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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 134, 01-07-18Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 134, 18 July 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] IRANIAN SECURITY OFFICIAL VISITS ARMENIAOn the first leg of a tour of the three Transcaucasus states, Iranian National Security Council Secretary Hasan Rowhani met in Yerevan on 16-17 July with senior Armenian officials, including Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, assuring his interlocutors of Tehran's intention to maintain close political and economic relations, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Rowhani said Armenia plays a "pivotal" role in the region. The presidential press service quoted President Robert Kocharian as saying that Yerevan would welcome a more visible Iranian presence in the South Caucasus, and that "a solution to issues related to national security is impossible without Iran's participation." Meeting on 16 July with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, Rowhani declared that the "friendly" rapport between Iran and Armenia is not directed at a third country. Prime Minister Andranik Markarian's press service quoted the premier as assuring Rowhani on 17 July that the two countries are "strategic partners" that have identical approaches to important issues. Markarian characterized the Armenian-Iranian border as "not a dividing line, but a way to friendship and cooperation," Noyan Tapan reported. LF[02] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER QUITS RULING COALITION PARTYParliament speaker Armen Khachatrian on 17 July formally quit the People's Party of Armenia (HZhK) headed by Stepan Demirchian, repeating his earlier accusation that the latter has betrayed the political legacy of his father Karen, who founded the party in 1998, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001). Khachatrian further accused the HZhK leadership of maintaining ties with "forces seeking to destabilize the political situation." Observers in Yerevan predict that other HZhK members may follow Khachatrian, thereby reducing the HZhK's 18-member parliament faction and calling into question the survival of the Miasnutiun bloc. Tensions have long been visible within Miasnutiun between the HZhK and its senior partner, the Republican Party of Armenia headed by Prime Minister Markarian. LF[03] ARMENIAN MILITARY POLICE DENY CLAIMS THEY MISTREAT DETAINEESIn an interview published in the daily "Hayots ashkhar" on 17 July and circulated by Groong, senior military police official Vladimir Grigorian rejected as untrue claims by the presidential Human Rights Commission that military police have subjected detained servicemen to torture (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001). LF[04] AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS OF POSSIBLE RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIESIn an interview with the independent daily "Ekho" published on 17 July and circulated by Groong, Vilayat Quliev said Azerbaijan welcomes cooperation with the OSCE, but at the same time condemned that organization for what he termed its failure to comply with its own stated commitment to the territorial integrity of member states and its support for the "crazy demands" of Nagorno-Karabakh President Arkadii Ghukasian that a settlement of the Karabakh conflict must take "existing realities " into account. Echoing President Heidar Aliev, Quliev denied the existence of the "Paris principles" for resolving the conflict that, according to Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanian, were reached during talks in March between Aliev, Kocharian, and French President Jacques Chirac. Quliev told Turan the same day that "Azerbaijan's patience is not infinite," and that the Azerbaijani leadership does not exclude the use of force to resolve the conflict. LF[05] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PARTY ORDERED TO VACATE HEADQUARTERSThe Economic Development Ministry has ordered the opposition Azerbaijan National Independence Party to vacate within five days the premises it has long occupied on the outskirts of Baku, Turan reported on 17 July. The ministry claims that the lease on that building has expired, and it has offered the party alternative accommodation nearby. LF[06] TENSIONS PERSIST IN EASTERN GEORGIAGeorgian police and Interior Ministry troops have blocked the entrance to the Pankisi gorge in eastern Georgia following an acrimonious meeting on 17 July between local Georgians and Kists (Georgian Chechens) from the gorge, Caucasus Press reported. The Georgians have refused to release one Kist and two Chechens, whom they took hostage on 13 July, until several foreigners believed to be held prisoner in the gorge are freed. Reports on 18 July of the death of Vepkhia Margoshvili, a Kist believed to be behind some of those kidnappings and whose arrest the Georgians are demanding, have not been confirmed. Speaking in Tbilisi on 17 July, Justice Minister Mikhail Saakashvili criticized the Interior Ministry's failure to secure the Georgian and foreign hostages' release, Caucasus Press reported. Saakashvili said that the kidnappers number no more than 20-25 men, and that his ministry's special troops are capable of "establishing order" throughout the gorge within three days. LF[07] GEORGIAN LABOR PARTY LEADER CALLS FOR PRESIDENT'S OUSTERSpeaking at a news conference in Tbilisi on 17 July, Labor Party Chairman Shalva Natelashvili called for the ouster of President Eduard Shevardnadze, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reported. He also called on the prosecutor- general to open criminal proceedings against parliament speaker Zurab Zhvania for fomenting interethnic tensions during his recent visit to Mingrelia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 2001), and urged teachers, energy sector employees, and pensioners to form "strike committees" in anticipation of what he claims are official plans to cut teaching staff by 10 percent in the fall and to raise telephone tariffs by 100 percent. LF[08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT VISITS GREECENursultan Nazarbaev met in Athens on 16 July with his Greek counterpart Constantinos Stephanopoulos to discuss expanding bilateral political and economic ties, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service and ITAR-TASS reported. Nazarbaev expressed interest in the planned Burgas-Aleksandropoulis oil pipeline, the annual throughput capacity of which will be 67 million tons. During his two- day official visit Nazarbaev was also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Constantinos Simitis, parliament speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, leaders of political parties, and Greek businessmen. LF[09] KAZAKH BORDER GUARDS 'NOT JUSTIFIED' IN PREVENTING OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS FROM LEAVING COUNTRYIn a press release dated 18 July, the Kazakh National Security Committee said the border guards who refused to allow two Kazakh opposition figures to board a plane for the U.S. at Almaty airport three days earlier had no grounds for doing so, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. The border guards are subordinate to the National Security Committee. Amirzhan Qosanov, a leading member of the Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan, and Ermurat Bapi, the editor of the opposition newspaper "Sol-Dat," had planned to testify at U.S. Senate hearings on 18 July. They told Interfax on 16 July that the security officials who prevented them from boarding the plane said they were acting on instructions from the National Security Committee (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 2001). LF[10] RESULTS OF KAZAKHSTAN'S CAPITAL AMNESTY SUMMARIZEDA total of $480.2 million illegally transferred to foreign banks was returned to Kazakh banks between 14 June and 13 July, National Bank Chairman Georgii Marchenko told journalists in Almaty on 17 July, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. The number of persons who made such capital transfers was 2,928, of whom over 80 percent reside in Almaty. On 8 July, Marchenko estimated the amount repatriated during the first three weeks of the grace period at $190 million (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 July 2001). The average amount returned under the amnesty was $160,000, and the highest single sum was $800,000, Marchenko said. LF[11] NEW CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST KYRGYZ OPPOSITION LEADERKyrgyz prosecutors have brought new charges against former vice president and opposition Ar-Namys party leader Feliks Kulov, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 17 July. He is accused of embezzling some $200,000 while serving in 1993-1997 as governor of Chu Oblast and a further $435,000 in 1998-1999, when he was mayor of Bishkek. Proceedings were brought against Kulov in 1997 in connection with the accusation relating to his activities in Chu Oblast, but were dropped after oblast officials appealed to the Kyrgyz Constitutional Court. Kulov was sentenced in January to seven years in prison on charges of abuse of power while he served as national security minister in 1997-1998 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 January 2001). LF[12] KYRGYZSTAN LOWERS INCOME TAXPresident Askar Akaev on 17 July signed new legislation introducing a new fixed 10 percent income and profit tax rate that will take effect as of 1 January 2002, AP reported. That new fixed rate replaces a progressive income tax rate that rose to over 30 percent and a standard 30 percent profit tax. LF[13] TAJIK PRESIDENT'S ADVISER SHOT DEADKarim Yuldashev, a foreign policy adviser to President Imomali Rakhmonov, was shot dead in the stairwell of his Dushanbe home on 17 July, Russian and Western agencies reported. His killers managed to escape. Rakhmonov broke off a tour of the Gorno-Badashkhan Autonomous Oblast and returned to the capital to meet with law-enforcement officials investigating the murder. LF[14] TAJIKISTAN ASSESSES DAMAGE FROM DROUGHT...A meeting on 16 July of senior Tajik agriculture officials estimated damage to that sector from drought during the first six months of this year at 51 million somonis (some $21.27 million), Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 17 July. Damage to an irrigation channel in Khatlon Oblast has left some 46,000 residents of three districts without water for over one month. LF[15] ...AND TUBERCULOSISThe number of tuberculosis cases in Tajikistan grew by 60 percent between 1993-2000, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 17 July, quoting the director of the country's center for combating that disease. She attributed the increase to the deterioration in social and economic conditions, specifically patients' inability to afford medication or adequate nutrition. The incidence of TB is particularly high in Khatlon Oblast, where it ranges from 54 to 83 per 100,000 inhabitants. In the city of Kulob, 11 people have died of TB since the beginning of this year. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[16] MACEDONIAN ALBANIAN PARTIES AGREE ON COMPROMISE...The deputy leader of the Democratic Party of the Albanians (PDSH), Iliaz Halimi, told dpa in Skopje on 17 July that Albanian leaders and international mediators have reached a compromise on a number of issues, including the language question, the mechanism to protect the ethnic minorities from being outvoted in the parliament, and the role of local police. "This should be acceptable for the [National Liberation Army (UCK)]... It is not the maximum, but it is much more than the Albanians have had so far," Halimi said. UB[17] ...WHILE ETHNIC MACEDONIAN POLITICAL PARTIES SLAM NEW PROPOSALAfter having been informed of the compromise by U.S. envoy James Pardew, the leaders of the main Macedonian political parties slammed it as "totally unacceptable to the Macedonian bloc," Dnevnik reported on 18 July, citing the leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), Branko Crvenkovski. In a statement for MIA, Gjorgji Trendafilov, the spokesman for the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), said: "The content of the [compromise] is surprising and shocking, because it is a first step toward the federalization of Macedonia. That has never been a topic of the negotiations, and no one in the Republic of Macedonia would agree to it." UB[18] MACEDONIAN ALBANIANS STILL HOPE TO SAVE COMPROMISE AGREEMENTZehir Bekteshi, a leader of the ethnic Albanian Party of Democratic Prosperity (PPD), told AP in Skopje on 18 July that he hopes that the arrival of NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on 19 July will lead to a change of heart by the ethnic Macedonian parties. "We are waiting for the arrival of Solana and Robertson... The possibility of signing the agreement when they arrive is still open," Bekteshi said. He added that he hopes that Macedonian "progressive forces can be found to push [through] the deal." He argued that "these two days are critical. We must be strong, and we'll do our best to overcome the crisis." PM[19] IS LANGUAGE AT THE HEART OF THE MACEDONIAN DISPUTE?"The Washington Post" reported on 18 July that the main issue dividing the two sides is the constitutional status of the Albanian language. The compromise grants "any other language spoken by at least 20 percent of the population" the status of "official language" alongside Macedonian. The proposed agreement and its annex would enable private persons and authorities to use either language in conducting official business and obtain translations from one official language into another. "Any person may use this [official] language to communicate with the institutions of the central government, which will reply in that language in addition to Macedonian," the text adds. An unnamed Western diplomat told the daily: "The Albanians came in and said if they got language, they would fall away on other demands." He added that the compromise does not place Albanian "on the same [constitutional] level as Macedonian, and we believe it is a reasonable proposal." PM[20] 100,000 DISPLACED PERSONS, REFUGEES IN MACEDONIAN CONFLICTAs of 17 July, the Macedonian Red Cross had registered 37,144 internally displaced persons, the Skopje daily "Dnevnik" reported. Out of about 70,000 refugees who fled the country, 11,853 have since returned. The biggest share of the refugees fled to neighboring Kosova. About 62,000 are still there. According to figures from the Labor and Social Policy Ministry, most internally displaced persons come from the Kumanovo region (18,500), followed by the Skopje (10,300) and Tetovo (7,640) areas. Some 570 come from the Skopska Crna Gora mountains. Meanwhile, the UNHCR has begun to give out humanitarian aid packages to the refugees and displaced persons. UB[21] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT DENIES PRESSURE ON NEWSPAPERGovernment spokesman Antonio Milosovski denied allegations that the Macedonian government had urged the closing down of the privately owned newspapers "Makedonija denes" and "Denes," Dnevnik reported on 18 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 2001). "At the moment, the government has more important tasks than to deal with this newspaper. The government did not exert pressure on 'Makedonija denes.' This is a privately owned company, and they have to decide whether and how to work," Milosovski said. The editor of "Makedonija denes" announced on 17 July that the newspaper will cease publication due to financial problems and government pressure. UB[22] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT BACKS GOVERNMENT ON WAR CRIMESThe parliament voted on 17 July to approve the document outlining Prime Minister Ivica Racan's policy of cooperation with The Hague-based war crimes tribunal, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001). Legislators from the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) and the Croatian Party of [Historic] Rights (HSP) opposed the measure. The document makes it clear that cooperation with The Hague does not constitute an attempt to belittle the legacy of the 1991-1995 war of independence. The text notes that a good working relationship with the tribunal is a matter of vital national legal and political interest, "Jutarnji list" reported. PM[23] MORE 'LOCH NESS MONSTER' STORIES FROM BOSNIA?Reports continue to appear in the regional and international media that SFOR peacekeepers have stepped up efforts in recent days to find and arrest former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, VOA's Croatian Service reported on 19 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001). RFE/RL's South Slavic Service quoted SFOR spokesmen in Sarajevo and Banja Luka as denying that peacekeepers have been involved in any operations against Karadzic in recent days. In Podgorica, Interior Ministry officials denied unspecified media reports that Karadzic is in Montenegro, where his family is originally from. The officials stressed that Montenegro's policy is to cooperate fully with the tribunal and that all indicted persons on Montenegrin territory will be arrested. PM[24] SERBIAN MINISTER: DEAD AMERICANS WERE SHOT IN THE HEADSerbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said in Belgrade on 17 July that three American Bityqi brothers, who are of Kosovar origin, "were found [in a mass grave] with hands tied behind their backs... The were blindfolded," "The Independent" reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001). The brothers were sentenced on 27 June 1999 by a Serbian court to 15 days in prison for illegal entry into Serbia from Kosova. They were last seen alive when they left Prokuplje prison on 8 July in the company of two plainclothes policemen. This took place before a court clerk could tell them that they were to be expelled from Serbia. Mihajlovic added: "It remains for us to see how the persons who should have been expelled ended up in [a mass grave near a police camp in] Petrovo Selo, and who did that." The daily noted that "many ethnic Albanians are known to have paid Serb policemen to take them to safety in and around Kosovo in 1998 and 1999, only to be killed afterwards." PM[25] NEW YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER ELECTEDPresident Vojislav Kostunica announced the appointment of Dragisa Pesic as prime minister on 17 July, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 2001). Kostunica stressed that this government should not be viewed as an interim or transitional one, "Danas" reported. Kostunica, whose job will come to an end if the federation does, told "Novosti" that it is imperative to maintain the unity of Serbia and Montenegro. PM[26] KOSOVAR SERB LEADER: BELGRADE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE NOTHING FOR USRada Trajkovic said in Prishtina that "nothing has changed" for the Serbs of Kosova since the new government replaced the Milosevic regime in October 2000, Deutsche Welle reported on 17 July. She added that the different Kosovar Serbian organizations waste their time fighting each other. Trajkovic noted that the Albanians also have their internal feuds, but that they have at least managed to unite around a common platform of independence. The Serbs have no such common stand, Trajkovic added. On 17 July, she and Archbishop Artemije held talks in Belgrade with Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, "Danas" reported. They stressed the importance of a unified stance by Kosovar Serbs on whether to participate in the 17 November general elections PM[27] ROMANIAN PREMIER ASSUMES PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOLOCAUST...Prime Minister Adrian Nastase on 17 July said at the Yad Va'Shem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem that as Romanian premier he "must assume responsibility for the unforgivable crimes committed [against Jews in Romania] between 1941 and 1944," adding that those crimes "cannot and will never be pardoned," an RFE/RL correspondent reported. Asked by a journalist whether his cabinet regards wartime leader Marshal Ion Antonescu to be a war criminal, Nastase answered that "history's sentences cannot be changed...and the duty of present generations is to see to it that no similar mistakes are repeated." Nastase later met with President Moshe Katsav and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who told him Israel will "strongly back" Romania's quest for NATO and EU membership. Shortly before the Nastase-Peres encounter, police blew up a suitcase suspected to have contained a bomb in the vicinity of the hotel where the meeting was held. MS[28] ...MEETS ARAFATNastase also met on 17 July with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza. Arafat praised the "traditional Palestinian-Romanian friendship." He also deplored the deaths of two Romanian workers in Israel last May that came as a result of a bomb planted by Palestinians, and said the two would be declared "Palestinian martyrs" and their families will receive a monthly allowance from the Palestinian Authority. Nastase said Romania could conclude with the Palestinians an economic agreement similar to that recently signed between France and the authority. MS[29] ROMA PROTEST RACISM, DISCRIMINATION IN ROMANIARomany Ethnic Community Chairman Ion Bidia on 17 July demanded the outlawing of organizations that disseminate racial hatred in Romania, Mediafax reported. Bidia said police and the Prosecutor-General's Office must act against organizations such as the New Romanian Right, whose journal prints slogans such as "Death to the Gypsies." One day earlier, Florin Cioaba, also known as the "Romany King" said he will ask the authorities to open an investigation into anti-Roma graffiti recently painted on walls in the Transylvanian town of Sibiu, as well as in other towns in Romania. Two nongovernmental organizations, the Romani Criss and the Romanitin Association of Romany Students and Youth, on 17 July said they are launching judicial procedures against the owners of three discos in Iasi, to which Romany students were refused entry on racial grounds last month. MS[30] ILIESCU WANTS TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH RUSSIAPresident Ion Iliescu on 16 July said on Romanian television that relations with Russia have been "neglected" by Bucharest and this has resulted in a "political handicap," Mediafax reported. Iliescu said all other former communist states have "better relations with Moscow than we do" and that "Russia is a potential market that must be reactivated." He also said that Romania has neglected commercial relations with its former partners in the communist-era Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and that this neglect reflects "a groundless bias." MS[31] FORMER ROMANIAN PEASANTIST LEADER CRITICIZES NEW PARTY HEADSAndrei Marga, who earlier this month resigned as National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) chairman, on 17 July criticized the new PNTCD leadership and hinted that he may set up a new political formation, Mediafax reported. Marga said he tendered his resignation because some PNTCD leadership members had "opposed change, and are compromised" by having misused funds for political purposes. He said that "the PNTCD suffers from the malady of [fictitious] foundations" that are "utilized for the sole personal benefit of those leaders." One can, he said, speak of a new illness that can be dubbed "Foundation-Corruption." Marga criticized the new leadership's decision to expel former First Deputy Chairman Vasile Lupu and former Secretary-General Calin Catalin Chirita and said that "if such people are being expelled, I shall not be long in taking the necessary decision." MS[32] MOLDOVAN MISSION HEAD, CERNOMAZ REVIEW IMPLEMENTATION OF OSCE SUMMIT DECISIONSWilliam Hill, the OSCE mission head to Moldova, on 17 July told Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicolae Cernomaz in Chisinau that he is "satisfied" that the process of scrapping the Russian arsenal in the Transdniester is proceeding, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Cernomaz said that by going ahead with the process, "the Russian Federation proves it is respecting the obligations it assumed [at the 1999 OSCE Istanbul summit] and is clearly improving its image." He also said that last week's meeting in Kyiv with his counterparts from Russia and Ukraine showed that all three sides agree that the solution to the Transdniester conflict must be based on "full respect of Moldovan territorial integrity." Hill also met with Parliament Deputy Speaker Vadim Mishin. MS[33] SIMEON'S COALITION TO INCLUDE ETHNIC TURKISH PARTYPlamen Panayotov, the parliamentary leader for the National Movement Simeon II (NDSV), announced that the party has reached agreement with the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedom (DPS) on forming a coalition government, AP and Reuters reported. No names of the future cabinet ministers were announced. DPS head Ahmed Dogan said, "This is a big chance for Bulgaria...it gives a start to a new political culture." This will mark the first time representatives of the ethnic Turkish minority, which makes up 10 percent of the population of 8 million, will be part of a government. The 21 seats of the DPS will give the coalition a majority of 141 seats in the 240-seat parliament. DW[34] BRITISH, BULGARIAN CHIEFS OF STAFF RULE OUT MILITARY SOLUTION IN MACEDONIAAfter meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart General Miho Mihov, British armed forces chief Admiral Michael Boyce on 17 July said, "The very last thing we want to have today is a split of Macedonia along [ethnic] lines," AP reported. For his part, Mihov added, "We agreed that there is no military solution to this conflict and that using military power will only shake the fragile stability of the Balkans." Boyce was beginning a three- day visit to Bulgaria in which he will visit military bases and discuss with local commanders the country's progress in army reforms aimed at eventual membership in NATO. DW[C] END NOTE[35] DENATIONALIZATION OF SLOVENIAN FORESTS NOT CLEAR-CUTBy Donald F. ReindlThe affection that most Slovenes have for their mountain forests cannot be underemphasized. Each weekend, cars parked alongside nearly every forest road testify to the popularity of socializing, hiking, and gathering mushrooms with family and friends along the paths that crisscross the country. Nowhere is this truer than in the 84,804 hectare Triglav National Park (TNP), Slovenia's only national park. In this context it is easy to understand how the government's decision to return 8,254 hectares of the park's Pokljuka forest -- valued at roughly $32 million -- to the Roman Catholic Church has aroused heated debate, leading to cries of neo-feudalism and questions about the tax-free status of the church, and even threatening the stability of the governing coalition. Charges of a "deal" with the Vatican, the first state to recognize Slovenia on 15 January 1992, have long been in the rumor mill and were raised in "Dnevnik" on 7 July. A poll published in the daily "Delo," on 14 July reported that 62 percent of those questioned are against the decision. The history of Pokljuka, which was nationalized after World War II, is complicated. The church mortgaged and eventually sold off the property to cover debts in the 19th century. At the end of the century, the Austro- Hungarian government purchased the land, setting aside the proceeds from doing so for religious funding. In 1939, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia transferred the land back to the church, but historians dispute whether this involved the actual title or only administrative rights -- this dispute has prompted the current debate on whether the church is the rightful recipient of the land. Be that as it may, the Ljubljana Archdiocese petitioned for the return of Pokljuka after the passage of the 1991 Denationalization Act. The Radovljica Administrative Unit rejected that request on the grounds that the 1999 Law on Protection of Nature forbids the transfer of protected state lands. However, on 4 July Franci But, the center-right Slovene People's Party (SLS) Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, and Food, confirmed the church's right to the property. The country's denationalization program got off quickly under a center- right coalition government after independence, but when the center-left coalition -- led by current Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDS) -- came to power in 1992, the process stalled. This slow pace of denationalization led, in turn, to criticism from the EU. The denationalization of church property has been particularly unpopular, even though the majority of Slovenes, 71 percent, identify themselves as Catholics. They are, however, largely secular Catholics -- the "Delo" poll also indicates that only 13 percent regularly attend church. The church, while obviously pleased with the ministry's decision, has withheld comment because of the two-month period allowed for challenges before official adoption of the decision. The various Slovene political parties have, however, expressed a spectrum of opinions, ranging from legalistic pronouncements from the LDS and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) that the issue is a matter for the courts, measured support for the church from the right-wing Social Democrats (SDS), to objection to the decision from the Slovene Youth Party (SMS), and "shocked" indignation from the radical Slovene Nationalist Party (SNS). Most significantly, the coalition-member United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD), the party of President Milan Kucan, has expressed firm disapproval. The ZLSD unsuccessfully tried to sponsor a referendum on the question as early as 1997. Prime Minister Drnovsek has remained largely silent on the issue, issuing a brief press release on 6 July confirming the constitutionality of Minister But's decision and the jurisdiction of his office over the matter. As for But, he has insisted that no party should be surprised by the decision, as it had been openly discussed in government circles. In any case, the final decision on Pokljuka is not the end of the issue, but only the "tip of the iceberg," as Miran Potrc, the parliamentary leader of the ZLSD faction, points out. While significant, the 8,254 hectares granted to the church is only half of the 16,000 hectares of forest claimed by the church in TNP. The remaining claim is still being considered. In addition, the island of Bled -- protected as a natural and cultural monument since 1949, and one of Slovenia's cultural icons -- is also the subject of denationalization proceedings. The Culture Ministry has firmly rejected any return of Bled to the church. There is the possibility that the church could receive monetary compensation rather than the outright restitution of disputed property, but this was decided against for financial reasons in the case of Pokljuka. Speculation about the future of Pokljuka continues. On the one hand, the state could purchase the land from the church, ensuring its conservation. On the other hand, the church could decide to exploit the land economically, or to sell it off in parcels. Ultimately, however, the concern of most Slovenes remains one of unhindered public access. As one Slovene confided, the Pokljuka forest is home to the choicest autumn mushrooms in Slovenia. Donald F. Reindl is a freelance writer and Indiana University Ph.D. candidate in Ljubljana. 18-07-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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