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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 160, 00-08-21Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 160, 21 August 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS MEETRobert Kocharian and Heidar Aliev met in Yalta on 18 August on the sidelines of the informal CIS summit to continue their talks on approaches to resolving the Karabakh conflict, Turan and Noyan Tapan reported. The two presidents told journalists after their meeting that they will continue talks, but they admitted that it will not be easy to reach an agreement, which, they said, will require concessions from both sides. Turan quoted Kocharian as arguing that establishing economic cooperation would facilitate a political settlement of the conflict but as expressing understanding for Azerbaijan's insistence that a political solution must precede such cooperation. LF[02] PLANE HIJACKING THWARTED IN AZERBAIJANThe crew of an Azerbaijani Airlines plane en route to Baku from Nakhichevan on 18 August overpowered a man who produced a Molotov cocktail and demanded that the flight be diverted to Turkey. Mekhti Guseynli, who is a former head of the Nakhichevan branch of the opposition Musavat party, said he wanted to visit former President Abulfaz Elchibey, who is undergoing hospital treatment in Ankara. He also demanded changes to the Azerbaijani and Nakhichevan election laws and the postponement until 15 December of the parliamentary poll scheduled for 5 November. Those demands were made in a telephone call to the editor of the newspaper "Yeni Musavat." On 19 August, the newspaper's editor, Rauf Arifoglu, rejected a demand by investigators from the Prosecutor-General's Office to search the newspaper's Baku office for the tape, Turan reported. LF[03] AZERBAIJANI COURT SHUTS DOWN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERBaku's Sabayil district court on 18 August ruled in favor of the suit brought by Information Minister Siruz Tebrizli to shut down the newspaper "Uch nogte," Turan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 and 18 August 2000). The media law allows the closure of any newspaper that loses three court cases within 12 months. "Uch nogte" editor Hoshgadam Idayatkyzy termed the verdict "groundless" and said she will appeal it. LF[04] FORMER ADMINISTRATOR DEMANDS AUTONOMY FOR GEORGIAN PROVINCEGeorgian parliamentary deputy Iveri Chelidze, who was recently replaced as President Eduard Shevardnadze's representative in the Kodori gorge in western Georgia, told Caucasus Press on 19 August that he believes the mountainous region of Svaneti should be granted autonomous status and subordinated directly to the president. Chelidze argued that the local authorities are incapable of controlling the situation in the region, which, he said, is a refuge for criminals. The Svans, who are an ethnic sub-group speaking a language related to, but distinct from, Georgian, have long had a reputation for lawlessness. A group of German tourists was recently shot at in Svaneti (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 August 2000), and a 14-year- old boy was abducted in the region on 13 August. His abductors had demanded a ransom, initially naming a figure of $50,000 but later seeking $500,000. On 20 August, however, they released him in exchange for immunity from prosecution. LF[05] IMPLEMENTATION OF ABKHAZ PROTOCOL REVIEWEDDieter Boden, who is the UN secretary-general's special representative for the Abkhaz conflict, and Georgian minister for special assignments Malkhaz Kakabadze attended a session in Sukhum on 19 August of the UN-sponsored Coordinating Council for Abkhazia's working group for security issues, Caucasus Press reported. Participants reviewed compliance by both sides with the protocol on non-aggression signed at a meeting of the Coordinating Council on 11 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 July 2000). The two sides agreed to submit to the UN Observer Mission and the CIS peacekeeping force lists of their checkpoints in the safety zone along the border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia as well as lists of military personnel deployed within that zone. Under the 11 July, no more than 600 such personnel from each side can be stationed in that area. LF[06] ISLAMIC MILITANTS MAKE THIRD INCURSION INTO SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTANA third detachment of Islamist militants entered the Chon-Alai district of Osh Oblast in southern Kyrgyzstan early on 20 August and exchanged fire with Kyrgyz government troops, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. No fatalities were reported on either side. It was the first incursion by the militants this year into Osh Oblast, following two thwarted attacks earlier this month on Batken Oblast. Visiting Batken Oblast on 19 August together with Defense Minister Esen Topev and Security Council secretary General Bolot Djanuzakov, President Askar Akaev called for resolute action to repel the invaders, according to Interfax. Also on 19 August, Batken Oblast governor Mamat Aibalaev called for restricting access to the oblast by foreigners, who, he argued, could be taken hostage by the Islamist fighters. LF[07] CENTRAL ASIAN PRESIDENTS DISCUSS KYRGYZ FIGHTINGKazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov, Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov, and Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov met with President Akaev in Bishkek on 20 August to discuss the fighting on Kyrgyzstan's southern border, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The four Central Asia presidents issued a joint declaration of readiness to cooperate in the fight against "terrorism." But in an allusion to Ivanov's proposal three months ago to launch air strikes against Taliban bases in Afghanistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 May 2000), they made clear that they oppose any preventive air strikes against the territory of other independent states. They also appealed to Russia to accede to the Tashkent agreement on combating terrorism and organized crime (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 April 2000) and to the UN Security Council to devote greater attention to security problems in Central Asia. LF[08] KYRGYZSTAN SUPREME COURT CHAIRMAN RESIGNSPresident Akaev on 18 August issued a decree releasing Akynbek Tilebaliev as Supreme Court chairman "at his own request" on health grounds, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The government newspaper "Kyrgyz Tuursu" claimed several days earlier that Tilebaliev had exerted pressure on the presiding judge in the trial of former Vice President Feliks Kulov to acquit the latter. LF[09] KYRGYZ BUSINESSMEN APPEAL ON BEHALF OF ARRESTED COLLEAGUEA group of 26 businessmen from Chu Oblast has written to President Akaev asking him to release from custody Jalgap Kazakbaev, the director of the Kara-Balta mining complex, provided that Kazakbaev gives a written pledge not to leave the country, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 19 August. Kazakbaev was arrested in June 1999 on charges of embezzlement. Protests against his arrest delayed a parliamentary session (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 June 1999). LF[10] MOSCOW SEEKS TO INCREASE PURCHASES OF TURKMEN GASGazprom head Rem Vyakhirev has asked Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov to sell Russia 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas in addition to the 20 billion cubic meters the two sides agreed on last December, ITAR- TASS reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 December 1999). Turkmen government officials say, however, that the price offered by Moscow is too low. The price agreed on last year was $36 per 1,000 cubic meters. LF[11] BUREAUCRATS ON TURKMEN CAPITAL FORFEIT AUGUST SALARIESPresident Niyazov last week issued a decree depriving Ashgabat Mayor Ashir Cherkezov and several other city officials of their August salaries for failing to ensure uninterrupted supplies of water and electricity to homes in the capital, "Kommersant" and "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 17 August. Their wages have been paid into the state budget. LF[12] UZBEK, LITHUANIAN BUSINESSMEN SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENTManufacturers from Uzbekistan and Lithuania have signed a cooperation agreement in Tashkent, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 17 August. The Lithuanian delegation suggested that Uzbekistan make greater use of the port of Klaipeda and proposed setting up joint ventures in the textile, food, and chemical sectors. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] MONTENEGRIN POLICE ARREST YUGOSLAV OFFICERS FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKINGMontenegrin police arrested two Yugoslav army officers near Budva on 19 August, the Podgorica daily "Vijesti" reported. The officers were driving a Yugoslav army van in which some 25 Chinese citizens were hidden. Police said that the officers intended to smuggle the Chinese to Italy, for which each Chinese had paid some $230, AP reported. The army is investigating the charges, Reuters reported from Belgrade on 21 August. There have been numerous reports in the Western press in recent months suggesting that Belgrade has become an important destination for Chinese seeking to enter Western Europe illegally. There are some 40,000 Chinese in Yugoslavia, most of whom are traders. PM[14] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT: NO PARTICIPATION IN YUGOSLAV ELECTIONSPresident Milo Djukanovic told "Vijesti" of 21 August that his Democratic Socialist Party (DPS) will not endorse any list of candidates put forward by the Serbian opposition for Montenegro in the 24 September elections. Djukanovic stressed that the DPS will not take part in the "electoral farce" in any form, adding that "self-respecting Montenegrins will not have any trouble finding more intelligent things to do." PM[15] GROWING FOREIGN CONCERN OVER SERBIAN REGIME'S DETAINEESA spokeswoman for the Foreign Office told "The Independent" of 21 August that the British authorities are investigating reports in the British press that the two Britons held for "terrorism" in Belgrade were tortured and beaten. In Belgrade, their court-appointed lawyer said that he knows nothing of the allegations. In The Hague, the government is considering breaking off diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia if the four Dutch men held in Belgrade do not receive a fair trial, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on 21 August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 August 2000). Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen recently expressed anger that the Yugoslav authorities had placed the four "under pressure" in order to obtain a videotaped "confession" that they planned to kill or capture Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. PM[16] VIOLENT INCIDENTS CONTINUE IN KOSOVAUnknown persons threw at least two grenades and injured nine children at an outdoor basketball court in Crkvena Vodica on 18 August. Angry Serbs shouted at nearby peacekeepers and beat a BBC reporter. A British NATO spokesman said the next day that "only terrorists" are capable of attacking innocent children. In Malisheva, an explosion took place at the offices of the moderate Democratic League of Kosova (LDK). This is the latest in an apparent series of violent measures by unknown persons against LDK offices and politicians in the runup to the 28 October local elections. PM[17] ARAB PEACEKEEPERS BAR KOSOVA SERBIAN ARCHBISHOP FROM CHURCHPeacekeepers from the United Arab Emirates prevented moderate Serbian leader Archbishop Artemije from visiting the damaged St. Elias Church, north of Prishtina, AP reported on 19 August. The soldiers told Artemije that there is "no access" to the church. Artemije's office issued a statement that said: "In Christian Europe, where soldiers from a faraway Arab country are deployed, we are witnessing a merciless destruction of Christian Orthodox temples while some [people] express readiness that 50 new mosques be erected here, all under the protectorate of the UN mission and the [NATO-led] troops." The reference to the mosques alludes to recent press reports from Dubai that the U.A.E. is planning to finance the construction of 50 mosques in Kosova. PM[18] GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS KOSOVARudolf Scharping is slated to arrive in Prizren from Sarajevo on 21 August to visit German KFOR troops. In Sarajevo, the German Social Democratic minister met with Sarajevo's Social Democratic Mayor Muhidin Hamamdzic and Social Democratic leader Zlatko Lagumdzija. He did not meet officials from any of the nationalist parties, dpa reported. PM[19] BELGRADE'S BROADCASTER OFF AIR IN BOSNIARepresentatives of the international community in Sarajevo have confirmed that they shut down a transmitter near Bijeljina in eastern Bosnia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 21 August. The 16 year-old transmitter was used to relay short-wave broadcasts of Radio Yugoslavia. PM[20] ALBANIA'S BERISHA TO SHUN OSCE MONITORSSali Berisha, who heads the opposition Democratic Party, told "Rilindja Demokratike" of 19 August that he does not consider OSCE election observers impartial and will not cooperate with them in the 1 October local elections. The OSCE plans to send about 150 observers to monitor the vote in a country where political life is highly polarized, dpa reported. OSCE spokesman Giovanni Porta told the news agency that "our sole interest is to ensure that vote in Albania is free and fair." PM[21] DENOUEMENT IN CROATIAN POLITICAL STANDOFF?Social Liberal leader Drazen Budisa will discuss his recent public charges surrounding General Petar Stipetic with his coalition partners on 22 August (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 August 2000), "Jutarnji list" reported on 21 August. That daily, "Novi List," and "Slobodna Dalmacija" carry commentaries suggesting that Budisa's ego is responsible for causing unnecessary tensions in the coalition. PM[22] NINE DEAD IN CROATIAN HEAT WAVESome nine persons have died from the heat in recent days in the hottest weather to hit Croatia since 1950, dpa reported. No relief is in sight for Croatia or the rest of Central Europe. In related news, a specially equipped Czech helicopter with six-man crew left Prague for Macedonia on 20 August in response to a request from the Skopje authorities for help in fighting fires that have broken out during the heat wave, CTK reported. PM[23] MACEDONIAN POLITICAL LEADER HOSPITALIZED IN U.S.Deputy Prime Minister Vasil Tupurkovski has undergone heart surgery in Washington, AP reported from Skopje on 18 August. He is reported to be feeling well and will soon resume his duties. PM[24] MACEDONIAN AUTHORITIES MAKE MARIJUANA HAULMacedonian police found some 100 kilograms of marijuana bound for Kosova in the truck of an ethnic Albanian driver from Macedonia during a "routine control" outside Skopje on 18 August. The marijuana came from Albania and has a street value of $46,000, AP reported. PM[25] ROMANIAN LIBERAL PARTY NOMINATES PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATEAn extraordinary congress of the National Liberal Party (PNL) has approved Theodor Stolojan as the party's presidential candidate, Romanian media reported on 18 August. Although before the congress several PNL leaders had opposed Stolojan's nomination, there were only two votes against and three abstentions. First deputy chairman and Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica saw his position in the party strengthened after being named campaign manager. Stoica said the PNL still supports Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu to continue as premier after the elections, but he warned that this offer is valid only if Isarescu does not run for president. Finance Minister Decebal Traian Remes harshly attacked Stoica and stressed his support for Isarescu, but at the same time he refused to resign from the party. ZsM[26] BULGARIA EXPELS LITHUANIAN, RUSSIAN BUSINESSMENBulgaria has ordered one Lithuanian and four Russian businessmen to leave the country for actions threatening national security and links to international crime organizations, BTA reported on 18 August. The five are banned from entering the country for 10 years. One of those banned--Michael Chorny, who is a shareholder in Mobiltel, Yukos Petroleum, Roseximbank, and Neftinvestbank--said he will appeal the decision and perhaps sue the head of the National Security Service, Antanas Atanassov, who signed the order. Chorny reportedly also holds Israeli and U.S. passports. PB[27] BULGARIA SEEKS WESTERN AID AFTER DEVASTATING FIRESThe Bulgarian government said on 18 August that it is seeking help from the EU and the U.S. to cover damage caused by more than 2,500 wild fires across the country this summer, Reuters reported. Six people died and 17 were injured in the blazes, which destroyed some 15,000 hectares of forests and farmland. Bulgaria seeks money from the EU to help in re-foresting projects and fire-fighting equipment from the U.S. PB[C] END NOTE[28] PUTIN TO FACE AUTUMN OF DISCONTENTby Julie A. CorwinAs efforts to rescue the crew of the "Kursk" submarine are pronounced futile, a likely casualty of the underwater disaster is not only Russian President Vladimir Putin's long- term popular support but also his administration's legislative agenda. When legislators return to Moscow for the 11 September opening of the State Duma, they will probably return to an altered political landscape--one in which Putin's authority has been weakened and a lack of cooperation with the Kremlin may no longer be perceived as obstructionist. Even before the "Kursk" disaster, Putin and his administration faced a daunting challenge in trying to push through a number of important bills during the Duma's fall session. Working with the Kremlin, State Duma Chairman Gennadii Seleznev had put together an ambitious legislative agenda packed with landmark legislation, some of which has drifted between revision and rejection since the middle of his predecessor Boris Yeltsin's tenure. Most prominent among this new legislation is the Land Code. Other items on the Duma's agenda may prove no less controversial, such as the laws on the constitutional assembly, political parties, states of emergency, money-laundering, the pension system, the draft 2001 budget, the Customs Code, and the Labor Code. Both during his election campaign and his first few months as president, Putin declared his desire to secure passage of some kind of bill establishing private property rights. Even at the height of his popularity, Putin would have had his work cut out for him. This month, Communist and Agrarian leaders appealed to Putin to support their version of the Land Code, which would severely restrict private land sales. Meanwhile, the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) has prepared its version of the bill that would impose only one condition on land sales: that agricultural land be used for agricultural purposes. Even if the Kremlin manages to forge some kind of compromise between the opposing positions in the Duma, the bill must still be passed by the Federation Council. Members of that chamber have been in no mood to accommodate the Kremlin since it stripped them of their powers and privileges through passage of the bill reforming the Federation Council. An even more important motivation than revenge is some governors' long-held suspicion of private land sales. Many governors from agricultural areas share the fears of their Communist and Agrarian colleagues in the Duma. They worry that countryside will witness its own version of Chubais- style privatization as land is bought up for kopeks, leaving the country's farmers even more impoverished. The draft 2001 budget will also be strongly contested-- if not in the Duma, then certainly in the Federation Council, whose members will seek to check the government's attempt to hold onto a larger chunk of tax revenues. Granted, federal budgets in Russia tend to be more of a guide to action--an outline of the government's intentions--rather than a blueprint for dispensing and collecting monies. Nevetheless, regional leaders have always taken the budget process seriously, and this year--more than ever--it is in those leaders' interest to prevent the trend toward recentralization of financial flows from gaining more momentum. The law on the constititional assembly is another bill likely to be fought over. Administration officials and Duma deputies reportedly fundamentally disagree over the composition of the proposed assembly. According to "Novye izvestiya," one draft currently circulating stipulates 400 delegates should be sent to the assembly, including the president, Federation Council members, 100 Duma deputies, 100 lawyers and legal experts, as well as judges from the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and Supreme Arbitration courts. The Kremlin, for its part, would prefer a much smaller group of one- third to one quarter that size. Of course, controversial bills were also considered during the Duma's last session in the spring, and the Putin administration managed to score some impressive victories, gaining passage not only of all three of Putin's bills reforming the Russian Federation but also of a controversial tax reform package. However, passage of the administrative reforms was in the deputies' interest, since the legislation reduced the national political profile of the country's governors, thereby increasing the importance of members of the lower house. Passage of the second part of the Tax Code through both legislative branches, on the other hand, was a clean win for the Kremlin. Although that legislation was designed to ease the tax burden of both companies and individuals alike, it was also expected to impact negatively on the interests of several groups close to Russian legislators, trade unions, oil companies, tobacco and alcohol producers, and regional governments. In the end, not only did the bill pass but some Duma deputies managed to include the legislation features that the government was afraid to ask for. But that was July, when the country was experiencing rare political unity-- at least among many Moscow-based politicians. Come September, that unity may be frayed as Putin's fellow politicians, sensing his new weakness, try to challenge his authority. SPS leader Boris Nemtsov has already called Putin's conduct in the "Kursk" affair "immoral," and others are questioning his failure to manage the crisis and the military more effectively. Also, some legislators may simply decide that they no longer have sufficient incentive to forge a compromise on the Land Code, when so many special interests are threatened. A popular leader might have been able to explain to voters that some kind of legislation establishing property rights is essential to move the country's economy forward. The argument remains valid, but the question now is will anyone listen. 21-08-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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