RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 30, 00-02-11

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 30, 11 February 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER REJECTS CALLS FOR PRESIDENT'S RESIGNATION

[02] ARMENIAN EX-PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER TO REMAIN IN DETENTION

[03] ARMENIAN OFFICIALS DENY PRO-RUSSIAN BIAS IN ENERGY SYSTEM

[04] DETAINED JOURNALIST RELEASED IN AZERBAIJAN

[05] TWELFTH CANDIDATE NOMINATED FOR GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLL

[06] GEORGIA SAYS RUSSIAN PLANES AGAIN VIOLATE ITS AIRSPACE

[07] KAZAKHSTAN TO HOLD ELECTIONS FOR REGIONAL GOVERNORS?

[08] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVERSE

[09] SOME REGISTERED CANDIDATES NOT TO BE LISTED ON KYRGYZ BALLOT

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS PRAISE DECISION TO EASE SANCTIONS

[11] SLAIN YUGOSLAV DEFENSE MINISTER BURIED...

[12] ...AS SERBIAN DEPUTY PREMIER THREATENS INDEPENDENT

[13] SERBIAN TEACHER STRIKE GROWS

[14] FRANCE DEFENDS ITS TROOPS' ROLE IN KOSOVA...

[15] ...AS REPORT SAYS CONDITIONS FOR MINORITIES REMAINS BAD

[16] ANOTHER MASS GRAVE FOUND IN KOSOVA

[17] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BOSNIA

[18] CROATIAN PRESIDENT KEEN TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS WITH SLOVENIA

[19] SIX BALKAN STATES RESOLVE TO INCREASE TRADE, INFRASTRUCTURE

[20] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN BUCHAREST

[21] BUCHAREST MAYOR LEAVES RULING PARTY

[22] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY ASKS EU COMMISSIONER TO CLARIFY

[23] MOLDOVAN OFFICIALS QUESTION COUNTRY'S NEUTRALITY

[24] BULGARIA APPEALS TO GREECE, TURKEY TO HALT ARMS RACE

[C] END NOTE

[25] WHY MUSAVAT?

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PREMIER REJECTS CALLS FOR PRESIDENT'S RESIGNATION

Hanrapetutiun" on 10 February that calls for the resignation

of President Robert Kocharian in the wake of the 27 October

parliament shootings are understandable, but he added that

Kocharian should not resign at present because Armenia "is in

need of stability like never before." Sargsian added that

"there is no real or deep disagreement as such" between

himself and the president, but he hinted that tensions

nonetheless derive from the present distribution of power

between the president and prime minister. LF

[02] ARMENIAN EX-PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER TO REMAIN IN DETENTION

the request of Armenia's military prosecutor, Kocharian's

former adviser Aleksan Harutiunian will be held in pre-trial

confinement for another two months, according to

"Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 11 February. Harutiunian resigned

and was taken into custody in December on suspicion of

involvement in the 27 October Armenian parliament shootings

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 and 21 December 1999). LF

[03] ARMENIAN OFFICIALS DENY PRO-RUSSIAN BIAS IN ENERGY SYSTEM

The World Bank has reportedly expressed

concern to Armenian Prime Minister Sargsian over rumors that

Yerevan may give unwarranted preferential treatment to a

subsidiary of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom in the ongoing

tender for privatization of four energy distributing

enterprises, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported on 10 February.

On 8 February, Energy Minister David Zadoyan had denied those

rumors, pledging the "maximum transparency" in the sell-off.

He added that the decisive factor would be the level of

investment that potential buyers are prepared to make in the

energy sector. In addition to Gazprom, four companies--from

the U.S., Switzerland, Italy, and Spain--are short-listed. LF

[04] DETAINED JOURNALIST RELEASED IN AZERBAIJAN

the "Yeni Musavat" journalist abducted from the newspaper's

Baku headquarters on 7 February and taken to Nakhichevan, was

released on 9 February and allowed to return to Baku, Turan

reported. Hasanli told fellow-reporters the following day

that he had been pressured to retract a report that Vagif

Talybov, the brother of the Nakhichevan parliamentary

speaker, demands a $200 bribe from persons applying for a

passport. Hasanli said he was taken before a Nakhichevan

court and sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment for refusing to

obey police instructions. He was then released and allowed to

return to the capital. Hasanli said that local leaders of

other Azerbaijani opposition parties are currently being held

in detention in Nakhichevan (see also "End Note" below). LF

[05] TWELFTH CANDIDATE NOMINATED FOR GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLL

proposed engineer Gela Gelashvili as a candidate in the 9

April presidential elections, Caucasus Press reported on 10

February. LF

[06] GEORGIA SAYS RUSSIAN PLANES AGAIN VIOLATE ITS AIRSPACE

into Georgian airspace on 10 February, Caucasus Press

reported, quoting a Georgian Frontier Department official.

OSCE observers deployed along the Georgian-Chechen border

reportedly registered the incursions. Two Russian military

helicopters entered the same sector of Georgia's airspace one

week earlier (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 February 2000). LF

[07] KAZAKHSTAN TO HOLD ELECTIONS FOR REGIONAL GOVERNORS?

cabinet has submitted to the lower chamber of the parliament

a draft law on the election of regional governors, which

might take place this summer, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service

reported on 10 February, quoting unnamed sources within the

presidential administration. Until now, the appointment of

governors has been the prerogative of the president. In April

1999, Nursultan Nazarbaev had argued that popular elections

to the post of governor could "destabilize the social and

economic situation" (see "End Note," "RFE/RL Newsline," 13

April 1999). Azamat movement leader Ghalym Abelseitov said

his organization is ready to propose candidates for those

elections, while members of the opposition Republican

People's Party of Kazakhstan said they might also do so but

that the identity of those candidates would not be made

public in advance. LF

[08] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVERSE

Jypar Jeksheev, who is chairman of the Party of

the Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan (PDMK), told

journalists in Bishkek on 10 February that delegates to an

emergency party congress the previous day appealed to the

Supreme Court to reverse a district court's 5 February ruling

barring the party from contesting the 20 February

parliamentary elections under the proportional system, RFE/RL

correspondents in the Kyrgyz capital reported. The local

court had endorsed a complaint by three former members of the

party who alleged they had been unjustly prevented from

attending the PDMK's 5 January congress. Jeksheev explained

that the three were not entitled to attend as they had not

been selected as delegates by their local party branches. On

25 January, the Central Electoral Commission registered the

PDMK as a participant in the poll. LF

[09] SOME REGISTERED CANDIDATES NOT TO BE LISTED ON KYRGYZ BALLOT

Kyrgyz Central Electoral Commission official Tynybek

Momunaliev said in Bishkek on 10 February that the names of

only 418 of the 455 candidates originally registered to run

in single-mandate constituencies will be printed on the

relevant ballot sheets, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. He

said the remaining candidates were excluded for reasons he

declined to specify. Originally, 239 candidates registered to

contend 45 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house)

and 216 for the 45 seats in the People's Assembly (upper

house). A further 15 seats in the Legislative Assembly will

be allocated under the party list system. Nine political

parties and two blocs will contend those seats. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS PRAISE DECISION TO EASE SANCTIONS

decision by the EU and the U.S. to ease some sanctions

against Yugoslavia would benefit democratic forces, AP

reported. Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic said Serbia

"should not be treated like a crisis area...with forceful

interventions." He added that ending an air embargo would

allow the Serbian people to realize that the opposition is

"the democratic alternative...that we are making life better

here and (will) take our country out of isolation." A formal

decision by the EU on easing sanctions is expected on 14

February. An EU official in Brussels said on 11 February that

the ban on air links with Yugoslavia will be suspended only

if member states agree to tighten other sanctions. PB

[11] SLAIN YUGOSLAV DEFENSE MINISTER BURIED...

buried in Gornji Rovci, Montenegro on 10 February at a

ceremony attended by thousands of people. Yugoslav Premier

Momir Bulatovic (no relation) and the chief of the general

staff of the Yugoslav army, Dragoljub Ojdanic, were the

highest ranking Yugoslav officials in attendance. Bulatovic

was assassinated in Belgrade on 7 February (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 8 February 2000). PB

[12] ...AS SERBIAN DEPUTY PREMIER THREATENS INDEPENDENT

Vojislav Seselj, who is also the chairman of the

ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, said on 10 February

that independent journalists "working for the Americans" will

suffer "the worst possible consequences," the radio station

B2-92 reported. Seselj said in an interview that journalists

"working for foreign intelligence services are murderers." He

said that "whoever lives by the sword can die by the sword

and you should keep this in mind." Seselj named the Belgrade

dailies "Danas," "Blic," "Glas javnosti," "Novosti," and B2-

92 as the media organizations he was referring to. PB

[13] SERBIAN TEACHER STRIKE GROWS

entered its 11th day on 11 February, now includes teachers

from some 770 elementary and high schools across Serbia, Beta

reported. The strike, which is in protest at low and unpaid

salaries and is being led by four teachers' unions, has

reportedly been joined by 48 percent of teachers in Serbia.

PB

[14] FRANCE DEFENDS ITS TROOPS' ROLE IN KOSOVA...

Defense Ministry denied reports on 10 February that its

troops were biased toward Serbs, and it defended their work

in keeping ethnic Albanians and Serbs apart in Mitrovica,

Reuters reported. The ministry's spokesman said "there was no

favoritism by France..., everyone knows the French contingent

is in the most delicate of positions in Kosovo, in between

two hostile communities." Western papers recently charged

that French troops did not properly protect ethnic Albanians

being attacked by a Serbian mob in Mitrovica and failed to

take the injured to a French-run hospital. The same day, 140

British troops were sent to Mitrovica to help qualm the

violence that has led to the deaths of at least 10 and

injured dozens in the past week. PB

[15] ...AS REPORT SAYS CONDITIONS FOR MINORITIES REMAINS BAD

report by the UNHCR and the OSCE says the situation for

minorities in Kosova "has not improved" since an earlier

report was issued in November, Reuters reported on 11

February. According to this latest assessment, in some places

the situation has even deteriorated: "Kosovo continues to be

volatile and potentially dangerous, with ethnicity often

remaining a determining factor in the risk of falling victim

to crime." The report calls on political leaders to accept

more responsibility in creating a tolerant society. PB

[16] ANOTHER MASS GRAVE FOUND IN KOSOVA

forces said on 10 February that a mass grave containing

between eight and 10 bodies was discovered near the village

of Mires, about 22 kilometers south of Prishtina, AP

reported. PB

[17] CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BOSNIA

Sarajevo on 10 February on his first official foreign visit,

Hina reported. The trip is seen as a gesture by Zagreb that

improved relations with Bosnia-Herzegovina are a major policy

goal of the new government. Picula will meet with top Bosnian

officials as well as with representatives of the

international community overseeing the implementation of the

Dayton agreement. Before leaving for Sarajevo, Picula said

that Premier Ivica Racan will meet with NATO Secretary-

General Lord Robertson in Brussels on 14 February and apply

for membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace program. He

added that Racan will also meet with EU officials to "open a

new page in our relations." PB

[18] CROATIAN PRESIDENT KEEN TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS WITH SLOVENIA

between Slovenia and Croatia must be resolved soon, Hina

reported. Mesic told Slovenia's POP-TV that "there are

problems, but they can be solved. They must be solved by this

generation, and they must be solved during my mandate." Mesic

said the resolution of disputes with Bosnia and Slovenia are

of paramount importance for Zagreb to be accepted into the EU

and NATO. Croatia and Slovenia have yet to resolve a sea-

border issue and problems over a nuclear power plant located

in Slovenia near the Croatian border. PB

[19] SIX BALKAN STATES RESOLVE TO INCREASE TRADE, INFRASTRUCTURE

Croatia, Macedonia, and Romania agreed on 10 February to set

up a program to encourage free trade and transportation

across their borders, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. The

EU, the U.S., and the World Bank will give financial aid for

the upgrading of border crossings, customs administration,

and enhancing the Internet infrastructure in order to

increase the flow of information among those countries. The

program is to be completed by 2003. PB

[20] NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL IN BUCHAREST

February thanked Romania for its assistance to NATO during

the Kosova conflict. He met with President Emil

Constantinescu, Foreign Minister Petre Roman, and other

officials, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. In response to

a question from journalists, Robertson said the guarantees

that NATO extended to Romanian security during the conflict

in Kosova are no longer applicable since, he commented, there

is no longer any conflict in which Romania is involved. He

said NATO members will decide in 2002 on the organization's

further expansion and that until then candidate states must

continue economic and military reforms to meet NATO

standards. MS

[21] BUCHAREST MAYOR LEAVES RULING PARTY

February announced he is resigning from the National Peasant

Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD). He accused the party's

secretary-general, Remus Opris, of "having taken over the

party" and of promoting only his supporters. PNTCD Chairman

Ion Diaconescu said that mayor's decision is based on his

realization that he will not be nominated as PNTCD candidate

for this year's local elections, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau

reported. Romanian media reported on 11 February that Lis may

be joining the Popular Party, headed by former Premier Radu

Vasile. On 10 February, PNTCD Senator Gheorghe Pavalascu

announced he is joining Vasile's party. Meanwhile, Diaconescu

and Mircea Ionescu-Quintus, leader of the National Liberal

Party, have agreed that the Democratic Convention of Romania

will be chaired by two chairmen representing their parties.

MS

[22] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY ASKS EU COMMISSIONER TO CLARIFY

The opposition Party of Social Democracy in

Romania (PDSR) has asked Guenter Verheugen, EU commissioner

for enlargement, to clarify a statement he made at a press

conference in Brussels on 8 February. Verheugen was asked

whether the EU will react as strongly as it did toward

Austria if "extremist parties" such as the PDSR or the Slovak

Movement for a Democratic Slovakia come to power. Without

mentioning these parties by name, Verheugen responded that

the EU "does not want to see populist and nationalist

movements or parties participating in European governments"

and that this position extends "to candidate countries as

well." The PDSR responded that the statement may be used by

its adversaries in the forthcoming elections and has asked

the commissioner to clarify it, Mediafax and Reuters

reported. MS

[23] MOLDOVAN OFFICIALS QUESTION COUNTRY'S NEUTRALITY

Burca, head of the Moldovan parliamentary delegation to the

North Atlantic Parliamentary Assembly, said on 10 February

that it is "unfortunate" that Moldova has "weak diplomatic

representations" at NATO and the EU. Moldova has only

associate status in the NATO assembly. Burca said Moldova's

neutrality "must not be viewed as dogma" allowed to undermine

"the general interests of the state," Flux reported on 10

February. He said other European neutral states are "closely

cooperating with NATO" and are being "integrated into the

European collective security system." Vitalia Pavlicenco, a

member of the delegation headed by Burca, predicted that "the

moment will come when Moldova will accept to trade its

neutrality" in order to "become integrated into a zone that

provides security." She commented that owing to the presence

of Russian troops, Moldova is "not a genuinely neutral state,

having remained in the Russian zone of influence." MS

[24] BULGARIA APPEALS TO GREECE, TURKEY TO HALT ARMS RACE

Minister Boiko Noev said in an interview with AP on 10

February that Bulgaria "does not welcome" the "arms race

south of us," and he urged Greece and Turkey to halt that

race, which "does not pose a threat to Bulgaria because we

have excellent friendly relations with both [countries]." But

he commented that the two countries "waste their money" on a

"military race [that]...will not solve their problems." Noev

said the problems between the two countries must be solved by

a political solution and that recent signs that such a

process is beginning are viewed by Bulgaria "with great hope

and optimism." MS

[C] END NOTE

[25] WHY MUSAVAT?

On 7 February, a group of some 100 armed men attacked

the Baku headquarters of the opposition Musavat Party and the

newspaper "Yeni Musavat," breaking down the main door,

smashing windows, and abducting "Yeni Musavat" journalist

Elbey Hasanli. Police summoned to the building failed to

intervene. The attackers were identified as inhabitants of

the village of Nehram in Nakhichevan's Djulfa Raion who were

reportedly incensed by articles in which Hasanli criticized

conditions in the exclave. Hasanli was taken to Nakhichevan

to face court charges but was released late on 9 February.

The incident was widely condemned by other Azerbaijani

opposition parties and by human rights groups. Presidential

administration official Ali Hasanov, while suggesting that he

considered the villagers' indignation justified, nonetheless

conceded that the form in which they expressed that protest

was unacceptable. Baku police have opened a criminal case on

charges of hooliganism.

Musavat Party Chairman Isa Gambar blamed the attack on

the Azerbaijani authorities, claiming that they had known in

advance that it was planned but had taken no steps to prevent

it. Other opposition parties, meeting in Baku the following

day, condemned the violence as "political terrorism" aimed at

creating artificial tensions and destabilizing the political

situation.

At a quick glance, the attack on Musavat could be

regarded merely as the continuation of a pattern in recent

years of seemingly arbitrary reprisals against opposition

political parties and publications. Moreover, Musavat was

earlier subject to harassment in Nakhichevan: party secretary

Sulkhaddin Akper was detained last summer in Djulfa Raion and

fined for insulting the police, and the party's Djulfa branch

was evicted from its office in November. Three officials from

the Musavat Party's Nakhichevan branch were arrested in early

February on charges of slander. On 5 February, a group of 70

people attacked Musavat Party headquarters in the town of

Nakhichevan, destroying documents and office equipment.

However, both the timing of the attack and the fact that

Musavat, rather than another prominent opposition party, was

the target may be significant. Last month, Gambar proposed

that opposition parties should join forces and field a

combined list of candidates in the parliamentary elections

due this November. True, other opposition parties reacted

coolly to the proposal, which some political observers have

claimed is unrealistic. But in making that proposal, Gambar

may also have been making a bid for the status of "primus

inter pares" within the ranks of opposition party leaders.

The previous claimant to that role, Azerbaijan Popular Front

Chairman Abulfaz Elchibey, is widely regarded as a spent

political force, and some commentators have predicted that

perceived tensions between him and that party's charismatic

young first deputy chairman, Ali Kerimov, could ultimately

split the party.

In addition, Mahir Samedov, a former member of the

Popular Front's Supreme Council has recently quit the party's

ranks to found a rival party and has subjected Kerimov to

blistering criticism in the press. The fact that it was

Musavat, not the Popular Front, that was subject to attack

may serve as grist to the mill of those observers who believe

that Kerimov has been secretly coopted by the current

Azerbaijani leadership.

The Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, too, is reportedly

rent by tensions between its two co-chairmen, Ilyas Ismailov

and exiled former parliamentary speaker Rasul Guliev.

Musavat's Gambar thus has grounds to contest a leading

role in the runup to the November poll. Musavat and the

Popular Front have each drafted a new election law, while the

Akhrar Party and the presidential apparatus have prepared

amendments to the existing law. Akhrar chairman Vagif

Gadjibeyli told "Zerkalo" in early January that the main

points of the two alternative draft laws and of his party's

amendments largely coincide. He noted that a single

opposition version is likely to be drawn up and submitted for

approval to the dozen opposition parties aligned in the

Democratic Congress.

But Gambar, too, has a potential Achilles's heel, in the

form of "Yeni Musavat," the main target of this week's

reprisals. Although it was originally founded by the Musavat

Party, that newspaper is now a privately funded publication,

whose editor Rauf Arifogly has described as "working against

the existing regime" in the hope of expediting

democratization. The newspaper's approach is, moreover,

uncompromising: Arifogly told RFE/RL in October 1998 that "we

write everything we want." Indeed, the outspokenness of "Yeni

Musavat" and its connections with the Musavat Party could

continue to prove a liability for the latter.

A systematic campaign of reprisals against either "Yeni

Musavat" or other opposition publications could, however,

negatively affect Azerbaijan's chances of being granted full

membership in the Council of Europe. The council's decision

on whether Azerbaijan qualifies for full membership will

depend primarily on the conduct of the parliamentary

elections.

11-02-00

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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