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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 18, 01-01-26Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 18, 26 January 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] WORLD BANK TO HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR ARMENIAN CENSUSWorld Bank official Vigen Sarkisian said on 25 January that the Bank will approach several international agencies, including the U.S. government's agency for statistical information, with a request to contribute towards the estimated $2.2 million cost of conducting the census scheduled to be held in Armenia in October 2001, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The Armenian government had said earlier this month that the census may have to be postponed as this year's budget allocates only $200,000 towards the cost (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 January 2001). LF[02] ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN ACCEPTED INTO COUNCIL OF EUROPE...The official ceremony marking the acceptance of Armenia and Azerbaijan into full membership of the Council of Europe took place in Strasbourg on 25 January. In his English-language address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe after the ceremonial hoisting of the two countries' flags, Armenian President Robert Kocharian stressed that "Armenia has always associated itself with Europe, its history, its values and culture," and that "the priorities and objectives of Armenia are in full conformity with the values and practices of Europe and its institutions," Noyan Tapan reported. Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev, who spoke in Azerbaijani, for his part said "we will remain committed to the Azerbaijani people's and government's ideals and principles of humanism and respect for democracy and freedoms based on human rights." He also said that Azerbaijan will continue implementing reforms "in a well-thought out way," but "not because anyone wants us to implement them." LF[03] ...AS PRESIDENTS FOCUS ON KARABAKH CONFLICTPresident Kocharian in his address to the Parliamentary Assembly acknowledged that "we still remain a weaker link in the wider system of European security," Noyan Tapan reported. He said the Karabakh peace process "has in the past few years acquired certain new and positive elements," and said he considers the OSCE Minsk Group as the most appropriate format for continuing attempts to resolve the conflict. But he also argued, as Armenian officials have consistently done, that the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic should be recognized as an equal party to the conflict, and that a solution requires "a broader formulation" of the concept of sovereignty. Aliev in his address accused Armenia of "large-scale aggression" against Azerbaijan, and the international community of failing to condemn that "fearful tragedy," Reuters reported. Aliev again said that the Karabakh war had left over one million Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons. "Yeni Azerbaycan," the newspaper of the eponymous ruling party, of which Aliev is chairman, quoted the Azerbaijan State Statistics Committee on 12 January as giving the total number of refugees and displaced persons as 791,824. The two presidents told a news conference later on 25 January that Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov made new proposals on resolving the Karabakh conflict during his visits to Yerevan and Baku on 21-22 January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 January 2001). LF[04] ISRAELI PRESIDENT VISITS GEORGIAArriving in Tbilisi on 25 January for a two-day official visit, Moshe Katsav met with his Georgian counterpart Eduard Shevardnadze for what the latter termed "useful and resultative talks" marking "the beginning of a strategic partnership." The two presidents pledged to broaden cooperation, especially in the economic sphere, and signed a declaration that noted inter alia Israel's role as one of the most prominent foreign investors in Georgia. Katsav also expressed appreciation that during Shevardnadze's tenure as Soviet Foreign Minister, over a million Jews were able to emigrate from the USSR to Israel. LF[05] UN OFFICIAL ACCUSES RUSSIA OF SABOTAGING ABKHAZ SETTLEMENTDieter Boden, who is the UN Secretary General's special envoy for Abkhazia, has accused Moscow of hindering a political solution to the Abkhaz conflict by its objections to unspecified provisions of the settlement plan drafted by the UN, Caucasus Press reported on 25 January. Russia's representatives to the UN Security Council declined last summer to discuss that draft, saying they were not empowered to do so (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 August 2000). LF[06] GEORGIAN POLICE PREVENT DEMONSTRATION BY FORMER PRESIDENT'S SUPPORTERSGeorgian police on 25 January prevented supporters of deceased President Zviad Gamsakhurdia from staging a march to the state chancellery in Tbilisi to demand Shevardnadze's resignation and the release of persons they consider political prisoners, Caucasus Press reported. Police rounded up the protesters, forced them into buses and drove them miles outside the city limits before releasing them. Parliament deputy Djemal Gamakharia (21st Century) condemned the police measure as a violation of human rights, and claimed that the whereabouts of some 50 demonstrators are still unknown. LF[07] EU CONDEMNS SENTENCE ON KYRGYZ OPPOSITIONISTIn a statement issued on 25 January, the EU's Permanent Council expressed "grave concern" at the circumstances surrounding the trial and seven-year jail sentenced handed down on opposition Ar-Namys Party chairman and former Kyrgyz Vice President Feliks Kulov (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 January 2001). Echoing a U.S. State Department spokesman, the EU statement said that "the handling of the case by the Kyrgyz authorities nourished the suspicion that the case may be politically motivated." The statement urges the Kyrgyz authorities to ensure that "due transparent process" is observed during the appeal case. It further recalled that the EU earlier expressed similar concern about the recent court cases against Kyrgyz human rights activist Ramazan Dyryldaev and opposition politician Topchubek Turgunaliev. LF[08] KYRGYZSTAN, TAJIKISTAN BRING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST U.S. TOBACCO GIANTKyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have filed suit in a Florida court against Philip Morris Inc. and other U.S. tobacco companies for hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for damage to smokers' health, ITAR-TASS reported on 25 January. Russia earlier filed a similar suit. LF[09] TURKMENISTAN NAMES NEW AMBASSADOR TO U.S.President Saparmurat Niyazov has appointed Mered Orazov as Turkmenistan's ambassador to the U.S., "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 25 January quoting Turkmenistan.ru. Orazov was until recently rector of the Turkmen State University. LF[10] UZBEKISTAN CUTS NATURAL GAS SUPPLIES TO KYRGYZSTANUzbekistan cut natural gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan during the night of 24-25 January, partly in retaliation for Bishkek's $1.35 million unpaid debt for earlier supplies, and partly because of a pipeline accident, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Kyrgyzgas Director General Turgunbek Kulmurzaev said the reason he cannot discharge those debts is that Kyrgyz consumers owe his company a total of 236 million soms (about $4.8 million). He added that a gas company in neighboring Kazakhstan has agreed to supply some gas to Kyrgyzstan for the next few days. The deputy presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed an agreement last month rescheduling Kyrgyzstan's gas debts and specifying the amount of gas Uzbekistan is to supply Kyrgyzstan in 2001 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 December 2000). LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] YUGOSLAV MINISTER: MILOSEVIC WILL BE TRIED IN SERBIAForeign Minister Goran Svilanovic said in Sofia on 25 January that the government insists that former President Slobodan Milosevic be tried in Serbia and not in The Hague. "We are interested in cooperating with the Hague tribunal. But we believe that handing Milosevic over is not the only way to cooperate... [The trials of Milosevic and others] will be the beginning of [a process of national] reconciliation... and will take several years. We believe that trying these people in Yugoslavia will enable society to face [up to] the crimes that were committed, and this will be part of building new democratic institutions," Reuters quoted Svilanovic as saying. PM[12] DEL PONTE: SERBIA'S MILOSEVIC WILL BE TRIED IN THE HAGUECarla Del Ponte, who is the Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor, said in Belgrade on 25 January that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica prevented "any meaningful dialogue" during her three-day visit to the Serbian capital (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 January 2001). "My feeling is that he was practically forced to meet me. For half an hour I had to listen to him saying things which I already knew, since he had already said them to the press. I tried to get into dialogue but it was practically impossible. He obviously wanted to make a political declaration," the "Guardian" quoted her as saying. Del Ponte stressed that Milosevic and other indicted war criminals must be tried in The Hague, adding that she "cannot wait years until fugitives are transferred" to the Dutch city. She noted that "the important thing is that [Serbian Prime Minister Zoran] Djindjic and others recognize the obligation to cooperate. They say they must implement a new law and need two or three months before they can be fully active in cooperation" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 January 2001) PM[13] EU: SERBIA TO GET AID DESPITE NON-COOPERATION WITH HAGUEEuropean Commission President Romano Prodi said in Geneva on 25 January that he has "full confidence" in Kostunica and places "no conditions" on him in return for EU aid. Prodi rejected attempts to link EU aid to Belgrade's cooperation with the tribunal, adding that Kostunica "needs time, " Reuters reported. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the U.S. is "disappointed" with the results of Del Ponte's visit. In Podgorica, Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic said that "all serious and responsible people must accept cooperation with the tribunal... I believe full cooperation...is necessary," AP reported. PM[14] DJINDJIC TAKES CHARGE OF SERBIAN GOVERNMENTDjindjic and his reform government were sworn in on 25 January. As prime minister, Djindjic has arguably the single most powerful job in Belgrade. Djindjic said: "We shall not organize a witch hunt, but we won't let the members of the former regime hold on to the assets they plundered from the people," AP reported. He added that "my government won't lie to you, and we won't steal. And this is a solemn pledge." The governing Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition has already outlined a broad package of political and economic reforms. They include promoting democracy and transparency while eliminating crime and corruption. One high priority is depoliticizing the police, military, media, and judiciary. PM[15] SERBIAN GOVERNMENT SACKS MILOSEVIC'S SECURITY CHIEFOne of the first acts of the new government was to appoint former police official Goran Petrovic to head the huge security apparatus. His predecessor, Rade Markovic, resigned just hours earlier, Reuters reported. Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said that Petrovic knows the problems of the security forces well and can be counted on to "democratize" them. PM[16] GUERRILLAS FIRE ON BRITISH KFOR TROOPSSome 10 unidentified men wearing olive green uniforms fired on British KFOR troops near Ukmemet along the border between Serbia and Kosova, KFOR said in a statement from Camp Bondsteel on 25 January. The 10 men then returned to the demilitarized zone just inside the Serbian side of the frontier. There have been no reports of incidents since then. PM[17] DID SERBIAN FORCES BURN BODIES OF KOSOVAR VICTIMS?Washington-based U.S. National Public Radio quoted Serbian eyewitnesses as saying that Serbian forces burned the corpses of up to 1,500 ethnic Albanian atrocity victims in 1999. The burnings allegedly took place at the Trepca lead mining and metallurgical complex near Mitrovica. If the story is true, the figure would account for about one-half of the Kosovars still reported missing from the 1998-1999 conflict, AP reported on 25 January. PM[18] SERBIAN WITNESSES: KOSOVAR BODIES BURNED TO HIDE EVIDENCEOne witness said that the bodies were first dug up from mass graves that NATO satellites had identified in their search for evidence of war crimes, AP reported from Washington on 25 January. The bodies were too large to fit inside Trepca's furnaces, so they were first ground up in an ore-processing machine, the witness added. The witnesses gave only their first names. One of the men said: "The point was not to hide the bodies in mass graves but to totally destroy them. It would be as if these people never existed." He added: "I think our people understood that sooner or later some of these Western organizations, like the Hague tribunal, might come into Kosovo. We needed a good way to destroy the evidence," Reuters reported. Another witness added: "This was a horrible scene because there were so many--like a factory assembly line, but with bodies." PM[19] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT WANTS REFERENDUM, PRESIDENTIAL VOTE AFTER ELECTIONSDjukanovic told a Podgorica news conference on 25 January that he wants a referendum on independence and new presidential elections to follow soon on the heels of the 22 April early parliamentary elections, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 January 2001). "After the formation of the new parliament, I will propose at its first regular session calling a referendum on the legal status of Montenegro. It is fully logical that after the referendum, citizens should say whom they want to lead them in the next period," Djukanovic added. The president stressed that he expects the EU to respect the will of the Montenegrin voters (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 January 2001). PM[20] CROATIAN POLICE SMASH ARMS, DRUGS RINGHina quoted police sources in Zagreb on 25 January as saying that the police have broken up a major arms and drugs smuggling operation. Police arrested two alleged ring-leaders and 10 smugglers. Among the goods seized were a cache of weapons and 71 kilograms of marijuana. Most of the weapons came from the stocks of the former Yugoslav army. PM[21] OLD DIRECTOR IS NEW DIRECTOR OF SLOVENIAN TELEVISIONThe Radio and Television Council voted by a narrow majority to keep Janez Cadez as head of Radio and Television Slovenia, "Dnevnik" reported on 26 January. PM[22] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT CRITICIZED FOR MARKET REFORMS HOSTILE REMARKS...President Ion Iliescu's remarks hostile to market reforms (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 January 2001) were harshly criticized the next day, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. National Liberal Party (PNL) First Deputy Chairman Valeriu Stoica said Iliescu is "sabotaging his own government" and hinted that the PNL might consider withdrawing support from the cabinet. Democratic Party leader Petre Roman said the remarks "entail a sense of deja vu," but added that Iliescu's remarks might have been inaccurately carried by the media. Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania Executive Chairman Laszlo Borbely deemed the remarks "strange," commenting that as president Iliescu is entitled to his opinions, but "decision-making in these matters belongs to the cabinet and the parliament." But extremist Greater Romania Party First Deputy Chairman Corneliu Ciontu said Iliescu has "realized his mistakes" and the government must follow suit. MS[23] ...PROMPTING PRESIDENTIAL SELF-DEFENSEThe "abusive interpretation" of his remarks is "an unpleasant surprise" for President Iliescu, presidential spokeswoman Corina Cretu told journalists on 26 January. Cretu said the president had "merely pointed to some inconsistencies" in the policies of the World Bank towards Romania, but considers the bank and the IMF to be "Romania's natural partners" in the country's "quest for development." IMF representative in Romania Stephane Cosse, in an interview with RFE/RL's Romanian service, refused to comment on the president's remarks, saying he was "unaware of the context in which they were made." MS[24] EU TELLS ROMANIA 'PROMISES ARE INSUFFICIENT'Guenter Verheugen, European commissioner for enlargement, told journalists on 25 January after meeting Adrian Nastase in Brussels: "I have frankly told the Prime Minister that so far we are not fully satisfied with Romania's performance in the accession process. It is important for Romania to catch up." He added that "We want to see clear results. Promises, written papers, are not sufficient," Reuters reported. MS[25] ROMANIA MOVES MOTION ON ILASCU IN STRASBOURGRomania's delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 January moved a draft resolution stipulating that the case of Ilie Ilascu, who is detained in Tiraspol, be re-tried in a Council of Europe member state, Romanian Radio reported. The draft, which is supported by 38 parliamentarians from 18 countries, will be debated in one of the sessions of the assembly. Gyorgy Frunda, chairman of the Romanian Senate's Commission on Human Rights and a member of the Romanian delegation in Strasbourg, said the case is "complex" because both Moldova's ambassador to the Council of Europe and the chairman of the Moldovan Supreme Court have confirmed that Ilascu "has shot and killed two people." Frunda said the judicial review must establish whether he did so in self-defense, and added that it is "inadmissible that he be detained in inhuman conditions and denied medical care." MS[26] MOLDOVAN PREMIER LOOKS AHEAD TO ELECTIONSPrime Minister Dumitru Braghis told journalists in Chisinau on 25 January that he expects the Braghis Alliance to win at least 30 seats in the 25 February parliamentary elections. Braghis said he is counting on the support of "broad strata of the population," as the alliance includes representatives of different parties and different population groups. He also said that the Party of Moldovan Communists' (PCM) recent declaration that the Braghis Alliance has few chances in the electoral contest was determined by his refusal to run in the contest on the communist ticket. Braghis said he believes the alliance will "attract a large part of the communist electorate," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. MS[27] MOLDOVA TO ABOLISH PARLIAMENTARY IMMUNITY?The Constitutional Court on 25 January ruled that a bill proposed by 34 deputies to amend the Constitution to abolish parliamentary immunity in Moldova is in line with existing legal procedure. The bill's backers argued that all citizens are equal before the law and parliamentarians must not enjoy any privilege. They also say other legislatures, such as the Austrian and the Swiss, have also abolished such immunity. In line with existing legislation, the parliament may start debates on the bill six months after the court's ruling and must end them within six months. If it does not do so, the court's ruling losses its legal force and the procedure must be started anew. MS[28] BULGARIA, YUGOSLAVIA SIGN ACCORDSDuring his one day visit to Bulgaria (see above), Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic and his Bulgarian counterpart, Nadezhda Mihailova, signed a re-admission agreement to combat illegal immigration. Illegal refugees who cross from one country to the other will be sent back across the border. Svilanovic and Mihailova also pledged to cooperate in joint infrastructure projects, including the construction of cross-border highways and cleaning the River Danube of the debris left by NATO's air strikes in 1999, Reuters reported. MS[29] BULGARIAN LEFTISTS FORM PRE-ELECTORAL ALLIANCEThe main opposition Socialist Party (BSP) on 25 January announced it has reached an agreement with 14 extraparliamentary formations and civic movements to set up an alliance for the general elections scheduled for later this year, Reuters reported. A BSP spokesman told the agency that the party's goal is "to form a wide coalition government that would have broad public support, rather than a cabinet backed by a single party." The alliance is called Coalition for Bulgaria and includes, apart from the BSP, three social-democratic parties, two movements representing the Roma minority, a leftist agrarian party, several civic movements and the non- reformed Bulgarian Communist Party. MS[30] RUSSIA UNHAPPY WITH BULGARIA VISA REGIMEThe Russian embassy in Sofia on 24 January said it "regretted" Bulgaria's intention to introduce visa requirements for Russian nationals as of 1 June 2001, ITAR-TASS reported. In a note handed to Deputy Foreign Minister Marin Raikov, Ambassador Vladimir Titov wrote that "the Bulgarian decision will inevitably have negative consequences on the development of our historic ties and on bilateral cooperation between the two countries." MS[C] END NOTE[31] CITIZENS' PLATFORM RIDES A WIND OF CHANGEBy Jan Maksymiuk"We really want to change things. We are honest guys, not sweaty career- chasers or profiteers," Andrzej Olechowski told a 4,000-strong cheering crowd in the Olivia Hall in Gdansk on 24 January. People from different Polish regions came to Gdansk to take part in the official foundation of the Citizens' Platform (PO), a new political initiative launched by Sejm speaker Maciej Plazynski, Senate deputy speaker Donald Tusk, and independent politician Andrzej Olechowski. The enthusiastic atmosphere during the Gdansk convention was something Poland has not seen on the political scene for years. Olechowski, who came second in last year's presidential ballot with 17 percent backing, announced immediately after the election campaign that he planned to utilize his election support to create a new "political platform" in order to prevent the Democratic Left Alliance's (SLD) from taking over the power in the country. Olechowski's alliance with Plazynski came into being after the latter had expressed his dissatisfaction with the planned internal reform of the ruling Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS). That reform entailed transforming the AWS into a federation of parties, slackening its ties with the Solidarity trade union, and weakening the personal clout of Solidarity leader Marian Krzaklewski in the ruling coalition. But even though formally all those moves were made and Krzaklewski was replaced by Premier Jerzy Buzek in the post of AWS leader, Plazynski said the changes were not radical enough, and have not freed the AWS from the sway of the trade unionists led by Krzaklewski. Plazynski ignored the offer of the post of AWS deputy head and joined Olechowski and Tusk. Tusk, a prominent figure in the centrist Freedom Union (UW), said goodbye to his party after its national congress in December. At that congress, Tusk lost the election for the post of UW chairman to former Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek in a fairly close vote, but what made him particularly resentful of his party colleagues was the outcome of the election of the UW's 100- strong national council, where his supporters won only a handful of seats. It seems that the UW, which emerged in the mid-1990s by uniting the Democratic Union (UD) -- led by Tadeusz Mazowiecki -- with the Liberal Democratic Congress (KLD) of Donald Tusk, has still not blended the two political ingredients completely. "It is our goal to release the energy dormant in Poles, in every one of us, " Olechowski told journalists two weeks ago, noting that the new platform's goal is to introduce a new, strong representation in the parliament. According to Olechowski, the PO's main program tasks are to promote education, boost economic growth, introduce a flat-rate income tax and free people with the lowest incomes from paying this tax, combat corruption, and restructure the agricultural sector. The Platform's three leaders are also proposing the reduction of the numbers of local government councilors, direct elections for town and city mayors, and the abolition of the national party lists in elections to the Sejm. The announcement of the Plazynski-Tusk-Olechowski initiative has triggered numerous defections from the UW, revealing that the split in the party runs deep and not only along the old UD-KLD fault-line. As expected, Tusk was followed by a number of his colleagues from the former KLD, including Jacek Merkel and former Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki. On 18 January, several hundred members of the UW's Economic Forum declared their intention of joining the Plazynski-Tusk-Olechowski initiative. Massive defections to the new initiative were also reported in the UW's regional branches in Malopolska and Silesia (southern Poland) as well as in Pomerania (northern Poland). On 21 January, a split occurred in the UW's youth branch -- the Young Democrats Association. The association's leading body voted by 30 to 16 to renounce a cooperation accord with the UW and forge ties with the Citizens' Platform. In the hope of preventing further defections, the UW held a gathering of its territorial activists in Warsaw on 20 January. Geremek told the forum that, according to his estimates, no more than several hundred people will leave the party, which has some 23,000 members. "The report of my death was an exaggeration," Geremek said, paraphrasing author Mark Twain, in commenting on the UW's current situation. He admitted, however, that the creation of the PO took the UW by surprise. Many participants in the UW forum called Tusk's exit a "typical betrayal," but some said the UW itself is to blame for the ongoing defections. According to those critics, the UW leadership made mistakes by not proposing a candidate in last year's presidential elections, turning down Olechowski's offer to cooperate in those elections, and blocking the way for the promotion of young activists in the party. Meanwhile, first polls suggest that the PO may be highly successful in its bid to create a centrist alternative to the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the right-wing AWS. The Pentor polling agency said 38 percent of respondents "view positively" the creation of the new political initiative, while the PBS center found that 23 percent want to vote for the PO in parliamentary elections. If these predictions prove true, the PO may emerge as Poland's major parliamentary force, second only to the SLD, which is generally tipped to win the parliamentary elections with no less than 40 percent backing. "There were three of us in the beginning. Thousands joined in two weeks' time. I'm sure there will be millions very soon," Plazynski told the fervent PO convention. Even if his expectation is somewhat exaggerated, it is obvious that the Citizens' Platform has caught a favorable political wind in its sails and is steering to become a major force in this fall's parliamentary ballot. 26-01-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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