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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 155, 96-08-12
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 155, 12 August 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] "WANTED" AZERBAIJANIS HIDING IN TURKEY.
[02] ARMENIA UPDATE.
[03] KAZAKHSTANI OIL TO RUN THROUGH IRAN.
[04] SHOOT-OUT IN WEST TAJIKISTAN.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] NATO TO GET TOUGH WITH SERBS?
[06] TENSIONS BETWEEN CROATS, MUSLIMS CONTINUE IN BOSNIA.
[07] KORNBLUM PUTS PRESSURE ON CROATIAN PRESIDENT OVER BOSNIAN FEDERATION.
[08] BOMBS IN NORTHERN BOSNIA, ZAGREB.
[09] MONTENEGRIN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS SAY MILOSEVIC-TUDJMAN SUMMIT WAS "HUMILIATION" FOR THEIR REPUBLIC.
[10] KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BOMB ATTACKS.
[11] ROMANIAN RESHUFFLE RIDDLE.
[12] ROMANIAN ELECTION UPDATE.
[13] ANOTHER WOMAN RUNS FOR PRESIDENT IN MOLDOVA.
[14] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
[15] BULGARIA'S "LIVING SAINT" DIES.
[16] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION BOYCOTTS TALKS WITH PRESIDENT.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] "WANTED" AZERBAIJANIS HIDING IN TURKEY.
Azerbaijani Interior Minister Ramil Usubov was quoted by Yeni Yuzyil on 10
August as saying many of the fugitives wanted in his country, "including those
wanted for treason," are hiding in Turkey. He said his government has sought
their extradition repeatedly, but Ankara has been unable to locate any of them
to date. Turkey has denied these charges. In other news, the Turkish Daily
News quoted the Azerbaijani Ambassador in Ankara, Mehmet Nevruzoglu, as
saying the plans of the "secret" Armenian lobby in Turkey, which aims to open
the Turkish-Armenian border for economic reasons, could hurt bilateral ties
between Baku and Ankara. -- Lowell Bezanis
[02] ARMENIA UPDATE.
Armenian authorities have detained and disarmed a "large" number of what they
described as Kurdish resistance fighters near the village of Tsorevan on the
border with Turkey, Moskovskii komsomolets reported on 8 August. In other
news, two high-ranking officers of the Armenian Interior Ministry--one
responsible for personnel and the other for passports and visas--were sacked
on 8 August for abusing their positions. Fifty people were hospitalized in the
wake of an outbreak of typhoid in Vanadzor, ITAR-TASS reported the next day. --
Lowell Bezanis
[03] KAZAKHSTANI OIL TO RUN THROUGH IRAN.
Kazakhstani and Iranian officials signed an agreement in Almaty on 10 August
that gives Kazakhstan access to Iranian ports on the Persian Gulf, Radio Mayak
and RFE/RL reported. Kazakhstan will ship 2 million metric tons of crude oil
annually to Iranian ports on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, where it
will be loaded and shipped south to the gulf. Iran will refine the oil and use
some of it for domestic consumption. Last week, an ITAR-TASS report claimed
that negotiations on this deal had stalled (see ). -- Bruce Pannier
[04] SHOOT-OUT IN WEST TAJIKISTAN.
Seven people died and six people were wounded in a 10 August gunfight that
broke out between rival gangs in the western Tajik town of Tursun Zade,
Reuters reported. Officials in Tursun Zade stressed that the shoot-out was an
isolated incident that had no political implications. An armed revolt took
place in the town in late January. -- Bruce Pannier
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[05] NATO TO GET TOUGH WITH SERBS?
IFOR began a pre-announced inspection tour of arms depots at the Bosnian Serb
military headquarters of Han Pijesak on 10 August, Reuters reported. They
visited one site at the mountainside stronghold built as part of Josip Broz
Tito's defense system but were denied access to a second area. NATO the next
day opened talks with the Serbs on the issue but also pulled its liaison
officers out of Bosnian Serb civilian headquarters at Pale, the BBC added. The
Serbs charged that IFOR was manufacturing an incident to distract attention
from problems between the Croats and Muslims. However, a series of incidents
has taken place at Han Pijesak and elsewhere in recent weeks, with the Serbs'
testing the limits of NATO's patience by apparently violating the military
provisions of the Dayton treaty. Under that agreement, all weapons sites were
to have been registered with NATO by 18 April. -- Patrick Moore
[06] TENSIONS BETWEEN CROATS, MUSLIMS CONTINUE IN BOSNIA.
Bosnian Muslims and Croats 10 August fought with sticks and stones in and
around the town of Novi Seher, central Bosnia, Reuters reported. According to
the Bosnian Radio, Croats prevented a group of Muslims from attending a
planned Muslim religious festival and Muslims retaliated by blocking the main
highway between the Muslim-dominated town of Zenica and Croat-held Zepce.
Meanwhile, Croats from central Bosnia have sent a letter to Bosnian Federation
President Kresimir Zubak complaining of being harassed by their Muslim
neighbors, Oslobodjenje reported on 10 August. In other news, the same daily
reported on 11 August that Muslims are repeatedly being expelled from the
Croat-held part of Mostar, while shooting and attacks on cars frequently take
place in both halves of the town. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[07] KORNBLUM PUTS PRESSURE ON CROATIAN PRESIDENT OVER BOSNIAN FEDERATION.
U.S. envoy to Bosnia John Kornblum visited Croatia on 10 August to press
Franjo Tudjman to ensure that the Bosnian Croats will abide by the Dayton
peace accords, Reuters reported. The EU on 9 August announced that the city
council, which until recently had been boycotted by the Croats, will meet on
14 August to elect a mayor and deputy. But chief Bosnian Croat negotiator Mile
Puljic complained to the head of the EU mission, Martin Garrod, that the
council's Muslim president has not consulted his side. Meanwhile, Bozo Raic,
head of the ruling Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ), lashed out at Garrod
for saying that local elections will not be repeated in Mostar in September
although they will take place in all other towns and cities in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Oslobodjenje reported on 12 August. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[08] BOMBS IN NORTHERN BOSNIA, ZAGREB.
Two explosions hit a Bosnian Croat (HVO) military base at Rosulje in the Usora
valley southwest of Doboj on 11 August, Reuters and Nasa Borba reported.
Some vehicles were damaged, but there were no injuries in the unexplained
incident. Tensions between Croats and Muslims have been high in the area in
recent days. In an apparently unrelated development, a bomb went off in
central Zagreb, causing neither damage nor injuries. Police said the device
was the work of amateurs and unlikely to have been planted by Serbian
terrorists, Western news agencies noted. -- Patrick Moore
[09] MONTENEGRIN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS SAY MILOSEVIC-TUDJMAN SUMMIT WAS "HUMILIATION" FOR THEIR REPUBLIC.
In an official response to the summit meeting between Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman near Athens on 8
August (see ), the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro (SDPCG) said the
meeting served only to underscore Montenegro's "humiliation" and second-class
status within the federation. The SDPCG added that it highlighted where power
lies in Serbia-Montenegro and that the Montenegrin authorities have
sovereignty only "in the decision-making of where to organize festivals and
beach-football contests," Beta reported. Meanwhile, Jovan Glamocanin, chair of
the Radical Party Nikola Pasic, claimed that the presidents' summit was "a highly significant step forward for the implementation of the Dayton peace." -- Stan Markotich
[10] KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BOMB ATTACKS.
The Liberation Army of Kosovo has claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on
police stations in Podujevo and Pristina on 2 August, Beta reported on 10
August. In a letter to the Swiss Albanian-language weekly Bota Sot, the
group warns that "the Albanian people of Kosovo will not be cheated by
defeatists.... Nor will they lay down their arms until the occupied
territories have been liberated." It added that in the future, "attacks to
liberate the country will be fierce and merciless." Meanwhile, Milivoje
Djurkovic, chairman of the Decani municipal council, said that unknown
individuals threw or planted explosive devices at a housing complex for
Serbian and Montenegrin refugees from Albania in Babaloc on 8 August, ATSH
reported. Three unfinished houses were damaged by the explosion, but nobody
was injured. -- Fabian Schmidt
[11] ROMANIAN RESHUFFLE RIDDLE.
Government spokesman Ion Mihai Rosca has denied a report by the independent
news agency Mediafax about an imminent reshuffle of the cabinet (see ), Romanian media reported. He accused the agency of breaking the rules of professional journalism and "misinforming" the public. Rosca added that at a meeting last week between President Ion Iliescu and Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu, there was no discussion of a "massive reshuffle of the government." Vacaroiu, in an interview with Romanian TV on 10 August, also denied that a reshuffle was imminent. But an editorial in Adevarul on the same day said the report was accurate and based on sources from the major coalition partner, the Party of Social Democracy in Romania. Meanwhile, Party of Romanian National Unity (PUNR) Senator Valer Suian gave partial credibility to the report by commenting that the government's reorganization would no t affect ministers who are PUNR members. -- Michael Shafir
[12] ROMANIAN ELECTION UPDATE.
Nicolae Manolescu, chairman of the Party of Civic Alliance (PAC) and a
literary critic, will run as the National Liberal Alliance (ANL) candidate in
the presidential elections scheduled for early November, The Liberal Party '93
is the other member of the ANL. In other news, the Ecological Movement of
Romania (MER) has elected Antonie Iorgovan as chairman and as the party's
candidate in the presidential elections. The MER belongs to the Democratic
Centrist Union (UDC), whose other members are the Agrarian Democratic Party
(PDAR) and the Romanian Humanist Party. Iorgovan, who is considered the
"father of Romania's constitution," will run against PDAR presidential
candidate Ion Coja (a sympathizer of the interwar fascist movement in Romania),
in a three-party ballot designed to determine who will be the UDC joint
candidate. -- Michael Shafir
[13] ANOTHER WOMAN RUNS FOR PRESIDENT IN MOLDOVA.
Veronica Abramciuc, head of the Moldovan Socialist Party's (PSM) National
Relations Department, will run for president as an independent, BASA-Press
reported on 10 August. Moldovan pundits believe that her decision to run as an
independent can be attributed to both the split within the PSM and the Central
Electoral Commission's refusal to register the Patriotic Popular Forces Bloc,
to which the PSM belongs. Meanwhile, Pamant si oameni, the Agrarian
Democratic Party of Moldova (PDAM) paper, stated that deputy Maricica Levitchi,
who is also running as an independent, is not a member of the PDAM. Levitchi
had left the PDAM to join President Mircea Snegur's Party of Revival and
Reconciliation but later returned to the PDAM. -- Michael Shafir
[14] BULGARIAN ROUNDUP.
President Zhelyu Zhelev on 10 August said that he believes the parliament
should make a last effort to reach a compromise on the country's coat of arms,
Reuters reported. He added that if the attempt fails, either the next
parliament or a referendum should decide on the issue. Government and
opposition are divided over whether the lion on the emblem should be crowned.
Zhelev on 6 August vetoed the latest Socialist-sponsored coat of arms (see ).
In other news, the 18-floor Interpred building in central Sofia has been sold
to the local Maxcom Holding and 12 unnamed individuals for $34 million,
government officials said on 9 August. Maxcom committed itself to invest $5
million in the building over the next five years. The buyers will pay 30% of
the price in cash and the rest in Bulgarian foreign and domestic debt bonds. --
Stefan Krause
[15] BULGARIA'S "LIVING SAINT" DIES.
Bulgaria's best-known clairvoyant has died of cancer in the Sofia government hospital at the age of 84, Bulgarian and Western media reported on 11 August. "Aunt Vanga," a blind peasant woman from Rupite in Pirin Macedonia, was revered for her clairvoyant and healing powers by Bulgarians, of whom more than 1 million are said to have consulted her, including intellectuals and politicians. Prime Minister Zhan Videnov and former communist dictator Todor Zhivkov are both reported to have sought her counsel. Opposition presidential candidate Petar Stoyanov also went to see her at the start of his campaign. In a condolence telegram, Videnov said "she lived not for herself but for the people.... That made her a living saint for us." Other top politicians also sent condolences to Vanga's relatives. -- Stefan Krause
[16] ALBANIAN OPPOSITION BOYCOTTS TALKS WITH PRESIDENT.
The Socialists, the Social Democrats, the Party of National Unity, and the
Agrarian Party on 9 August boycotted a meeting with President Sali Berisha to
discuss preparations for the 20 October local elections, international
agencies reported. The Socialists criticized Berisha's decree on setting up a
permanent election commission, saying that while they welcomed such a
commission, it should be based on a proper legal framework. Berisha has
offered half of the commission's seats to the opposition but said that only
parties currently participating in local government should be included. This
means that the Democratic Alliance and the Democratic Party of the Right would
have no representatives. It seems likely that if the opposition boycotts the
electoral commission, it will also boycott the elections. The commission is
scheduled to hold its first meeting on 13 August. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Jan Cleave
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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