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OMRI Daily Digest, Vol. 2, No. 180, 96-09-17
From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>
Vol. 2, No. 180, 17 September 1996
CONTENTS
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] VAZGEN MANUKYAN'S CAMPAIGN PROGRAM.
[02] BOTAS GETS WORLD BANK LOAN FOR BAKU-CEYHAN STUDY.
[03] NEW APPOINTMENTS IN KAZAKSTAN.
[04] NAZARBAYEV IN BAKU.
[05] RAHKMONOV IN CHINA.
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] IZETBEGOVIC LEADS IN BOSNIAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
[07] NATIONALISTS RIDING HIGH IN BOSNIA.
[08] IZETBEGOVIC AND MILOSEVIC TO MEET.
[09] BOSNIAN SERBS WANT TO PLACE JOINT INSTITUTIONS ON DEMARCATION LINE.
[10] SERBIAN STRIKE MARKS TWENTY-FIRST DAY.
[11] THE POLITICS OF POPULARITY IN RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.
[12] ROMANIA, HUNGARY SIGN HISTORIC TREATY.
[13] INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO HUNGARIAN-ROMANIAN TREATY.
[14] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST LEADER REGISTERS AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
[15] MOLDOVAN, DNIESTER EXPERTS RESUME TALKS.
[16] DRASTIC MEASURES FOR THE BULGARIAN ECONOMY.
[17] FOUR ALBANIAN COMMUNISTS SENTENCED FOR SETTING UP PARTY.
[18] ALBANIAN WORKERS STAGE GENERAL STRIKE.
[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
[01] VAZGEN MANUKYAN'S CAMPAIGN PROGRAM.
Armenian presidential candidate Vazgen Manukyan, during a 15 September
interview in Yerevan, characterized the 22 September presidential election as
a choice between alternative approaches to building democracy and the
transition to a market economy, and dismissed the Armenian communists as a
"spent force." While admitting Armenia's economic collapse was connected to
the collapse of the USSR, the blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan, and the war
in Karabakh, Manukyan harshly criticized the economic policies of the present
leadership, slamming in particular its "illiterate" privatization policy.
Manukyan's campaign program focuses on the reconstruction of the industrial
sector, reform of the tax system, eradicating corruption and introducing
social benefits for the most vulnerable sectors of the population. The first
point of Manukyan's program is a pledge to achieve international recognition
of the independent status of Nagorno-Karabakh by means of peaceful
negotiations, although he conceded that this will be a protracted process.
Manukyan is increasingly viewed as a serious threat to incumbent Levon Ter-
Petrossyan. -- Liz Fuller in Yerevan (monitoring the presidential election for
the European Institute for Media)
[02] BOTAS GETS WORLD BANK LOAN FOR BAKU-CEYHAN STUDY.
The World Bank on 12 September announced in a news release it will loan $5
million to Turkey's oil and gas transmission company Botas to undertake a
feasibility study and environmental audit of several route options for
exporting up to 45 million metric tons of crude oil per year from Azerbaijan
and Central Asia. It appears routing options beginning in Baku and transiting
Armenia or Georgia to Ceyhan will be evaluated. According to the news release,
World Bank assistance for the study does not imply a commitment to further
finance the pipeline as it is expected to be built and financed by the private
sector. -- Lowell Bezanis
[03] NEW APPOINTMENTS IN KAZAKSTAN.
A rash of new appointments was made in the Kazakstani government and
presidential apparatus on 17 September, RFE/RL reported the same day. Former
Finance Minister Aleksander Pavlov was named Deputy Prime Minister, Nurtay
Abykhayev is now senior aide to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, while Alikhan
Baymenov has been made deputy director of the presidential administration. --
Lowell Bezanis and Merhat Sharipzhan
[04] NAZARBAYEV IN BAKU.
Kazakstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Azerbaijani counterpart
Heidar Aliev signed a treaty outlining the basic principles governing
relations between their countries, a joint statement on the Caspian Sea, and
10 inter-governmental agreements in Baku on 16 September, Russian and Western
agencies reported. The statement on the Caspian Sea calls for its
demilitarization and the need to intensify negotiations between littoral
states to determine the sea's legal status, ITAR-TASS reported. While in Baku,
Nazarbayev expressed an interest in Kazakstan's participating in a prospective
Transcaucasian railway line which Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and
Georgia have agreed to build. -- Lowell Bezanis
[05] RAHKMONOV IN CHINA.
The presidents of Tajikistan and China, Immomali Rakhmonov and Jiang Zemin,
signed a series of bilateral cooperation agreements in Beijing on 16 September,
AFP reported. The accords appear to be mainly symbolic and include one on
environmental protection and academic exchanges, and another on judicial
cooperation. -- Lowell Bezanis
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[06] IZETBEGOVIC LEADS IN BOSNIAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
President Alija Izetbegovic is ahead of his top challenger for the Muslim seat
on the Bosnian presidency, Haris Silajdzic, by 81% to 15%, OMRI's special
correspondent reported from Sarajevo on 17 September. In the Serb race,
Momcilo Krajisnik has 78%, but his opposition challenger Mladen Ivanic has 20%,
a remarkably strong showing given the hold of the governing Serbian Democratic
Party on the police and the media. A similar development is taking place among
the Croats, where Kresimir Zubak is polling only 85% despite his Croatian
Democratic Community's virtual monopoly on Croatian political life. His
opponent, Ivo Komsic, has 13% support as of 9:00 a.m. Izetbegovic narrowly
leads Krajisnik in total number of votes, which puts him in line to be the
first to hold the rotating chair of three-man presidency, Reuters noted. CNN
said that final presidential returns are expected later in the day. The
complete tally for all contests is not due until later this week. -- Patrick
Moore
[07] NATIONALISTS RIDING HIGH IN BOSNIA.
Despite the challenges offered by Silajdzic, Ivanic, and Komsic, it seems
clear that the three nationalist candidates will sweep the race. Similar
results can be expected across the board, except perhaps for isolated cases
such as Tuzla, where the anti-nationalist tradition is strong. U.S. envoy John
Kornblum is now stressing the need to build common institutions, but it is
difficult to see how this will happen with nationalists in control of all
three groups. OMRI's special correspondent reported from Sarajevo on 17
September that the Bihac pocket kingpin and enemy of Izetbegovic, Fikret Abdic,
attracted few votes in his presidential challenge. In Muslim-held Bugojno,
experts said that the bomb that blew up the home of a prominent Croat on 13
September was the work of a professional, Onasa reported on 16 September. --
Patrick Moore
[08] IZETBEGOVIC AND MILOSEVIC TO MEET.
French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette confirmed on 16 September that
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and his Serbian counterpart Slobodan
Milosevic would meet in Paris this week, AFP reported. The summit will be the
first bilateral meeting between the two presidents, although they have met at
several international conferences on Bosnia. Despite an earlier visit to
Belgrade by Ejup Ganic, the Bosnian Federation vice president, after which
communication lines between the two countries were reestablished, Belgrade has
yet not formally recognized the Sarajevo government. Belgrade warned it would
not establish diplomatic ties with Bosnia until Bosnia dropped a charge of
genocide filed against rump Yugoslavia with the Hague-based criminal tribunal.
-- Daria Sito Sucic
[09] BOSNIAN SERBS WANT TO PLACE JOINT INSTITUTIONS ON DEMARCATION LINE.
Aleksa Buha, head of the Bosnian Serb ruling Serbian Democratic Party (SDS),
on Serbian TV expressed worry about the location of future common
governmental institutions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and said that equality must
prevail, Nasa Borba and Oslobodjenje reported on 17 September. "There was
plenty of time for [the international community's high representative] Carl
Bildt and [deputy high representative] Michael Steiner to find premises on
the demarcation line between the Bosnian Federation and the Republika Srpska,
or even to build new buildings [along that line]. I foresee further
problems regarding this issue," Oslobodjenje quoted him as saying. Buha
called the postponement of municipal elections in Bosnia an irrational
decision. -- Daria Sito Sucic
[10] SERBIAN STRIKE MARKS TWENTY-FIRST DAY.
About 20,000 workers, including those from the Zastava arms plant and the
local automobile manufacturer, and their supporters demonstrated in Kragujevac
on 16 September, the 21st day of the strike, Nasa Borba reported the
following day. The job action shows no sign of letting up, and some
participants predict that "the entire city of Kragujevac will hit the streets"
within a day. On 14 September, however, Beta had reported that the workers had
met with a partial success in having received an "advance" payment for July
wages in arrears. Kragujevac Zastava autoworkers also received the promise of
a 120 dinar ($24) bonus, Beta reported. -- Stan Markotich
[11] THE POLITICS OF POPULARITY IN RUMP YUGOSLAVIA.
According to a recent poll of 1,045 citizens of rump Yugoslavia, Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic remains by far the most popular politician in the
country. Nearly 46% of respondents picked Milosevic as the most popular and
effective politician, while Montenegrin opposition leader Novak Killibarda
came in second with 12.4%. Ultranationalist leader of the Serbian Radical
Party Vojislav Seselj and Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic tied for third,
each garnering the approval of about 9.5% of survey participants. In Serbia
proper, Milosevic was supported by 54.2% of respondents, with Seselj coming in
a distant second with 12.45 support. Vecernje novosti reported the poll
results on 14 September. -- Stan Markotich
[12] ROMANIA, HUNGARY SIGN HISTORIC TREATY.
The Romanian and Hungarian prime ministers, Nicolae Vacaroiu and Gyula Horn,
on 16 September signed a basic bilateral treaty that is aimed at controlling
the two countries' historic rivalry over the province of Transylvania, local
and Western media reported. The document was signed in the western Romanian
town of Timisoara, the cradle of the December 1989 revolt that marked the end
of the Communist regime in Romania. Romanian President Ion Iliescu, as well as
the foreign ministers and political leaders from both countries, attended the
ceremony. Romania's two main ultra-nationalist parties, the Party of Romanian
National Unity (PUNR) and the Greater Romania Party, boycotted the event. PUNR
leader Gheorghe Funar, who is also mayor of Cluj, proclaimed 16 September a
"day of mourning" there. -- Dan Ionescu
[13] INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO HUNGARIAN-ROMANIAN TREATY.
The United States on 16 September congratulated the Romanian and Hungarian
governments for their signing of the basic treaty on that day, Reuters
reported. According to State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns, the treaty
"demonstrates the commitment of Hungary and Romania to rejoin the Western
community of democratic nations and is consistent with the purposes of NATO
enlargement." The treaty drew a cooler response from Moscow, AFP reported on
17 September. Although a Foreign Ministry statement did offer some words of
praise, it also said: "Russia's attitude to enlargement of NATO eastward is
well known in Hungary and Romania, as is the belief that our relations would
only gain if this attitude were taken more fully into account." -- Ben
Slay
[14] ROMANIAN EXTREMIST LEADER REGISTERS AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
Corneliu Vadim Tudor, chairman of the extremist Greater Romania Party, on 16
September registered as candidate in the presidential race to take place on 3
November, Radio Bucharest reported. Tudor, who was accompanied by 40
associates and fans, presented a list with 125,000 signatures in support of
his candidacy. Tudor pledged that if he is elected, he will rule Romania with
"the Bible in one hand and the constitution in the other." He also said that
he wished Romania to get back "its natural borders, [as they were set] on 1
December 1918." Tudor is the seventh candidate to formally register with the
authorities. -- Dan Ionescu
[15] MOLDOVAN, DNIESTER EXPERTS RESUME TALKS.
Expert teams from the Republic of Moldova and the self-declared Dniester
Moldovan Republic met on 16 September in Tiraspol to continue negotiations
over the Dniester region's legal status within the Moldovan state, BASA-press
reported. The meeting was the first since June, when talks broke down
following a chill in Chisinau-Tiraspol relations. Moldovan Deputy Foreign
Minister Vasile Sova told journalists that another meeting might follow soon,
with the participation of mediators from the OSCE, Russia, and Ukraine. The
main stumbling block in the negotiations appears to be Tiraspol's insistence
that Moldova recognize its distinct statehood within the framework of a loose
confederation. -- Dan Ionescu
[16] DRASTIC MEASURES FOR THE BULGARIAN ECONOMY.
Bulgarian local and national government leaders and leaders of the
parliamentary Democratic Left held a closed meeting on 15 September, Bulgarian
newspapers reported the next day. Prime Minister Zhan Videnov said the
meeting's aim was to introduce the government's strategy for overcoming the
national economic crisis, 24 Chasa reported. Some 14 banks will close, and
some may be put under special governmental supervision, Demokratsiya
reported. Depositor insurance is currently 100% for private persons and 50%
for enterprises; the new insurance reportedly will not exceed 20% in cash
repayments for any account, but depositors may expect 100% repayment in
government bonds. Pari on 17 September reported that the meeting also
addressed privatizing state firms, including those no longer needed for
military production. The Bulgarian government vowed to take drastic measures
following the IMF refusal of additional loans. -- Maria Koinova
[17] FOUR ALBANIAN COMMUNISTS SENTENCED FOR SETTING UP PARTY.
A Tirana court led by Gjergj Pojani on 16 September sentenced four Albanians
to 12-18 months in prison for founding a communist party and trying to
overthrow the government by violence, AFP reported. The four (Timoshenko
Pekmezi, 54; Sami Meta, 52; Tare Isufi, 73; and Kristaq Mosko, 45) were
arrested in February during an investigation into a car-bomb explosion in
Tirana, but the charges brought against them were not related to the incident.
Pojani said the four were convicted "not because of their beliefs and
communist convictions but because of their anti-constitutional activities."
Communist parties have been banned in Albania since June 1992. The defendants
had allegedly made organizational preparations and collected propaganda
material. They said they would appeal the case. -- Fabian Schmidt
[18] ALBANIAN WORKERS STAGE GENERAL STRIKE.
Some 150,000 public-sector workers staged a one-hour warning strike on 16
September, Reuters reported. They demanded full compensation from the
government for recent price hikes in bread, gas, and fuel and for rising
inflation. The Independent Trade Union and the Confederation of Albanian Trade
Unions met government officials later that day but no results were announced.
The unions threatened to hold a one-day strike in two weeks if no compromise
is found. Workers in education, energy, health care, telecommunications,
transport, and light industry participated in the strike, which also affected
more than 700,000 pupils. -- Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Steve Kettle and Susan Caskie
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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