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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 113, 01-06-14Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 113, 14 June 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS 'STILL ALIVE'...Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan on 13 June, Vartan Oskanian said that despite the indefinite postponement of the meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents scheduled for this month in Geneva, the Karabakh peace process "is still alive," RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He added that the Armenian leadership hopes the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairmen will "make active efforts to eliminate the newly created complications" and steer the peace process back to the principles the two presidents agreed on during talks in Paris in March and in Florida in April. He said those principles form "a really good basis" for resolving the conflict and that they do not entail the vertical subordination to the Azerbaijani central government of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Oskanian declined to explain the reason for the postponement of the Geneva talks, quoting President Robert Kocharian's statement in Brussels last week that Armenia is not to blame for the delay. LF[02] ...REJECTS IMPUTED TURKISH CONDITIONS FOR DIPLOMATIC RELATIONSOskanian was asked at the press conference to comment on reports that during a meeting last week with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit put forward a further precondition for establishing diplomatic ties with Armenia (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report,"Vol. 4, No. 21, 7 June 2001) -- the opening of a "security corridor" acrossArmenian territory linking Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhichevan. Ankara has hitherto insisted only on the withdrawal of Armenian troops from occupied Azerbaijani territory. Oskanian said it is conceivable that Ecevit was misquoted, but that if he was not, such a statement is "absurd." LF[03] COMMISSION WANTS LEADER OF ARMENIAN GUNMEN MOVEDThe parliament commission created last month to investigate allegations of official meddling in the ongoing trial of the five gunmen who perpetrated the October 1999 parliament shootings (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 May 2001) has called for their leader, Nairi Hunanian, to be moved from the Armenian National Security Ministry prison, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 13 June. In a petition to Judge Samvel Uzunian, who is presiding over the ongoing trial, the commission's 12 members argued that in light of Hunanian's past contacts with the Security Ministry his continued detention in that facility is "inexpedient." LF[04] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT VOTES DOWN PENSION HIKEDeputies rejected on 13 June a bill proposed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun (HHD) that would have raised state pensions by some 30 percent, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The government had said the previous day that it cannot afford to fund the proposed increase (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 June 2001). But "Azg" commented on 14 June that the reason why deputies voted down the proposal was that the parliament majority did not want the HHD to take credit for having initiated a measure that would have proven extremely popular. LF[05] AZERBAIJANI, TURKISH OFFICIALS REVIEW DEFENSE COOPERATIONAzerbaijan's Defense Minister Colonel General Safar Abiev discussed in Baku on 13 June with visiting Turkish General Staff officer Keksal Karabay issues related to expanding bilateral defense cooperation, Turan reported. Abiev remarked on improvements in the training of officers, while Karabay noted that Azerbaijan's army is capable of "repulsing aggressors." LF[06] OPINION POLLS SHOW WANING SUPPORT FOR GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, RULING PARTY...A recent poll of 1,000 Georgian citizens conducted by the "Gorby" Center of Sociological Studies suggests that the most popular politician in Georgia is currently former Georgian Communist Party first secretary Djumber Patiashvili, Caucasus Press reported on 13 June. If presidential elections were to be held next week, 15.4 percent of those questioned would vote for Patiashvili, 10 percent for Justice Minister Mikhail Saakashvili, 9.2 percent for incumbent President Eduard Shevardnadze, 8.5 percent for Adjar Supreme Council Chairman Aslan Abashidze, 3.9 percent for Imereti Governor Temur Shashiashvili, and 2.4 percent for opposition Industrialists parliament faction leader Gogi Topadze. None, apparently, would vote for current parliament speaker Zurab Zhvania, whom some observers believe has hopes of succeeding Shevardnadze. Similarly, in a parliamentary ballot, 18.4 percent would vote for the opposition Revival Union, 15 percent for Topadze's "Industry Will Save Georgia," 10.7 percent for the majority Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK), and 5.6 percent for the Labor Party. LF[07] ...AS OPPOSITION CALLS FOR 'PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER'Labor Party Chairman Shalva Natelashvili told a gathering of some 7,000 supporters in Tbilisi on 13 June that criminal proceedings should be brought against both Shevardnadze and Zhvania for "treason," adding that he is ready to submit to the Prosecutor-General's Office documentation substantiating that charge. He said the SMK has brought Georgia to the verge of poverty, and criticized as "ruinous" the agreements that Georgia has signed with the IMF and World Bank. He called on the population to bring about "a peaceful change of power" in Georgia. Natelashvili's party garnered unexpectedly strong support in local elections in 1998 (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 1, No. 39, 24 November 1998 and No. 41, 8 December 1998). LF[08] SLAIN GEORGIAN INSURGENT'S SUPPORTERS CALL FOR HIS ASSOCIATES' RELEASE FROM DETENTIONResidents of the west Georgian town of Senaki are threatening to block the main railway line between Tbilisi and the Black Sea coast unless the Georgian authorities release three supporters of rebel Colonel Akaki Eliava taken into custody 11 months ago when Eliava was arrested by Georgian police and then shot, Caucasus Press reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 July 2000). An investigation is continuing into their alleged involvement in kidnapping and in the abortive uprising led by Eliava in October 1999. LF[09] GEORGIAN NATIONAL BANK, FINANCE MINISTRY ENGAGE IN MUTUAL RECRIMINATIONSThe Georgian National Bank on 13 June published in the independent "Dilis gazeti" a statement branding as "social demagogy" Finance Ministry officials' claims the previous day that the bank's refusal to advance 17 million laris ($8.25 million) to the ministry is holding up the payment of salary arrears to teachers. (Wage and pension arrears to present and retired teachers totaled 29 million laris as of the beginning of this month.) The National Bank said it and the treasury currently have no more than 11 million laris at their disposal for that purpose. LF[10] EBRD PRESIDENT VISITS KAZAKHSTANJean Lemierre told journalists in Almaty on 13 June following "fruitful" talks in the former capital with President Nursultan Nazarbaev and senior government officials that the bank considers Kazakhstan has attained both political and macroeconomic stability, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. But a statement issued by the bank stressed the need for the Kazakh leadership to balance its focus on developing the oil and gas sectors, giving greater priority to reviving agriculture and to developing transport links, especially with its primary export destinations -- Iran, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Belarus. Lemierre also advocated expediting development of the financial sector, and pledged EBRD assistance to small and medium businesses. LF[11] KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT CALLS ON PRESIDENT TO DISAVOW BORDER ACCORDThe Legislative Assembly (the lower chamber of Kyrgyzstan's parliament) on 13 June called for a halt in the demarcation of the country's border with China that began earlier this month (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 June 2001), RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. They also proposed that President Askar Akaev prepare a decree abjuring the border agreement he and Chinese head of state Jiang Zemin signed in July 1996, and called for criminal proceedings against those government officials who drafted the 1996 agreement and the 1999 amendments to it, under which Kyrgyzstan ceded some 125,000 hectares of territory to China. LF[12] IMPRISONED KYRGYZ OPPOSITIONIST ALLOWED VISITPrison camp officials allowed one single member of a group of residents of Talas Oblast to meet on 13 June with imprisoned opposition Erkindik Party leader Topchubek Turgunaliev, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. The man assured Turgunaliev that "ordinary people" in Kyrgyzstan support him. Turgunaliev was sentenced last September on what are widely believed to be fabricated charges of masterminding a plot to assassinate President Akaev (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 September 2000). LF[13] POLICE RELEASE DETAINED KYRGYZ PROTESTERSThree people detained by police on 12 June during a demonstration on behalf of imprisoned former Vice President Feliks Kulov have been released, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 13 June. LF[14] TAJIK FIELD COMMANDER TAKES MORE HOSTAGESDeputy Security Minister Mukhtor Sharipov told Asia Plus-Blitz on 14 June that all talks aimed at persuading former field commander Rahmon Sanginov to release the three remaining police officers he took hostage on 11 June have failed (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 June 2001). Moreover, Sharipov said that Sanginov has taken a further 12 or 14 civilian hostages. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[15] NATO HOLDS BACK ON MILITARY ROLE IN MACEDONIAU.S. President George W. Bush told reporters after the NATO summit in Brussels on 13 June that "we agreed that we must face down extremists in Macedonia and elsewhere who seek to use violence to redraw borders or subvert the democratic process. Concerning Bosnia and Kosovo, we agreed that this is a major effort, an effort that we will continue to work together on," RFE/RL reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 June 2001). He added, however, that "the idea of committing [NATO] troops within Macedonia was one that most nations were troubled over. They want to see if we can not achieve a political settlement first." But British Prime Minister Tony Blair echoed the views of French President Jacques Chirac and several other European leaders when he said: "Our history of engagement in that part of the world has taught us that it is better to make preparations and to stabilize the situation rather than to wait and let the situation deteriorate." PM[16] ROBERTSON TAKES NATO'S MESSAGE TO MACEDONIANATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson said at the NATO summit in Brussels on 13 June that "one immediate task ahead which the presidents and prime ministers addressed today is to assist the government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Skopje in dealing with the ethnic Albanian insurgency," RFE/RL reported. He added that the "heads of state and government reaffirmed their full support for the government in Skopje and their complete and total rejection of the attacks on this democratic government... The only way to address the legitimate concerns of the local ethnic Albanian population is through the normal political process. The armed extremists must lay down their arms. There is no other way." The next day in Skopje, he urged Macedonian politicians to move quickly to flesh out and implement the latest peace plan, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 13 June 2001). "The key thing is to translate a plan on paper into a peace in place," he stressed. Macedonian political leaders were to begin a two-day meeting in Ohrid on 14 June. PM[17] BRITAIN TO 'LOOK FAVORABLY' ON MACEDONIAN REQUEST FOR MILITARY AIDDpa quoted unnamed "defense officials" in London on 14 June as saying that the British government will "look favorably" on a Macedonian request for military assistance in training and directing a new counterinsurgency unit (see "RFE/RL South Slavic Report," 7 and 14 June 2001). The news agency suggested that the SAS is likely to be the agency to supply the assistance requested. PM[18] MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN INSURGENTS LIST DEMANDSThe National Liberation Army (UCK) sent a communique to Reuters on 14 June with the signature of its leader, Ali Ahmeti. The text includes a full list of the demands of the UCK, some of which have already been rejected by the Macedonian authorities. The demands in the communique include: an immediate cease-fire guaranteed by NATO, an amnesty for all UCK fighters except those proven to be guilty of war crimes, and a package of political reforms long central to the demands of the guerrillas and mainstream Albanian parties alike. The communique called for "a negotiating process, mediated and guaranteed...by the U.S. and EU, with the participation of the UCK, within which a political agreement will be reached, as a basis for the change of the Macedonian Constitution." Referring to the role of NATO, the communique said: "With the presence of NATO, it would be possible to reach the agreement for the transformation and demilitarization of the UCK." The guerrillas also called for "NATO intervention in the whole territory of Macedonia, as a guarantee for...reaching a lasting peace." PM[19] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT ARMS 'RESERVISTS'Police spokesman Stevo Pendarovski said in Skopje on 13 June that the authorities are in the process of arming "reservists" in the capital with rifles and uniforms, Reuters reported. He added that the move is part of "a plan for the full mobilization of the police reserve forces." It is not clear if members of all ethnic groups are being armed or only Slavic Macedonians. An unnamed "senior Western diplomat" in the Macedonian capital told the news agency that the "move is a worrying indication of the potential for outright civil war" unless a political settlement is reached quickly. PM[20] FEUDING BETWEEN SERBIAN MILITARY AND POLICE CONTINUESPolice Captain Dragan Karleusa told AP in Belgrade on 13 June that police believe that a mass grave near their training camp at Batajnica contains the bodies of "dozens" of ethnic Albanians killed during President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown in Kosova. Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said that there are probably additional mass graves nearby. He added that "it seems to be impossible that [army Chief of Staff] General [Nebojsa] Pavkovic as the commander of all troops in Kosovo didn't know what happened there" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 June 2001). Meanwhile, unknown persons leaked documents to the dailies "Danas" and "Vijesti" that contain an order by Pavkovic's deputy, General Vladimir Lazarevic, calling for the "cleaning up" of battlefields or other sites of military action in Kosova after any fighting. The materials suggest that the army leadership was part of Milosevic's campaign to destroy evidence of war crimes. PM[21] CROATIAN MINISTER QUITSJustice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Ivica Racan, "Vecernji list" reported on 14 June. He cited health reasons, having recently had a major operation. The daily pointed out, however, that Ivanisevic had sought to resign "months earlier" after an imbroglio regarding some proposed legislation. He has also been at the forefront of some disputes regarding the government's policy of cooperating with The Hague-based war crimes tribunal and is not popular with hard- liners among the war veterans. PM[22] BOSNIAN SERBS PROTEST NEW IDENTITY CARDSThe government of the Republika Srpska believes that the recent decision of the joint Council of Ministers, with the support of the international community's Office of the High Representative, to issue identity documents only in the Latin alphabet is a violation of the constitution and undermines the rights of the Bosnian Serbs, "Oslobodjenje" reported on 14 June. PM[23] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT MEETS SLOVENIAN COUNTERPARTPresidents Milo Djukanovic and Milan Kucan discussed the current political situation in the region in Ljubljana on 13 June, "Pobjeda" and "Vijesti" reported. Djukanovic also met with representatives of the electronics firm Gorenje. Few details of the talks are available, except for Djukanovic's comment that "Montenegro remains on the road to Europe and is an important factor for stability in the region." PM[24] ROMANIA HAILS ANNOUNCEMENT ON CONTINUED NATO EXPANSIONThe government, in a press statement released on 13 June, said it "salutes with satisfaction" the announcement by NATO leaders at their Brussels summit earlier that day that the organization will continue to expand at its 2002 Prague summit, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The cabinet said the Brussels announcement is a "crucial step" on the road of "building Europe's future and consolidating the transatlantic partnership." It further said that Romania's quest to join NATO benefits from "the large backing of public opinion" and that by 2002 Romania will be "in the position of responding to NATO's expectations" and will "assume the role of provider of security and stability" in southeastern Europe. MS[25] ROMANIAN NGO LAUNCHES 'APPEAL TO MEMORY'The Pro-Europa League on 13 June marked the 11th anniversary of the miners' rampage in Bucharest by launching an "Appeal to Memory." The appeal, a copy of which was received by "RFE/RL Newsline," said the marathon demonstration in Bucharest's University Square against the return to politics of former communist politicians and "servants of the political police" was quashed by the miners at the orders of "high state officials" -- an allusion to President Ion Iliescu and his supporters. The appeal criticizes the Iliescu- supported amnesty of those involved in the rampages, saying that "no one can receive a certificate of impunity, regardless of the position he holds." The appeal concluded by saying that bringing those guilty to justice is inevitable, "as demonstrated by the indictment of dictators or notorious Nazis." MS[26] ROMANIA SAYS INFLATION RATE IS DROPPINGThe National Institute of Statistics announced on 13 June that inflation in May was 1.7 percent, the smallest rate registered since the beginning of the year. In the first four months of 2001, inflation was 13 percent, which reflects a rate of 37.4 percent overall since May 2000, Mediafax reported. MS[27] BALKAN STABILITY PACT ENVOYS VISIT MOLDOVASoutheast European Stability Pact special envoy Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said upon arriving in Chisinau on 13 June that Moldova's admission to the pact could "open the path to extensive political processes, which can define Moldova's strategic destiny within its European integration efforts," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Ungureanu, a deputy foreign minister in Romania, is accompanied by Donald Kirsch, the deputy coordinator of the pact. The two diplomats will prepare a report on Moldova's request to join the pact that Ungureanu said will include a "detailed evaluation of Moldova's internal political situation and the extent of its meeting minimal democratic criteria." The report will also assess Moldova's foreign policy objectives and the extent to which Chisinau is capable of "contributing to a climate of regional security." Ungureanu said Moldova's membership of the pact "can demonstrate to the CIS countries that a clear European alternative is open to them." MS[28] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS MAKING RUSSIAN OBLIGATORY IN SCHOOLSThe government on 13 June decided to oppose in the parliament a draft law submitted by two deputies representing the Party of Moldovan Communists that would have made the teaching of the Russian language obligatory in Moldovan schools, Flux reported. The cabinet said the draft infringes on the constitution, which stipulates that students are free to be instructed in the language of their, or their parents', choice. MS[29] MOLDOVAN VICTIMS OF STALINIST REPRESSION DEMAND RUSSIAN REPARATIONSHundreds of survivors of Stalinist-era repression demonstrated on 13 June in Chisinau, demanding that Russia pay compensation. The demonstration marked the 60th anniversary of the beginning of deportations of Moldovans to Siberia and other desolate areas of the Soviet Union following the annexation of Bessarabia by the Soviet Union in June 1940. During the night of 12-13 June 1941, more than 22,000 people were deported to Siberia. Other massive deportations took place in 1949 and 1951. Moldovan National Party Chairman Ion Buga told the rally that Russia must "follow the German example" of assuming responsibility for crimes committed in the past and pay reparations to the victims and their successors, AP reported. MS[30] SIMEON LOSES PATIENCE WITH CRITICSFormer King Simeon II told Reuters on 13 June that the "negative [electoral] campaign" conducted by the political rivals of his National Movement Simeon II "could make forming a coalition difficult" after the 17 June ballot. "If we are so black, so terrible, so awful, I do not know whether other parties will talk to us," Simeon said in Blagoevgrad. He said "disgraceful things" have been said about him, although he has not attacked any of his political rivals. Visibly irritated, Simeon again denied his opponents' charges that he is planning to restore the monarchy: "I am saying it for the hundredth time, I am not a monarch on active duty, I am a Bulgarian citizen free to do whatever I want. Our priority is the economy and social policy." MS[31] U.S. COMPANIES MAKE LARGE INVESTMENT IN BULGARIAN POWER INDUSTRYThe deal between Bulgaria and the U.S. companies AES Corp. and Entenergy that was announced last month by Premier Ivan Kostov (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 1 June 2001), was officially signed in Sofia on 13 June, AFP and AP reported. Under the agreement, AES Corp. will invest $930 million in a joint venture with Bulgaria's National Electricity Company to build a new 670-megawatt coal-fired plant at Maritsa-Iztok-1. Entenergy will invest $470 million to upgrade and operate Maritsa-Iztok-3. Both plants are situated some 300 kilometers southeast of Sofia and are fueled by Bulgaria's low-quality coal deposits. MS[C] END NOTE[32] DEPORTATIONS AND DENIALSBy Paul GobleSixty years ago this week, Soviet forces began rounding up and deporting tens of thousands of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians from their homelands, an event that continues to resonate in all three Baltic countries, in the Russian Federation, and in the West as well. Carried out as the attention of the world was riveted on the imminent fall of Paris to German forces, the deportation of men, women, and children in the Baltic countries occupied by Moscow a year earlier destroyed much of the social fabric of these countries. Many of those deported never returned. And their places in society and the economy either remained vacant or were assumed by pro-communist groups or by nonindigenous people brought in by the Soviet authorities to solidify Moscow's control of the three countries. More than that, however, the deportation defined the way Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians viewed and continue to view Moscow. The deportations convinced residents of the Baltic states that the Soviet Union could not be trusted and that they must seek not only to escape from Soviet occupation but seek security guarantees from the West to prevent any new threat from Moscow. Over the past month, Estonian President Lennart Meri, who as a 12-year-old was among the deportees in 1941, has been visiting survivors of the deportation around his country. This week, Latvia hosted an international conference on the deportations, a conference that identified this Soviet action as "a crime against humanity." And Lithuanians too have remembered the deportation this year just as they have on all past anniversaries. And all three countries have set up national and international commissions to examine these events, to ferret out the information that the Soviet authorities sought for so long to conceal. Nonetheless, the Russian government as the successor to the Soviet state continues to insist that the inclusion of the Baltic countries into the Soviet Union was a voluntary event and that Moscow bears no responsibility for what happened there in 1940 and afterward. Even more, many Russian commentators argue that the Baltic countries should be grateful that the Soviet Union took them in because it helped protect them against the Nazis. But there are serious problems with each of these claims. Stalin absorbed the Baltic countries in 1940 after he and Hitler divided up Eastern Europe via the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. It is true that the Baltic governments did not order armed resistance to the Soviet occupation that followed, but only because they believed that such resistance would be both bloody and futile. And the Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries did little or nothing to slow the Nazi advance through them and into the Soviet Union itself in 1941. If anything, the disorder that the Soviet occupation created meant that some in these three countries initially viewed the Germans as liberators rather than as invaders. That reality too continues to color how both citizens of the Baltic countries and Russia view these events. But it is another Russian argument arising from these events of long ago that is perhaps the most troubling. The Russian government continues to insist that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were legitimately part of the Soviet Union and that as a result the West must not consider including them in NATO. That insistence represents a challenge to the Baltic countries, which are convinced that they need the guarantees of membership and to the West, most of whose governments never recognized the forcible inclusion of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union as legitimate. Indeed, these governments maintained ties with the diplomats of the last pre-occupation governments right up until the three Baltic countries fully recovered their independence in 1991. The commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the deportations coincides with an upsurge of Baltic efforts to be among the next new members of the Western alliance, a coincidence that makes their political impact now far greater than would otherwise have been the case. 14-06-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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