintain control and

    provided a popular foundation for the small, pro-

    independence parties that emerged at the end of the

    Soviet period.

    With the collapse of Soviet power, many expected

    that this system of official registration and government

    intervention in the lives of religious groups would end.

    Some thought that an end to government interference

    would be a hallmark of the expected democratic

    transformations of their countries. Many others had that

    expectation because they believed the authorities would

    recognize how counterproductive such involvement was.

    But nowhere has the state entirely withdrawn from

    its involvement with religion. Virtually all post-Soviet

    governments have retained the Soviet practice of

    requiring religious groups to register with the

    authorities in order to operate legally, and most have

    kept the Soviet-style councils for religious affairs to

    monitor the situation often, as in Turkmenistan, with

    the same officials in the same positions.

    Until now, however, none of these regimes has

    admitted to using these councils to control the

    assignment of religious leaders. It is possible that

    Turkmenistan is the only one that is now doing so, but

    both the existence of similar councils in other post-

    Soviet states and the continuity in structures and

    personnel in these bodies in many of them suggest that

    the Turkmenistan admission indicates a far larger

    problem.

    Nowhere is this problem likely to be greater than

    across the predominantly Islamic countries of Central

    Asia. To the extent that governments there are following

    Ashgabat's lead, they seem certain to produce precisely

    what they say they most fear: a religious population

    increasingly alienated from governments that appear, as

    did the Soviet regime until the very end, far more

    powerful and stable than they in fact are.

    17-07-00


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


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