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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 5, 01-01-09Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 5, 9 January 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN TO REMAIN IN DETENTIONActing on a request from state prosecutors, a Yerevan court last week prolonged for a further month the pretrial detention of business magnate Arkadii Vartanian, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 8 January. Vartanian was arrested on 30 October following a protest rally he convened in Yerevan and charged with calling for the overthrow of the Armenian leadership (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 October and 8 November 2000). Vartanian's supporters had convened a rally on 6 January near the Armenian National Security Ministry building to protest his continued detention, Noyan Tapan reported. LF[02] OBSERVERS SAY AZERBAIJANI POLL FELL SHORT OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS...In a statement released in Baku on 8 January, OSCE observers characterized the 7 January repeat parliamentary elections in 11 constituencies as showing "some improvement" over the flawed 5 November ballot, but concluded that the elections "still did not meet a number of international standards for democratic elections." The statement noted that measures taken by the Azerbaijan authorities following the 5 November ballot "failed to restore full confidence in the election process." As a result, "the repeat elections took place in an atmosphere of mistrust and were marked by the boycott of several opposition parties," the statement said. LF[03] ...AS PRELIMINARY RESULTS MADE PUBLICAccording to the preliminary results released by the Central Electoral Commission on 8 January and cited by Turan, independent candidates won two of the 11 mandates and representatives of the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan Party-- four, while the pro-regime Ana Vatan party, the reformist wing of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, the Yurddash Party, a splinter group that split from the Civic Solidarity Party, and the Alliance in the Name of Azerbaijan each gained one. LF[04] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA CONFRONT 'BALKAN SYNDROME'Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Colonel General Safar Abiev has ordered that the Azerbaijani servicemen who have returned from serving with the UN KFOR force in Kosova should undergo medical examinations to determine whether any of them have suffered health damage from exposure to NATO weaponry conaining depleted uranium, Turan reported on 9 January. A Georgian official stated on 5 January that none of the several dozen Georgians who served with that force has shown any signs of contracting leukaemia. LF[05] FORMER GEORGIAN DEPUTY MINISTER ARRESTED ON CORRUPTION CHARGESFormer Deputy Minister of Agriculture Guram Didberidze and former ministry official Aleksandr Kakashvili were arrested in Tbilisi on 8 January and charged with misappropriation of state property and abuse of their official position, Caucasus Press reported the following day. Didbaridze is suspected of having misappropriated over 2 million laris ($1 million) from the sale of agricultural equipment donated by the Japanese government. LF[06] CHINA TO FINANCE TURKEY-GEORGIA RAIL LINKTurkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his visiting Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan signed an agreement in Ankara on 8 January whereby Beijing will finance construction of the planned railway linking the Turkish city of Kars and Tbilisi, AP reported. China envisages that link as part of a railway linking China via Central Asia with the Turkish Mediterranean coast. The outcome of the initial tender proclaimed in November 1997 for construction of that railway was nullified in the spring of 1999 due to financial disagreements. LF[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S OIL PRODUCTION UP IN 2000Production of oil and gas concentrate in Kazakhstan increased by 17.3 percent compared with the previous year to 35.26 million tons, exceeding the planned tagret by 5.2 percent, Interfax reported on 5 January. The largest single producer was the Tengizchevroil consortium with 10.5 million tons of oil, which represents a year-on-year increase of 9.6 percent. LF[08] TAJIK INTERIOR MINISTRY DISMISSES RUMORS OF NEW KHUDOIBERDIEV INVASIONAn Interior Ministry official in Tajikistan's Sughd region has dismissed as groundless rumors that rebel Colonel Mahmud Khudoiberdiev may launch a new incursion into Tajikistan, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 9 January. But he added that local law enforcement and other power forces recently held exercises in the region and are prepared to repulse any aggression. Khudoiberdiev's forces invaded Tajikistan's Leninabad Oblast from neighboring Uzbekistan in November 1998. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[09] TOP MONTENEGRIN POLICE OFFICIAL SHOT DEADAn unknown gunman or gunmen shot and killed Darko-Beli Raspopovic in a crowded square in central Podgorica on 8 January, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. He was the head of uniformed police in the mountainous republic, reporting directly to Interior Minister Vukasin Maras. This is the second possibly political killing in Montenegro in less than one year. Last May, President Milo Djukanovic's security adviser, Goran Zugic, was shot and killed on a Podgorica street (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 June 2000). The murder was never solved. PM[10] MONTENEGRIN GOVERNING PARTY OFFERS EARLY ELECTION DEALSvetozar Marovic, who is deputy chairman of Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), said in Podgorica on 8 January that early parliamentary elections should take place before the end of March, "Pobjeda" reported on 9 January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 January 2001). Whoever wins the election would then have the duty to organize a referendum on independence, he continued. Predrag Bulatovic of the pro-Belgrade Socialist People's Party (SNP) said that his party will probably have an answer for the DPS at the beginning of the coming week. PM[11] YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER: DIALOGUE, NOT REFERENDUM, THE SOLUTIONZoran Zizic (SNP) told a private television station in Podgorica that the solutions to Yugoslavia's problems lie in dialogue and negotiations, "Vesti" reported on 9 January. He said that Montenegro should hold early parliamentary elections and then enter negotiations with Belgrade without holding a referendum on independence. Djukanovic considers such a referendum necessary in view of the importance of the issues involved. With regard to Kosova, Zizic also called for dialogue with "elected leaders" of the province's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority. He did not address the fact that no Albanian political party is interested in anything but independence (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 15 and 22 December 2000). Turning to the tensions in the Presevo valley, Zizic said that the authorities will not negotiate with the "terrorists" there because they are not appropriate partners for a dialogue. PM[12] PROTIC TO REPRESENT YUGOSLAVIA IN WASHINGTONU.S.-trained historian Milan Protic will be Yugoslavia's next ambassador to the U.S., "Danas" reported on 9 January. Protic, who was recently elected mayor of Belgrade, promised to leave the capital "in good hands." His critics charge that Protic owes it to the voters to remain in Belgrade for at least one term. His supporters argue that there is perhaps nobody in the Serbian leadership who is so at home with the U.S., its culture, and its idiom as Protic. They stress that he is the best person to repair the damage inflicted on Washington-Belgrade ties by Milosevic and to reinvigorate the relationship. PM[13] YUGOSLAVIA'S 'GORAN IN THE LION'S DEN'In the first direct top-level contact between Belgrade and the Atlantic alliance since the 1999 conflict in Kosova, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic will pay an "unofficial" visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels on 10 January, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. He will meet with Secretary-General Lord Robertson and other top officials. PM[14] NEW MILITARY COMMAND STRUCTURE FOR BELGRADE?Retired General Zivota Panic said in Frusa Gora that the current Yugoslav Supreme Defense Council is too unwieldy to provide effective leadership in times of crisis. He suggested that it be replaced with a Serbian Security Council responsible directly to the president, as is the case in many other countries, "Vesti" reported on 8 January. Under the current Yugoslav constitution, supreme military authority formally lies with the General Staff. Milosevic's admirers referred to him as the "commander-in-chief," but that title does not appear in the constitution. PM[15] THIEVES STEAL POLICE WEAPONS IN SERBIAN CAPITALUnidentified persons broke into a police warehouse and took weapons with a black market value of $85,000, AP reported on 9 January. The haul included 60 submachine guns, 137 handguns, and 166 assault rifles, in addition to more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition. There was no sign of a forced entry. Serbian Interior Minister Bozo Prelevic said: "Someone must go to jail for this." PM[16] PRESEVO REFUGEES RETURN HOMESaip Kamberi, who heads the Committee for Human Rights in the Presevo village of Lucane, told RFE/RL's South Slavic Service on 8 January that almost all of the local people who fled during recent fighting have come home. Those with homes in the part of the village that is outside the demilitarized zone have moved into quarters inside the zone, however. This because Serbian police have occupied the homes in Lucane outside the zone. PM[17] BOSNIAN SERB EX-PRESIDENT TO HAGUE?Biljana Plavsic will go to The Hague by 15 January to testify in an undisclosed capacity before the war crimes tribunal, "Vesti" reported on 9 January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 January 2001). The daily added that "all top officials" of the Republika Srpska know about Plavsic's plans but are maintaining a "wall of silence" around the affair. Speculation is that Plavsic will tell the tribunal what she knows about the role of former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war in return for leniency in her own case. It is widely believed in Bosnia that Plavsic appears on the tribunal's secret list of indictees for her supposed role in planning the "ethnic cleansing" of Serbian-held territory during the war. She broke with Milosevic during the war over his lack of zeal for the Bosnian Serb cause. She later worked closely with representatives of the international community without, however, renouncing her nationalist views. Known as the "Iron Lady" and "Ice Queen," she now enjoys little political influence among Bosnian Serbs. PM[18] HAGUE PROSECUTOR TO CROATIAPrime Minister Ivica Racan said in Zagreb on 8 January that Carla Del Ponte, who is the Hague-based war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, will discuss issues involving Zagreb-Hague cooperation in the Croatian capital on 15 January. He repeated observations made recently by Hague spokesmen that the ongoing wave of speculation in the Croatian press on possible indicted war criminals has unnecessarily "created an atmosphere of fear." One issue on the agenda is the tribunal's interest in tapes of the late President Franjo Tudjman's conversations with his aides. Meanwhile in The Hague, Del Ponte's spokeswoman said that she is still waiting for Belgrade to fix the date of the prosecutor's visit to the Serbian capital, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[19] CROATIA REVIEWING SERBIAN PROPERTY CLAIMSThe authorities have begun reviewing some 18,000 "temporary decisions" made by the previous government to allow Croatian refugees to live in the homes of Serbs who fled abroad, Hina reported on 8 January. Some 11,000 claims have been filed by Serbs for the return of their property. Some 3,531 properties have already been given back to their owners. PM[20] REGIONAL COOPERATION BETWEEN SLAVONIA, VOJVODINATop officials from eastern Slavonia and Vojvodina met in Ilok on 8 January to discuss regional cooperation, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The Serbian representatives pledged to help find and return cultural properties from Vukovar taken to Serbia during the 1990-1995 conflict. The Croatian representatives also called for an investigation into the fate of missing Croatian civilians and soldiers. PM[21] ROMANIA APOLOGIZES FOR BORDER INCIDENTThe Foreign Ministry on 9 January officially apologized for the 7 January incident at the Romanian-Hungarian border in which Roman Catholic priest Imre Kozma, head of the Hungarian branch of the Maltese Charity Order, was attacked by an unidentified assailant (see Hungarian item above). The ministry said the incident is "singular and unprecedented" and "by no means reflects on Romanian-Hungarian" relations and on Romanian public opinion attitudes towards Hungary, Mediafax reported. The Romanian ambassador to Budapest, Petru Cordos, has been instructed to inform the Hungarian authorities about the ongoing police investigation of the incident. MS[22] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIAN MINORITY TO HAVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS?Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) Chairman Bela Marko on 8 January discussed with Viorel Hrebenciuc, leader of the parliamentary group of the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), the appointment of UDMR members as deputy prefects in counties with a large Magyar minority proportion, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The UDMR wants ethnic Hungarians to be appointed deputy prefects in the Harghita, Covasna, Satu Mare, Salaj, Bihor and Cluj counties. The UDMR's Consultative Council on 6 January approved the 27 December agreement signed by the party's leadership with the PDSR and Marko told the forum that a "non-verbal" part of that agreement stipulates the appointment of UDMR members in counties with a large Hungarian minority population. MS[23] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER EXPLAINS EXTREMIST ELECTORAL SUCCESSIn an interview with the German daily "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung," Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana said that "only poverty and mistrust in existing state institutions" can explain the transformation of the extremist Greater Romania Party into the country's second-largest parliamentary formation, Romanian Radio reported on 8 January. Geoana said that it is "high time to renounce rhetoric and move to deeds." He said Romania's problems do not derive from "mistaken policy orientations," but from "meager achievements" and, unlike its predecessor, the present government "will not waste its time on internal quarrels" but proceed to implement needed changes. MS[24] ROMANIAN SENATE CHAIRMAN DENIES 'CONFLICT OF INTERESTS'Nicolae Vacaroiu told Mediafax on 8 January that there is "no conflict of interests" between his chairmanships of both the Senate and the Development and Investments Bank (BID). He nonetheless added that he will "soon" decide whether to resign his BID position, following his recent election at the head of the Senate. MS[25] ROMANIAN INFORMATION MINISTER DENIES INTENTION TO SUBORDINATE TV, RADIOPublic Information Minister Vasile Dancu told journalists on 5 January that rumors of his ministry's intention to place Romanian TV and radio under the subordination of his ministry are "groundless," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Dancu said his ministry is "committed to the freedom of the press, which is a constitutional right," and that the two institutions will remain subordinated to parliamentary supervision and control as "public institutions." MS[26] ROMANIAN INTELLIGENCE CHIEF TO TAKE UP DIPLOMATIC POSTCostin Georgescu, outgoing director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, will be his country's ambassador to Cyprus, Mediafax reported on 5 January. Georgescu has been appointed to that post by former President Emil Constantinescu. President Ion Iliescu has canceled the appointment made by Constantinescu of former Prosecutor General Mircea Criste as Romanian ambassador to Germany. MS[27] MOLDOVA'S INFANT MORTALITY AMONG HIGHESTMoldova has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, ITAR- TASS reported on 8 January, citing a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report released on the same day. The report says the mortality rate among newborn infants is 18 per one thousand and that of children under 5 years 23 per one thousand. Almost one out of three children is anemic. MS[28] BULGARIAN EURO-LEFT WANTS PRESIDENTIAL POWERS EXPANDEDEuro-Left leader Alexander Tomov told President Petar Stoyanov on 4 January that his party intends to propose that the envisaged constitutional amendments currently under debate include an expansion of presidential prerogatives, the BBC monitoring service reported, citing Bulgarian Radio. Tomov said the president must be granted the right to legislative initiative and that a presidential veto should be overruled by a special, rather than a simple majority of law-makers. MS[C] END NOTE[29] ARMENIA EMBARKS ON YEAR-LONG CHRISTIANITY CELEBRATIONBy Emil DanielyanArmenia is celebrating the 1700th anniversary of Armenians' conversion to Christianity. An ancient Armenian kingdom in 301 AD became the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion. And the Armenian Apostolic Church wants the year-long celebration that began on New Year's Eve to be an extraordinary occasion for enhancing the role of religion in public life. But the country's authorities are seeking also to cash in on the commemoration as a huge commercial undertaking, seizing on the occasion to attract investment in Armenia's struggling economy. The authorities also aim for worldwide publicity. Official hopes for the festivities underlie government forecasts of an economic upswing next year that foresees output growing by an unprecedented 8 percent. Institutions such as the World Bank have acknowledged the economic significance of the Christianity anniversary. The bank's resident representative in Yerevan, Owaise Saadat, recently told reporters "This is an opportunity for us to project Armenia's image, to tell the people who don't know about Armenia what a potential it has." There are forecasts of a record influx of tourists -- official estimates of 150,000 to 200,000 -- with each visitor injecting at least $1,000 a into the economy. Local travel agencies are more cautious in their predictions but also expect a major rise in tourism. The biggest problem facing them, they say, is a lack of acceptable hotels. Anahit Papazian, who is a senior executive at the Levon Travel agency, told RFE/RL "I'm not sure we are prepared to accommodate so many people. First of all, we don't have enough hotel beds. We are struggling to make reservations for our customers due in 2001." She said that ethnic Armenians, mostly diaspora Armenians from Europe and the United States, comprise the greatest market potential for visitors to Armenia, expresing regret that "unfortunately, the influx of tourists to Armenia has a strictly ethnic character. We haven't yet been able to arouse Westerners' interest. Very few of them come to Armenia." Apres Zohrabian, a manager at the Sati Armenia company, which specializes in sightseeing tours for foreigners, says the demand for hotels is now three times the supply. He said prices at the few Yerevan hotels which meet international standards have shot up by 30 percent as a result. The tourist industry hopes that a number of hotels under construction with completion dates set for next May will help. This promises, however, only a partial solution. The authorities plan to accommodate a large share of the expected visitors in private apartments available for rent. Armenian President Robert Kocharian headed a state commission that developed a timetable of special events to include religious ceremonies, festivals, theatrical shows and concerts. The celebrations are to reach their climax in September with the opening of a new huge cathedral in the capital Yerevan. The organizers have invited Pope John Paul to the opening, and report that the Vatican has tentatively accepted that invitation. The head of the Armenian Church, Catholicos Garegin, says he hopes that the 1700th anniversary not only will expose Armenia's Christian identity to the outside world but also return religion to the day-to-day life of Armenians who lost touch with many Christian rites and traditions during 70 years of Soviet rule. But that is not what primarily preoccupies the country's secular authorities. Khosrov Harutiunian, deputy chairman of the organizing commission, met at year's end with leading businessmen to discuss commercial participation. The commission offers licenses for local manufacturers to adopt the official logo of the celebrations. A brewery in Yerevan has expressed interest in placing it on its labels. The organizers also envisage advertising space in official booklets and travel guides to be circulated abroad. An aide to the Armenian Minister of Industry and Trade has urged export-oriented firms to seize on the opportunity to market their products. The government has obtained $22 million from two Armenian-American charities to upgrade Armenian tourist infrastructure. The grants are being mainly spent on the repair of roads and bridges leading to medieval churches and monasteries. Emil Danielyan is a correspondent with RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau. 09-01-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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