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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 215, 00-11-06Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 215, 6 November 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES ECONOMIC UPSWING NEXT YEAR...In an interview with Armenian state television on 2 November, Robert Kocharian said he understands the "unhappiness" of the Armenian population over widespread unemployment and delays in paying salaries and benefits, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. But at the same time Kocharian expressed confidence that "we are going to have very serious economic growth," the benefits of which, he said, will be felt by April or May 2001. He predicted the creation of 40,000 new jobs as a result of investment by the World Bank and by U.S. billionnaire Kirk Kerkorian's Lincy Foundation in infrastructure projects. Kocharian appealed to the population to "wait a little more and everything will be all right." He warned that further political stability could deter foreign investment. Kocharian also proposed amending the existing election legislation to increase from the present 56 the number of parliamentary mandates allocated under the proportional system. LF[02] ...BUT FAILS TO FORESTALL NEW PROTEST...Ignoring Kocharian's appeal for patience, some 5,000 people attended a demonstration in Yerevan on 4 November convened by Union of Socialist Forces leader Ashot Manucharian to demand the president's resignation, Reuters reported. Manucharian has repeatedly accused the present leadership of being unable to solve the economic and social problems the country faces. Manucharian on 4 November again alleged that Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian and parliamentary speaker Karen Demirchian were shot dead in October 1999 because of their opposition to resolving the Karabakh conflict by means of a territorial exchange that would require Armenia to cede the southern district of Meghri (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 October 2000). LF[03] ...DOWNPLAYS TURKISH REACTION TO U.S. GENOCIDE RESOLUTIONKocharian also said on 2 November that the Turkish government's outraged reaction to the U.S. Congress draft resolution on recognizing the Armenian genocide will have minimal impact on Armenian-Turkish relations, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He noted that even before discussion of that resolution, the two countries had no formal diplomatic relations and that Turkey refused to open its border with Armenia. Kocharian and other Armenian leaders have repeatedly said that a dialogue with Ankara on the killings of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey could facilitate the normalization of relations. But Abdulhalik Cay, who is Turkish minister of state with responsibility for relations with the Turcophone states of Central Asia, told journalists in Ankara on 3 November that Ankara will not embark on a dialogue with Armenia until the Armenian leadership abandons its efforts for recognition of the genocide and "withdraws from occupied Armenian territories," AFP reported. LF[04] AZERBAIJAN'S RULING PARTY CLAIMS VICTORY IN PARLIAMENTARY POLL...Shortly after polling stations closed on 5 November, Azerbaijan's ruling Yeni Azerbaycan Party (YAP) issued a statement claiming that between 60 percent and 80 percent of voters had cast their ballot in its favor, Turan and Reuters reported. Initial returns made public on 6 November, when 45 percent of the party list votes had been counted, showed YAP with 73.8 percent of the party list vote. According to those figures, no other party has surmounted the 6 percent minimum needed to win representation under the proportional system. The "reformist" wing of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party had 5.03 percent, the opposition Musavat Party 4.59 percent, the Azerbaijan National Independence Party (AMIP) 3.67 percent, Communist Party 2.77 percent, the Civil Solidarity Party 2.16 percent, the Democratic Party 1.19 percent, and the Liberal Party 1.16 percent. Of 30 candidates reported to have been elected, 25 were on the list made public last month by Social Justice Party leader Matlab Mutallimli (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 October 2000). Twenty of the 25 are members of YAP. Voter turnout was around 68 percent. Musavat Party chairman Isa Gambar rejected the official figures, telling Turan that Musavat monitors at more than 100 polling stations across the country calculated that his party garnered 60 percent of the vote. LF[05] ...AS OPPOSITION, OBSERVERS DECRY MASSIVE FALSIFICATIONThe leaders of the Musavat, Liberal, National Independence, and Popular Front Parties told journalists on 5 November that their monitors registered widespread procedural violations, including ballot-stuffing and refusal by local election officials to allow monitors to observe the voting. Gambar and AMIP deputy chairman Nazim Imanov spoke of "total falsification," as did a statement released by the opposition Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, which said the party will not recognize the official outcome of the poll as valid. Reuters quoted Gerard Stoudmann, head of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, as saying that the OSCE's monitors registered ballot-stuffing and the refusal to allow observers access to polling stations at an unspecified number of precincts. A second, unnamed Western diplomat told Reuters on 5 November that there was little, if any, improvement over previous elections but that it is too early to say whether the falsification was so extensive as to determine the outcome of the ballot. LF[06] TURKEY, NAKHICHEVAN DISCUSS SIMPLIFYING BORDER CROSSING FORMALITIESTurkish Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz has held talks with leading officials of Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic on the possibility of simplifying procedures for persons wishing to cross the frontier between the two countries, Groong reported on 2 November citing a Turkish Foreign Ministry press release. They suggested that persons wishing to cross that border should be required only to produce an identity document and not a passport. LF[07] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT RULES OUT OIL SECTOR PRIVATIZATIONHeidar Aliev said on 3 November that the country's oil industry is "too important" to be sold off to private investors, Interfax reported. He said it will remain under permanent state control. LF[08] RUSSIA BEGINS GAS SUPPLIES TO AZERBAIJANA spokesman in Baku for the Russian pipeline operator ITERA said on 4 November that the company has begun supplying natural gas to Azerbaijan following an agreement reached the previous day between ITERA and Azerbaijan's state oil company, Interfax reported. Under that agreement, ITERA will provide Azerbaijan with 217 million cubic meters of gas between now and 31 December 2000 at a cost of $48 per 1,000 cubic meters. The entire volume of Russian gas purchased will be used to fuel heating plants, thereby allowing Azerbaijan to sell the oil it extracts for hard currency. LF[09] RUSSIA REJECTS CRITICISM OF TRANSFER OF ARMORED VEHICLES FROM GEORGIA TO ARMENIAThe redeployment of 76 Russian armored vehicles from the Russian military base in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia, to the Russian base in Armenia cannot and should not be construed as a violation of Moscow's commitments under the revised CFE Treaty, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement of 3 November summarized by Interfax and ITAR-TASS. The measures taken by Russia in compliance with the November 1999 agreement to close the Akhalkalaki base "are of a purely organizational nature," the statement continued, adding that Russia "has every right to choose the optimal and economically justified solutions." Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Safar Abiev has argued that the redeployment poses a threat to Azerbaijan and that the armored vehicles in question is to be sent from Armenia to the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, according to "Obshchaya gazeta" (No. 43, 26 October-1 November 2000). LF[10] KAZAKH, KYRGYZ OFFICIALS REACH AGREEMENTS ON TRANSPORTATION, ENERGYAt the second meeting of the Kazakh-Kyrgyz intergovernmental economic commission, which took place in Bishkek on 2-3 November, agreement was reached on increasing from 2,000 to 3,000 the number of Kyrgyz trucks that may transit Kazakhstan this year without paying excise fees, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau. Under a second agreement, Kazakhstan will provide Kyrgyzstan with 50,000 tons of coal, 30,000 tons of oil, and 3,000 tons of diesel oil before the end of this year in return for 650 million kW hours of electricity that Kyrgyzstan will supply to Kazakhstan next spring. No agreement was reached on Kazakhstan's debt to Kyrgyzstan for earlier energy supplies. LF[11] EU CRITICIZES KYRGYZ PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS...France, which is the current EU chair, has issued a statement noting "serious violations" during the 29 October Kyrgyz presidential poll, ITAR- TASS reported on 3 November. The statement expresses regret at "deviations from the process of democratization" and calls on the Kyrgyz leadership to respect its commitments to the OSCE and those enshrined in its partnership and cooperation agreement with the EU. The OSCE and the U.S. State Department have also criticized the conduct of the ballot. Also on 3 November, the Kyrgyz Central Electoral Commission released the final poll results, according to which incumbent Askar Akaev was re-elected with 74.47 percent of the vote, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Omurbek Tekebaev polled13.09 percent, Almaz Atambaev 6 percent. Melis Eshimkanov 1.80 percent, Tursunbai Bakir Uulu 0.96 percent, and Tursunbek Akunov 0.44 percent. Voter turnout was 77.28 percent. LF[12] ...AS OPPOSITION CANDIDATES FILES SUITAides to Socialist Party chairman Tekebaev said in Bishkek on 3 November that they have filed suit challenging the official election outcome, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. They noted irregularities during the election campaign, interference by local officials, and falsification of the poll returns. LF[13] THOUSANDS HOMELESS IN WAKE OF EARTHQUAKES IN TAJIKISTANSome 17,000 people have been made homeless by two earthquakes that hit southeastern Tajikistan on 31 October and 1 November, Interfax reported on 3 November. No casualties were reported in either quake. The Tajik government has allocated 100,000 somonis ($45,500) to help the victims. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[14] YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT APPROVES NEW GOVERNMENTLawmakers appointed a new government on 4 November that is controlled by supporters of President Vojislav Kostunica, AP reported. After some eight hours of debate between reformers and supporters of former President Slobodan Milosevic, the parliament voted 136 to 19 in favor of the government headed by Premier Zoran Zizic, a 49-year-old law professor from Montenegro. Zizic said his top priorities are "economic and social reforms..., accelerated privatization" and adjusting the legal and economic systems to be more in line with the EU. He said Yugoslavia will "pursue a policy of opening our country to the world and actively resolve disputes and outstanding issues that burden" the country. Zizic said Belgrade will "respect its international obligations," such as the Dayton agreement, but he criticized the UN and NATO actions in Kosova, stressing that the province remains an integral part of Yugoslavia. PB[15] YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER PROMISES RESTORED TIES, RESPONSIBILITY FOR WAR CRIMESGoran Svilanovic said on 5 November that the country should establish "truth commissions" to determine responsibility for crimes committed during the wars of the Yugoslav succession, Reuters reported. Svilanovic said "responsibility for crimes is a topic that cannot be skipped. We cannot, and should not, avoid facing the consequences of war and responsibility for crimes." He said the UN war crimes tribunal should be allowed to reopen its office in Belgrade as soon as possible. He said the members of the "truth commissions" would be people who "enjoy absolute confidence among our public." Svilanovic said trials on war crimes could be held in Yugoslavia. He also added that diplomatic ties with major Western countries such as Germany, France, and the U.K. could be restored within days. PB[16] KOSTUNICA REJECTS SUPPORTERS' DEMANDS FOR PURGE OF POLICE, MILITARY LEADERSYugoslav President Kostunica said on 4 November that he opposes any "hasty replacement" of police or army chiefs who served under former President Milosevic, Reuters reported. Kostunica said such actions could threaten democratic change and lead to instability. "At a time when our country is finally lifting its head and returning in a dignified manner and major way to Europe and the world, what we least need are personal and party passions, revengeful and destructive moves," he said. Kostunica's statement contradicted the stand taken by members of his Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) bloc who have refused to attend Serbian transitional government meetings until former Serbian state security chief Rade Markovic steps down (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 November 2000). According to DOS leader Zoran Djindjic, the DOS is also demanding the removal of Yugoslav army chief of staff Nebojsa Pavkovic. Kostunica responded to that call by saying, "I demand from the army and police [that they] faithfully serve their people and country, and they are doing so." PB[17] MONTENEGRO TO STOP USING YUGOSLAV DINAR?Dmitrije Vesovic, a senior economic official in the Montenegrin government, said on 3 November that Podgorica will stop using the Yugoslav dinar altogether in a few weeks, Reuters reported. Vesovic, who is the head of the republic's Accounting and Payment Operations Service, said the government needs just over a week "to complete a procedure for closing down all dinar accounts and opening new German mark ones." But Montenegrin Premier Filip Vujanovic said the previous day that the dual use of the German mark and the Yugoslav dinar will remain in place, despite a new law establishing an independent Montenegrin Central Bank (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 2 November 2000). Vesovic said there are some 70 million dinars ($1.35 million) remaining in about 20,000 accounts in Montenegrin banks, which will be converted into German mark accounts. PB[18] ETHNIC ALBANIAN LEADER REJECTS TALKS WITH BELGRADEKosovar's moderate ethnic-Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, said on 4 November that Belgrade should not have any say in the future of Kosova following the "terrible war" there, AP reported, citing the German weekly magazine "Focus." Rugova's Democratic League of Kosova won last week's municipal elections, after which he called upon Western countries to recognize the province's independence. Yugoslav President Kostunica said last week that he is willing to meet with Rugova to discuss Kosova's future. Rugova said he cannot trust Belgrade, saying that "the govenrnment can change there anytime." He added that NATO's Kosova Force (KFOR) will "always" be in Kosova "because we will become part of NATO one day." PB[19] FORMER KOSOVAR REBELS SAY BELGRADE'S ADMISSION TO UN 'UNACCEPTABLE'Bardhyl Mahmuti, a leader of the Democratic Party of Kosova, said on 3 November that Yugoslavia's admission to the UN is "unacceptable" until Kosova has a special status, AP reported. Mahmuti, whose party won more than a quarter of the vote in municipal elections last week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 October 2000), said his party will try to ensure that the ethnic Albanian leadership in Kosova has the right to represent Kosova in the UN and other organizations. In other news, Flora Brovina, the Kosovar human rights activist released from a Serbian prison last week, called on ethnic Albanians to show respect for minority groups in Kosova. "We should prove that we can build and govern a society based on international standards... We [must] consider all citizens of Kosova as equals, regardless of religion, nationality, or political affiliations," she said. PB[20] HOLBROOKE SAYS INTERNATIONAL OFFICIALS REJECTED REQUEST TO BAN BOSNIAN SERB NATIONALISTSU.S. Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke said on 3 November that Bosnian High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch has refused to ban the nationalist Serb Democratic Party (SDS) from the upcoming general elections, AFP reported. Holbrooke said he believes the SDS is "a criminal organization and that it should be dismissed." He said he had failed on several occasions to persuade Petritsch to ban the party from the 11 November elections. Holbrooke added that the OSCE also refused to ban the SDS and he is "very disappointed" about that. The International Crisis Group said in its latest report that the SDS should be banned from the elections as well as from political life in Bosnia-Herzegovina. PB[21] CROATIA TO GET TROPHY ART BACK FROM YUGOSLAVIASerbian Culture Minister Milan Komnenic said on 3 November that Belgrade has agreed to return to Croatia thousands of art objects taken during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, AFP reported. Komnenic said most of the 7,966 works of art are from Vukovar, eastern Croatia. He said the return of the artwork is one of the conditions for Croatia to normalize relations between the two countries. The largest of the collections to be returned is a group of sculptures and paintings knows as the Bauer collection. PB[22] EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RAPPORTEUR URGES ROMANIA TO SPEED UP REFORMSEuropean Parliament rapporteur Emma Nicholson said on 3 November in Bucharest that the EU wants to accept Romania as a member as soon as possible but noted that the government to be formed after the 26 November elections must "accelerate the reform process," Romanian media reported. Nicholson offered Bulgaria as an example of a country that has achieved "considerable and positive progress" leading to 5 percent economic growth. Nicholson urged the new government to adopt in its first 100 days urgent measures in the field of privatization, agriculture, social security, and legislation supporting investment. ZsM[23] ROMANIA TO INTRODUCE VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR MOLDOVAN CITIZENSRomanian Interior Minister Constantin Dudu Ionescu announced on 4 November that Bucharest will introduce visa requirements for Moldovan citizens as of 1 January, Mediafax reported on 5 November. Ionescu said that some 70,000 Moldovan citizens have already obtained Romanian citizenship. The EU requires Romania to impose entry visas for the citizens of former Soviet republics and some Asian states in order to stem illegal immigration. Romania and Bulgaria have been trying to persuade the EU to abolish visa requirements for their citizens. ET[24] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PRAISES HUNGARY, CRITICIZES BULGARIAEmil Constantinescu on 4 November praised Hungary for supporting Romania in its EU and NATO integration bid as well as for its role in the Romanian- Hungarian reconciliation process, "Cotidianul" reported. Responding to Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov's request to the EU to analyze his country's progress separately from that of Romania, Constantinescu criticized Bulgaria for not acting in the same manner as Hungary. Visiting the central Romanian region, where ethnic Hungarians form a majority, Constantinescu called the Democratic Federation of Hungarians in Romania's (UDMR) participation in the ruling coalition a "success," adding that the UDMR is loyal to the coalition. He said that Harghita and Covasna counties represent a "model" of understanding between Romanians and Hungarians. ZsM[25] PROBLEMS SURROUND ROMANIAN MILITARY ASSOCIATIONA Defense Ministry press release on 3 November said that the three founding members of the National Association of Military Personnel in Romania (ANMR), together with a general and three colonels, have been dismissed for breaking the rules that apply to active military personnel, Romanian media reported. Interior Minister Ionescu also decided to ban all active ministry personnel from joining the ANMR and to punish those who have already joined. President Constantinescu said that the army is capable of carrying out the reforms needed to join NATO. In related news, Party of Social Democracy in Romania First Deputy Chairman Adrian Nastase on 2 November declared that the ANMR "would be useful" in the wake of a "military dictatorship." ZsM[26] MOLDOVAN WRITERS' UNION CONDEMNS RUSSIAN STATEMENT ON TRANSDNIESTERThe council of the Union of Writers of Moldova on 3 November issued a declaration sharply criticizing a statement by the October plenum in Tiraspol of the Union of Writers of the Russian Federation, AP Flux reported. The Moldovan writers said that the Russian appeal was aggressive and chauvinistic and inappropriate from people of culture. Moreover, they said, the Russian appeal was an open call for separatism. PG[27] MOLDOVAN, UKRAINIAN LEADERS DISCUSS TRANSDNIESTER ISSUEPresident Petru Lucinschi spoke by telephone on 3 November with his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, about expanding cooperation in a variety of areas, including resuming deadlocked talks about the Transdniestrian dispute, Infotag reported. Meanwhile, the authorities of the breakaway Transdniester Republic said the same day that they will resume talks with Chisinau after Moldova elects a new president, BASA-Press reported. PG[28] ROSCA SAYS MOLDOVAN, ROMANIAN UNIFICATION 'INEVITABLE'Iurie Rosca, the parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Popular Party, said on 3 November that "unification with Romania is inevitable," Infotag reported. In an interview published in "Kishinevskie novosti," Rosca said that Moldova's independence was "an historical accident" and that "this temporary state of things will continue for about a decade." PG[29] SOFIA URGED TO TAKE HARDER LINE ON VISA ISSUEBulgarian Helsinki member Yonko Grozev told BTA on 3 November that "now that the Bulgarian government has met all conditions for the lifting of visa requirements, it has the right to take a harder line" in talks with the EU. Meanwhile, Bulgarian scholars said that the EU's approach is cynical, especially since so few Bulgarians can afford to travel abroad. PG[30] RULING BULGARIAN PARTY SEEKS TO BROADEN BASEAt a meeting in Borovets on 4 November, the governing Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) announced that it will seek to broaden the basis of the government in order to preclude a partnership with the Socialist Party and the latter's allies, BTA reported. PG[31] LIBYA AGAIN POSTPONES BULGARIAN MEDICS' TRIALA Libyan court on 4 November postponed the trial of six Bulgarian medical workers accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus, Reuters reported, quoting Bulgarian Foreign Ministry Officials. PG[32] CORRECTION:The 3 November "RFE/RL Newsline" carried an incorrect headline. "MEMORIAL CROSS, STATUE VANDALIZED IN BULGARIA" should have read " MEMORIAL CROSS, STATUE VANDALIZED IN HUNGARY."[C] END NOTE[33] MINORITY MEDIA AND NATIONAL INTEGRATIONBy Paul GobleA recent survey of the national minority press in Bulgaria highlights the ways that such media can help mobilize ethnic communities and the contribution they can make to the integration of these groups into the broader society. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, together with a Bulgarian survey agency, last week published the results of a survey of the ethnic press in Bulgaria. That survey included 19 ethnic publications--seven Romany, three Armenian, two Wallachian and Romanian, two Jewish, two Russian, two Turkish, and one Macedonian--for the period from May 1999 to May 2000. Only one, "Evrena," the newspaper of the Armenian community, was self- supporting. And one large minority, the Turkish community, generally relied on publications from abroad rather than generating its own output. The authors of the survey reached three general conclusions, each of which appears to be applicable to the ethnic minority press in other countries as well. First, the authors found that the publications of those groups that are the most integrated into Bulgarian society had the largest printruns per capita. Publications directed at the Jewish community, for example, generally produce one issue a month for every two Jews among the population, whereas there is only one issue of a Romany newspaper for every 10 Romany citizens each month. This "circulation paradox," the authors of the survey suggest, reflects cultural differences among the groups and also the important role that the ethnic press can and does play in helping integrate communities into the broader society. Some members of the dominant community view the ethnic press as a threat to national unity, but the survey suggests that it plays the opposite role. As the authors of the study note, the prevailing opinion among ethnic groups in Bulgaria is that the ethnic publications directed at them should be issued in both Bulgarian and those groups' native tongues, an arrangement that would appear to promote national consolidation. Second, the survey's authors concluded that the newspapers of such minorities will need subsidies from either community groups or the government in order to continue. Because those groups are small, the publications seldom are able to attract the necessary advertising or subscription income. Even the one self-supporting newspaper in the survey was able to cover only 80 percent of its costs through advertising and newspaper sales. Consequently, the national government and other institutions of the majority national community may have a compelling interest in providing subsidies to ensure that the newspapers of ethnic minority communities will not only continue to appear but even gain in influence. And third, the authors of the survey pointed out that those communities that do not have a strong domestically produced ethnic press are more likely than others to turn to publications from their co-ethnics abroad. They cited the case of Bulgaria's 800,000 Turks, the ethnic minority that in the past has presented some of the biggest challenges to Sofia. The Turkish-language paper with the largest circulation has a printrun of only 7,000, "too small," the authors of the survey argue, for the large community it serves. As a result, ethnic Turks in Bulgaria turn to "Yumit" and "Zaman," subsidiaries of Turkish newspapers produced in Turkey. The survey's compilers noted that Bulgarian Turks accept these newspapers from abroad "as ethnic publications," but precisely because the focus of these newspapers is on Turkey, rather than on Bulgaria, such media outlets may promote separatist or even irredentist feelings rather than generate the kind of integrationist feelings that the domestic ethnic press appears to do. Bulgaria is far from the only country in Eastern Europe and in the post- Soviet area that is wrestling with the problems of ethnic minorities and the ethnic press. The conclusions of this survey suggest that other governments, some of which have been openly hostile to the non-majority press, may want to reconsider their views about the role that minority media play. 06-11-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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