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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 151, 96-08-06
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 151, 6 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] NEWSPAPER CLOSED DOWN IN AZERBAIJAN.
[02] GEORGIAN ARMY MANEUVERS.
[03] EMIGRATION FROM GEORGIA.
[04] YEREVAN UNOFFICIALLY LOBBIES ANKARA.
[05] UN SPECIAL ENVOY MEETS WITH TAJIK PRESIDENT.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] MOSTAR NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE.
[07] IFOR FINDS BIG SERB ARMS CACHE.
[08] MUSLIMS ATTACK "SERBS."
[09] TUDJMAN CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF RECAPTURE OF KNIN . . .
[10] . . . WHILE SERB RADICAL LEADER SAYS KRAJINA BELONGS TO THE SERBS.
[11] SERBIAN LEADERS REACT TO NEWS OF KRAJINA LIBERATION ARMY.
[12] SUPREME COURT JUDGE: ILIESCU'S CANDIDACY UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
[13] ILIESCU STILL LEADING POLLS.
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ON POLITICAL SITUATION.
[15] GREEK-LANGUAGE SCHOOLS TO OPEN IN SOUTHERN ALBANIA.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] NEWSPAPER CLOSED DOWN IN AZERBAIJAN.
The Azerbaijani Information and Press Ministry on 1 August ordered a halt to
the publication of the partly Turkish-owned daily newspaper Avrasiya (its
editor is Hurriyet's Baku correspondent), according to the Committee to
Protect Journalists and Reporters Sans Frontieres. Information and Press
Minister Nariman Hasan-Zade told Avrasiya's editor that the paper had been
shut down because of six recent articles on controversial topics including the
Gebele early-warning radar station and Azerbaijani-Iranian relations. -- Liz
Fuller
[02] GEORGIAN ARMY MANEUVERS.
On 5 August, 3,000 Georgian troops began three days of maneuvers in western
Georgia close to the border with Abkhazia under the personal supervision of
Defense Minister Vardiko Nadibaidze, BGI reported. The Abkhaz army had held
exercises near Sukhumi on 1-2 August under the supervision of Defense Minister
Vladimir Mikanba and President Vladislav Ardzinba, according to reports in
Nezavisimaya gazeta on 3 August and Interfax on 1 August monitored by the
BBC. -- Liz Fuller
[03] EMIGRATION FROM GEORGIA.
Between 800,000 and 1 million people, or approximately 20% of the total
population, have left Georgia over the past five years, generally for economic
reasons, according to ITAR-TASS on 27 July and Russian Public TV (ORT) on 5
August. The majority of emigres are university graduates under 35 years of
age. -- Liz Fuller
[04] YEREVAN UNOFFICIALLY LOBBIES ANKARA.
Armenian parliamentary deputy Telman Ter-Petrossyan was in Ankara on a private
visit recently to lobby the Turkish government to open up its border for trade
with Armenia, Cumhuriyet reported on 5 August. Along with other unnamed
businessmen, the elder brother of Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossyan held
talks with Turkish parliamentarians, businessmen, and journalists to encourage
Turkey to buy Armenian electricity and cement, and to accept Armenia as a
market for Turkish goods and as a transit country for Turkmen and Russian
natural gas. -- Lowell Bezanis
[05] UN SPECIAL ENVOY MEETS WITH TAJIK PRESIDENT.
Gerd Dietrich Merrem, the UN Special Envoy to Tajikistan, met with President
Imomali Rakhmonov on 5 August to discuss the implementation of the Ashgabat
ceasefire agreement, ITAR-TASS reported. The agreement allows for prisoner
exchanges and UN monitoring of the situation in the contested Tavil Dara
region. Last week, UN observers attempted to reach the city of Tavil Dara but
were unsuccessful, RFE/RL reported. Merrem said that the prisoner exchange is
important for "strengthening trust" between the two sides. Rakhmonov again
reiterated his willingness to hold talks with the opposition, as long as there
are no conditions attached. -- Roger Kangas
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] MOSTAR NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE.
Talks broke off again in the early morning of 6 August in the dispute between
Croats and Muslims over the joint administration of Mostar, Reuters reported
the same day. The EU had extended the 4 August deadline for its withdrawal if
the Muslims and Croats do not agree over the administration of the divided
city. EU spokesman Dragan Gasic said that only "half a sentence" was keeping
the two sides from resolving the crisis. Talks are to be continued on 6 August
to try to amend the disputed document. Croats want the city council to be a
"provisional" body until the Bosnian federation's constitutional court rules
on Croat complaints of voting irregularities. Meanwhile, the daily
Oslobodjenje on 6 August reported that a supreme court rejected the Croat
complaint as "groundless," but it is not clear whether it was the Bosnian
federation Supreme Court or Bosnia-Herzegovina's Supreme Court. -- Daria Sito
Sucic
[07] IFOR FINDS BIG SERB ARMS CACHE.
Italian NATO troops accidentally came upon a major Bosnian Serb arms depot
while looking for potential polling sites in Markovici, northeast of Sarajevo.
The cache had not been registered with IFOR and contains 1,000 tons of weapons
and ammunition occupying a space of 1,200 square meters, AFP reported on 5
August. At least 4,000 Serbian civilians mobbed the 30 Italians as they tried
to begin carting off the ammunition, a job that IFOR said would require 100
trucks to complete. Two Bosnian Serb officers claimed that the site was about
to be registered with NATO, but the Italians noted that it had not been
declared before and was dangerously concealed near civilian housing. The crowd
in any event forced the Italians to return to the depot with their trucks, the
BBC noted. Under they Dayton agreement such unauthorized caches can be
confiscated and destroyed. -- Patrick Moore
[08] MUSLIMS ATTACK "SERBS."
A Muslim crowd of about 100 persons, mainly women and teenagers, blocked a UN-
protected convoy in Ilidza on 4 August. The International Police Task Force
(IPTF) was attempting to escort what the Muslims believed to be two busses of
Serbian civilians wanting to return to the Sarajevo suburb of Osjek. The
Muslims damaged IPTF vehicles with bricks and rocks, and a UN translator was
slightly injured, news agencies reported. The busses turned out, however, to
be carrying Muslims. UN spokesman Patrik Svensson said that the incident was
probably designed to intimidate the remaining 240 Serbs living in Osjek. The
opposition in Sarajevo has charged the governing Party of Democratic Action of
trying to pack the suburbs with Muslim refugees from eastern Bosnia in order
to change the ethnic and political balance. -- Patrick Moore
[09] TUDJMAN CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF RECAPTURE OF KNIN . . .
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on 5 August attended a celebration of the
first anniversary of the recapture of the former rebel Serb stronghold of Knin
by Croatian forces, AFP reported. Knin, which was a beginning point of
the four-year Serb rebellion, represented Tudjman's greatest military victory.
But the Croatian Helsinki Committee on 3 August released a report saying that
at least 115 Croatian Serbs were "arbitrarily executed" in the months
following the August 1995 retaking of the city and that 110 others
"disappeared." The Committee also accused senior officials, including Tudjman,
of knowing about the atrocities and not doing anything about them. It blamed
the Croatian government for failing to prevent criminal acts from taking place
after the offensive, while at the same time creating obstacles for exiled
Serbs to return to Croatia. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] . . . WHILE SERB RADICAL LEADER SAYS KRAJINA BELONGS TO THE SERBS.
Accused war criminal and leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav
Seselj, said on the occasion of the first anniversary of Croatia's reclaiming
of its Krajina territory from rebel Serbs, that Krajina is "simply occupied
and forcibly taken from our people." Seselj vowed he would use all "peaceful
and democratic" means to work towards the goal of retaking Krajina for the
Serbs. Beta on 5 August quoted the SRS leader observing that "if the French
had to wait nearly fifty years to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine from Germany ... and
so we Serbs will have to wait for a better reconfiguration of forces in
the international community ... to forge the unity of all Serb lands." --
Stan Markotich
[11] SERBIAN LEADERS REACT TO NEWS OF KRAJINA LIBERATION ARMY.
Several prominent Serbs have reacted negatively to news of the formation of
the self-proclaimed terrorist group known as the Krajina Liberation Army (KAO),
which has vowed to wage terrorist campaigns against "Serbian traitors" and
Croatia for its having reclaimed Krajina (see ). Beta on 2
August reported that Mihajlo Vucinovic, president of the association
representing Krajina refugees, said that Zagreb "could hardly wait for the KOA
to be formed so it could justify continued discrimination against Serbs
staying in Croatia and keep those who wished from returning." Even
paramilitary leader and accused war criminal Zeljko "Arkan" Raznatovic offered
a condemnation, saying the KOA can accomplish "nothing through terrorism." -- Stan Markotich
[12] SUPREME COURT JUDGE: ILIESCU'S CANDIDACY UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
In an interview with the daily Romania libera, Judge Paul Florea of the
Romanian Supreme Court said incumbent president Ion Iliescu's candidacy for a
new term is unconstitutional, Reuters reported on 5 August. The constitution
stipulates that a president's mandate is limited to a maximum of two
consecutive terms. Romania libera had earlier reported that Iliescu's
campaign team had consulted the constitutional court and had been unofficially
advised that the provision concerning a second term does not apply
retroactively to the adoption of the basic law. Iliescu had served as
president of the transitional legislative-executive body set up in December
1989, and was elected president in May 1990. He was again elected in 1992,
after the passing of the country's new constitution, and his supporters claim
his renewed candidacy is for a constitutional second term. -- Michael
Shafir
[13] ILIESCU STILL LEADING POLLS.
According to a recent opinion poll, the main opposition alliance, the
Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR), is the most popular "party" in
parliamentary elections scheduled for early November (33.5%), but President
Ion Iliescu is ahead (37.1%) in the presidential race that will be held at the
same time, the daily Libertatea reported on 6 August. The survey was
conducted by the Institute for Market and Social Analysis. CDR candidate Emil
Constantinescu trails Iliescu (31.6%), followed by the candidate of the
Democratic Party, Petre Roman (18.7%). In the parliamentary race, the major
ruling party, the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, is backed by 27.5% of
those polled. More than a quarter of those questioned (26%) said either that
they will not vote or that they are undecided. -- Michael Shafir
[14] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ON POLITICAL SITUATION.
President Zhelyu Zhelev, in an interview with Trud on 5 August, repeated his
position that a presidential republic could help pull Bulgaria out of its
present crisis. Zhelev said the present parliamentary system has shown that
"it either works badly, or not at all." Zhelev called accusations that he
wants more power "not serious." He repeated that he will not run in the
upcoming elections but stay in politics after leaving the presidency in
January 1997. Also on 5 August, Zhelev met with the united opposition's
presidential candidate, Petar Stoyanov. Stoyanov told RFE/RL that he and
Zhelev agreed that the main problem in Bulgaria is the government's
mismanagement. Stoyanov said the opposition supports Zhelev's foreign policy
orientation. -- Stefan Krause
[15] GREEK-LANGUAGE SCHOOLS TO OPEN IN SOUTHERN ALBANIA.
Greek-language schools will open this year in Gjirokastra, Saranda, and
Delvina, international agencies reported on 6 August. The Greek government had
demanded the opening of elementary schools instructing in Greek as an
important step towards improving mutual relations. The ethnic-Greek minority
in southern Albania has previously been able to attend classes in Greek in
regular Albanian schools. In other news, Police have arrested a man suspected
of killing Bujar Kaloshi, the general director of the Albanian prisons, Koha
Jone reported on 6 August. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Pete Baumgartner
News and information as of 1200 CET
This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media
Research Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in
Prague, Czech Republic.
For more information on OMRI publications please write to [email protected].
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