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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 136, 01-07-20
RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 5, No. 136, 20 July 2001
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ASSESSES KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS
[02] EMBATTLED ARMENIAN PARTY LEADER SEEKS TO REASSERT CONTROL
[03] ARMENIAN MILITARY PROSECUTOR REJECTS ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSES
[04] FORMER AZERBAIJANI NAVAL CAPTAIN ON TRIAL
[05] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION CONDEMNS SENTENCES ON WAR INVALIDS
[06] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION LEADER PROTESTS IMMINENT EVICTION
[07] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT OPPOSITION APPEALS TO PRESIDENT TO SCHEDULE LOCAL
ELECTIONS
[08] RUSSIA ACCUSES GEORGIA OVER CHECHEN RADIO BROADCASTS
[09] GEORGIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY SAYS VIGILANTE GROUP SHOULD BE DISARMED...
[10] ...WHILE MAJORITY FACTION LEADER PROPOSES IT BE 'TEMPORARILY'
LEGALIZED
[11] KAZAKH DIPLOMATS SUBPOENA FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER DURING CONGRESSIONAL
HEARINGS
[12] KYRGYZ SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS VERDICT AGAINST OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[13] EUROPEAN MONITORS DEAD IN MACEDONIA
[14] MACEDONIAN TALKS CONTINUE AT LOWER LEVER
[15] MACEDONIAN BOMB ATTACKS WORK OF RACKETEERS?
[16] CROATIA, SLOVENIA SET TO END DISPUTES?
[17] SERBIAN WORKERS SMASH MINISTER'S CAR
[18] UNHCR PRAISES SERBIA...
[19] ...AS SERBIAN MINISTER PRAISES NATO
[20] SERBIAN MINISTER TO ANNOUNCE WAR CRIMES INDICTMENTS
[21] ROMANIAN PARTY LEADER PRAISES ELECTION OF CIORBEA AS PEASANTIST PARTY
HEAD
[22] ROMANIA UNHAPPY WITH MOLDOVA'S TURN TO THE EAST?
[23] SIMEON'S PARTY MANDATES COALITION AGREEMENT WITH BULGARIA'S ETHNIC
TURKISH PARTY
[24] HUNDREDS OF BULGARIAN ROMA SEEK ASYLUM IN NORWAY
[C] END NOTE
[25] There is no End Note today.
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ASSESSES KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS
In an exclusive interview with Mediamax on 18 July that was circulated by
Groong the following day, Vartan Oskanian rejected charges made by his
Azerbaijani counterpart Vilayet Quliev that the Karabakh peace process has
been stalemated by Armenia's "unconstructive" position. Oskanian implied
that it is Baku which has occupied such a position. He likewise denied
Quliev's claim that the so-called "Paris principles" for resolving the
Karabakh conflict are "a myth," noting that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
have repeatedly referred to the existence of the framework agreed upon by
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents during their talks in Paris in
March and Florida in April. Oskanian also argued that the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic "has never been part of an independent
Azerbaijani state." He noted that the present Azerbaijan Republic is the
successor to the 1918-1902 independent Azerbaijani state that did not
include Nagorno-Karabakh, and that the enclave declared its independence
from Azerbaijan (in September 1991) in accordance with existing Soviet
legislation. LF
[02] EMBATTLED ARMENIAN PARTY LEADER SEEKS TO REASSERT CONTROL
At an emergency meeting on 19 July of the board of his People's Party of
Armenia (HZhK), Stepan Demirchian rejected accusations made the previous
day by eight members of the party's 19-person parliamentary faction that he
has betrayed his father, HZhK founder Karen Demirchian, by seeking closer
ties with radical opposition groups, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 19 July 2001). Most members of the party's 117-member
board concurred with Demirchian; one board member called for the eight
parliamentary deputies to be expelled from the HZhK if they refuse to admit
their "errors." LF
[03] ARMENIAN MILITARY PROSECUTOR REJECTS ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSES
At a 19 July meeting with members of the presidential Human Rights
Commission, Armenia's chief military prosecutor, Gagik Djahangirian, denied
claims by the commission linking him to the brutal mistreatment of
servicemen in military police custody, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 and 18 July 2001). He said delinquent soldiers
could only have been beaten in their respective units, but not on premises
subordinate to his agency. Djahangirian further denied that military
prosecutors demanded a large bribe from a Defense Ministry official in
return for shelving a criminal case against him. LF
[04] FORMER AZERBAIJANI NAVAL CAPTAIN ON TRIAL
The trial began on 19 July in Baku's Bailov jail of former naval Captain
Djanmirza Mirzoev on several charges of instigation to murder, Turan
reported. Among the deaths he is accused of plotting is that in 1994 of
Nakhichevan parliament speaker Afiyatdin Djalilov, who is believed to have
been President Heidar Aliev's illegitimate son. Mirzoev denies the charges
against him, which he says were brought in retaliation for his campaign to
make public corruption within the Defense Ministry (see "RFE/RL Caucasus
Report," Vol. 2, No. 34, 26 August 1999). LF
[05] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION CONDEMNS SENTENCES ON WAR INVALIDS
Opposition parties and human rights groups in Azerbaijan have unanimously
denounced as "politically motivated" the jail sentences handed down on 19
July on Karabakh war invalids who clashed with police during a February
hunger strike to demand increased pensions and allowances, Turan reported
on 19 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 July 2001). Institute for Peace and
Democracy Director Leyla Yusnusova commented that "it seems to be more
important to the government to hold on to power by means of repressions,
rather than to fulfill its commitments to the Council of Europe." (The
total number of invalids jailed was nine, not 16 as erroneously reported in
"RFE/RL Newsline" on 19 July on the basis of an ambiguous Turan report.) LF
[06] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION LEADER PROTESTS IMMINENT EVICTION
Azerbaijan National Independence Party (AMIP) Chairman Etibar Mamedov told
a press conference in Baku on 19 July that the demand that AMIP vacate its
present headquarters is aimed at preventing the party from functioning,
Turan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 July 2001). He said the
alternative premises the party has been offered are unsuitable, but that he
would be prepared to move into the present headquarters of the ruling Yeni
Azerbaycan Party after that organization moves to the former Justice
Ministry building. He said AMIP may resort to legal action if official
pressure continues. LF
[07] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT OPPOSITION APPEALS TO PRESIDENT TO SCHEDULE LOCAL
ELECTIONS
Opposition parliament factions on 19 July appealed to President Eduard
Shevardnadze to set a date for local elections that are long overdue,
Caucasus Press reported. The spring parliament session ended last month
without agreement being reached between the majority and opposition over
the optimum procedure for selecting heads of district, city, and regional
councils (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 4, No. 24, 29 June 2001). The
opposition accused the majority Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK) of
deliberately postponing the adoption of new legislation on local government
in a bid to retain power and the means of falsifying the outcome of future
elections. An emergency parliament session scheduled for 19 July to debate
draft legislation on local self-government could not take place for lack of
a quorum. LF
[08] RUSSIA ACCUSES GEORGIA OVER CHECHEN RADIO BROADCASTS
The information department within Russian President Vladimir Putin's office
issued a statement on 19 July accusing Georgia of subversion directed
against Russia by allowing a Chechen radio station to broadcast to the
Russian Federation from the village of Duisi in Georgia's Pankisi gorge,
ITAR-TASS reported. In an admission that such a radio station does exist, a
senior Georgian security official told Caucasus Press on 20 July that
Georgian law-enforcement bodies are trying to locate the radio station and
confiscate its equipment. LF
[09] GEORGIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY SAYS VIGILANTE GROUP SHOULD BE DISARMED...
Interior Minister Kakha Targamadze on 19 July called for the immediate
disarming of the "Defenders of Kakheti" vigilante group created last week
in response to the abduction of a local Georgian border official (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001), Caucasus Press reported. He argued that
if the vigilantes are intent on helping to restore law and order they
should join the Georgian police force. The vigilantes on 18 July released
the remaining Kists and Chechens whom they seized as hostages in
retaliation for that abduction, and on 19 July unblocked access roads
leading to the Pankisi gorge. But their leader, Luka Ramazashvili, said the
same day his volunteers will not lay down their weapons and have not
retracted their demand for the release of all Georgian and foreign hostages
currently held in the gorge. LF
[10] ...WHILE MAJORITY FACTION LEADER PROPOSES IT BE 'TEMPORARILY'
LEGALIZED
Also on 19 July, Niko Lekishvili, a former minister of state who is
currently the leader of the SMK parliament faction, gave a positive
evaluation to the role played by the Defenders of Kakheti and proposed they
be granted legal status, at least temporarily, Caucasus Press reported.
Lekishvili also dismissed as "superficial" Targamadze's report on the
situation in Pankisi, commenting that Targamadze and Security Minister
Vakhtang Kutateladze "only told us what we already knew." LF
[11] KAZAKH DIPLOMATS SUBPOENA FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER DURING CONGRESSIONAL
HEARINGS
Kazakh diplomats issued a subpoena to former Prime Minister Akezhan
Kazhegeldin during U.S. Congressional hearings on 18 July on the human
rights situation in Central Asia, AFX News reported. Kazakh Embassy
officials subsequently apologized for doing so, claiming that they do not
know either Kazhegeldin's legal address in the U.S. or who his legal
representative is. One week earlier, Deputy Interior Minister Beksultan
Sarkesov told journalists that a summons to Kazhegeldin to return to
Kazakhstan and face criminal charges would be published in the media, as
his whereabouts are unknown (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 July 2001). Speaking
in Astana on 19 July, Interior Ministry spokesman Nurtai Agubaev said
Kazhegeldin may be tried in absentia, Interfax reported. LF
[12] KYRGYZ SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS VERDICT AGAINST OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER
The Kyrgyz Supreme Court on 19 July rejected an appeal by opposition Ar-
Namys Party leader and former Vice President Feliks Kulov, RFE/RL's Bishkek
bureau reported. Kulov was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of
abuse of power (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 January 2001). The Supreme Court
did, however, retract its ruling that all of Kulov's property be
confiscated, and acquitted him on one minor charge of falsifying documents,
according to AP. Some 80 supporters of Kulov picketed the Supreme Court
building during the hearing. LF
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[13] EUROPEAN MONITORS DEAD IN MACEDONIA
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an EU official said in Skopje on 20
July that two cease-fire monitors and their translator disappeared near
Tetovo, AP reported. "Their vehicle has been found in a ravine and there's
no sign of anybody. The vehicle was upside-down... It could have been a
land mine or a road accident," he added. The three were last heard from
late the previous afternoon. The monitors are believed to have been a
Norwegian and a Slovak. Defense Ministry spokesman Marjan Djurovski said
that EU monitors and KFOR troops are searching the area near the border
with Kosova. He added that "all the indications are that the EU team is
dead," Reuters reported. Tetovo police chief Shaip Bilalli said that the
monitors' Land Rover hit a mine, and later confirmed that the three were
dead. Both Reuters and AP have also confirmed the deaths. PM
[14] MACEDONIAN TALKS CONTINUE AT LOWER LEVER
Talks between Macedonian and Albanian representatives continued in Skopje
on 19 July but only among experts. Leading Albanian politicians pulled out
of the negotiations the previous day following uncompromising statements by
Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 July 2001). PM
[15] MACEDONIAN BOMB ATTACKS WORK OF RACKETEERS?
"Dnevnik" reported on 20 July that the recent explosion under a woman's car
in Skopje was apparently intended for her husband, a director of the Skopje
Alkaloid pharmaceutical company (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 July 2001). It
was the third time recently that a leading figure of Alkaloid was targeted
in a bombing. UB
[16] CROATIA, SLOVENIA SET TO END DISPUTES?
The governments of Croatia and Slovenia approved an agreement on 19 July
designed to settle most questions that have bedeviled their relations since
independence in 1991, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The text
grants Slovenia an outlet to the open sea through the Gulf of Piran and
provides for joint management of the Krsko nuclear power plant in Slovenia
that was built in the communist era, partly with Croatian money. Four
disputed villages will remain Croatian, dpa reported. Croatian Prime
Minister Ivica Racan and his Slovenian counterpart, Janez Drnovsek,
hammered out the deal during several weeks of negotiations. Racan said,
however, that he doubts that the agreement can obtain the necessary two-
thirds majority in the parliament at present, "Jutarnji list" reported. He
added that he expects a solution soon to the dispute over Croatian deposits
in a Slovenian bank. In Ljubljana, Drnovsek appealed to the parliament to
ratify not only this agreement but one on cooperation and local border
traffic that Croatia approved in 1998. PM
[17] SERBIAN WORKERS SMASH MINISTER'S CAR
Angry employees at the Zastava car factory in Kragujevac destroyed the car
of Serbian Privatization Minister Aleksandar Vlahovic when he and Finance
Minister Bozidar Djelic visited the city hall there on 19 July, AP
reported. Vlahovic and Djelic sought to present a plan to make loss-making
Zastava profitable under state control until a foreign investor can be
found. The plan envisions closing 19 of Zastava's enterprises and sacking
15,000 out of 30,000 workers. Some of those fired will receive benefits for
two years. Zastava is one of many rust-bucket industries that Serbia must
radically restructure or close down in order to break with the communist
past. During the approximately 13 years of former President Slobodan
Milosevic's rule, communist-era institutions were largely left intact. PM
[18] UNHCR PRAISES SERBIA...
Eric Morris, the UNHCR's special envoy in the Balkans, said in Skopje on 19
July that "there is one location in all of former Yugoslavia now where the
return of the minority population is warmly welcomed, and that location is
Serbia [in the Presevo valley]. Who would have imagined that? It really
puts to shame Albanian leaders in Kosovo," to which most Serbian refugees
are afraid to return, Reuters reported. Referring to Presevo, Morris noted
that "there is a lot of return going on." He added that more than 500
people are believed to have returned recently to a place that had been
abandoned since 1999. "That's a significant breakthrough," Morris stressed.
PM
[19] ...AS SERBIAN MINISTER PRAISES NATO
After a visit to NATO headquarters, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa
Covic said in Belgrade on 19 July that cooperation with U.S. troops in
eastern Kosova near Presevo is "very important" for Belgrade in preventing
new conflicts. He added that "NATO is willing to help Yugoslavia and Serbia,
and we have a firm partnership relation building up. That is very important,
because we still have unstable spots in our region." PM
[20] SERBIAN MINISTER TO ANNOUNCE WAR CRIMES INDICTMENTS
Justice Minister Vladan Batic said in Novi Sad on 19 July that he expects
to announce soon the names of "Yugoslav citizens" indicted for war crimes
against civilians in Kosova, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. He
added that the list will include only individuals not indicted by The Hague-
based war crimes tribunal. Batic added that the Serbian authorities will
request from the tribunal that Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and
other Yugoslav citizens indicted by the tribunal be tried in Serbia. PM
[21] ROMANIAN PARTY LEADER PRAISES ELECTION OF CIORBEA AS PEASANTIST PARTY
HEAD
Wilfred Martens, the president of the European Popular Party (EPP), said on
19 July that he welcomes the election of former Premier Victor Ciorbea as
leader of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD), RFE/RL's
Romanian Service reported. Martens said Ciorbea's election brings "back
onto the political center-stage an experienced and European-minded former
premier whom the EPP knows and trusts." The same day, Wim van Velzen, the
vice president of the EEP group in the European Parliament, said that it
will not be possible for a second "Christian-Democratic" oriented party to
become a member of the EPP or the Christian-Democratic Internationale. Van
Velzen's comment was in response to the reported intentions of former PNTCD
leader Andrei Marga to form a second Christian-Democratic party in Romania
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 July 2001). The anti-Ciorbea faction of the
PNTCD said on 19 July that it will also hold its own "extraordinary
congress." IK
[22] ROMANIA UNHAPPY WITH MOLDOVA'S TURN TO THE EAST?
Romanian Premier Adrian Nastase said in Bucharest on 20 July that recent
developments in the Moldovan parliament might cause Romania to reexamine
what he called Bucharest's "privileged relations" with Moldova, an RFE/RL
correspondent reported. He didn't mention specific developments in Moldova,
but he linked them to the poor economic situation in Moldova and
"certain...general developments in the space of the former Soviet Union."
Nastase said Romania has a choice of suspending some aspects of those
"privileged relations," or to try and increase economic cooperation in
order to counteract recent trends in Moldova. IK
[23] SIMEON'S PARTY MANDATES COALITION AGREEMENT WITH BULGARIA'S ETHNIC
TURKISH PARTY
The parliamentary group of the National Movement Simeon II (NDSV) directed
its leadership on 19 July to sign a coalition pact with the Movement for
Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party, BTA reported. NDSV parliamentary leader
Plamen Panayotov said the NDSV deputies spent two hours discussing the DPS
proposal before approving it. The two parties reached a coalition agreement
in principle earlier this week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 July 2001). A day
later, the DPS said it had some additional requests that were then
considered by the NDSV. Some Bulgarian dailies reported that the NDSV and
the DPS are having trouble coming to an agreement. The daily "Monitor"
reads: "Crisis Over Cabinet: DPS Leader Dogan Wants Real Power, Simeon II
Is Stalling." The weekly "168 Chasa" reported on 19 July that the DPS is on
the verge of a split because of disagreements over the coalition agreement.
PB
[24] HUNDREDS OF BULGARIAN ROMA SEEK ASYLUM IN NORWAY
More than 900 Bulgarian Roma have sought political asylum in Norway over
the last several months, BTA reported on 19 July. Norwegian Ambassador to
Bulgaria Arnt Rindal said 169 of the requests have been rejected and those
people will be sent back to Bulgaria on 22 July; some 200 others have also
withdrawn their applications. A Norwegian immigration official said the
mass exodus to Norway was caused by exploitative tour agencies. Border
Police Director Colonel Valeri Grigorov said that several of the tour
operators that bussed the Roma to Oslo are being investigated, "Novinar"
reported. Romany leader Vassil Danev is to present an Indian sword and a
official letter to Ambassador Rindal on 19 July in recognition of Norway's
"humane attitude" toward the asylum seekers. PB
[C] END NOTE
[25] There is no End Note today.
20-07-01
Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org
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