RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 93, 00-05-15

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 93, 15 May 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] NEW ARMENIAN PREMIER NAMED

[02] DEMONSTRATORS DEMAND ARMENIAN PRESIDENT'S RESIGNATION

[03] WORLD BANK ANNOUNCES NEW LOAN TO ARMENIA

[04] ARMENIAN REFUGEES REFUSED TRANSPORT FROM GEORGIA TO BULGARIA

[05] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR SOUTH CAUCASUS

[06] AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT PASSES ELECTION LAW IN SECOND READING

[07] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT UNVEILS NEW GOVERNMENT

[08] ABKHAZIA REJECTS UN PROPOSAL

[09] KYRGYZSTAN DETAINS, RELEASES DEMONSTRATORS

[10] TRIAL OF KYRGYZ OPPOSITION LEADER OPENS

[11] U.S. GENERAL VISITS KYRGYZSTAN

[12] TURKMENISTAN RESTRICTS SEARCHES OF PRIVATE HOMES

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] YET ANOTHER HIGH-LEVEL KILLING IN SERBIA

[14] SERBIAN REGIME THREATENS CRACKDOWN ON OTPOR...

[15] ...WHILE OTPOR STANDS ITS GROUND

[16] REGIME TO PREVENT BELGRADE RALLY?

[17] DRASKOVIC TO SHED NON-VIOLENCE?

[18] OFFICIAL BELGRADE CELEBRATES SECURITY DAY

[19] SERBIAN JOURNALIST FREED

[20] FIRST WAR CRIMES TRIAL IN KOSOVA OPENS

[21] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT UNVEILS ECONOMIC PROGRAM

[22] NEW ZAGREB POLITICAL LINEUP

[23] SLOVENIAN PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE PROPOSES CABINET

[24] PETRITSCH CLARIFIES BOSNIAN PRIVATIZATION LAW

[25] ALBANIA'S BERISHA SPEAKS IN SOCIALIST CENTER

[26] ROMANIAN JOURNALIST BEATEN BY POLICE

[27] COMMUNISTS WALK OUT OF PARLIAMENT TO PROTEST

[28] ACCUSED BULGARIANS CLAIM CONFESSIONS MADE UNDER PRESSURE

[29] TOURISM IN BULGARIA REBOUNDS

[C] END NOTE

[30] TRIAL OF 'SEPARATISTS' HIGHLIGHTS PLIGHT OF KAZAKHSTAN'S

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] NEW ARMENIAN PREMIER NAMED

May named Republican Party of Armenia Chairman Andranik

Markarian to head the next Armenian government. Markarian,

who is a 49-year-old computer specialist, served a three-year

prison sentence in the mid-1970s for his membership in the

clandestine National Unity Party. Meeting on 13 May with the

outgoing cabinet, Markarian and Kocharian pledged to end the

infighting between president, premier, and parliament, which

Markarian said "undermines the foundations of our statehood."

He also pledged to continue the economic policies espoused by

previous cabinets. LF

[02] DEMONSTRATORS DEMAND ARMENIAN PRESIDENT'S RESIGNATION

2,500 people attended a protest demonstration in Yerevan on

12 May to call for Kocharian's resignation, Interfax

reported. The demonstration was convened by the Union of

Rightist Forces, which brings together four small-center

right parties that split in the late 1990s from the former

ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

5 May 2000). In a written statement circulated before the

demonstration, the union claimed that Kocharian is not a

legitimate president and blamed his policies for ongoing

emigration, which they termed a threat to Armenia's

statehood. LF

[03] WORLD BANK ANNOUNCES NEW LOAN TO ARMENIA

officials told journalists in Yerevan on 12 May that the bank

will release some $20 million in new loans to finance

infrastructure projects intended to benefit the poorest

strata of the population, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported.

But they said that disbursement of another $45 million

Structural Adjustment Credit (SAC-4), earmarked for covering

approximately half of this year's anticipated budget deficit,

and $11 million remaining from last year's SAC-3 program is

contingent on the privatization of four loss-making energy

distribution companies. Parliamentary deputies voted on 25

April to suspend the tender for that sell-off (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 26 April 2000). LF

[04] ARMENIAN REFUGEES REFUSED TRANSPORT FROM GEORGIA TO BULGARIA

Sea port of Poti to Armenia on 14 May after being refused

entry visas for Bulgaria, ITAR-TASS reported. The refugees,

most of them women and children, had fled to Armenia from

Nagorno-Karabakh and the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait before

the collapse of the USSR and possessed only Soviet passports.

Nor did they have documentation proving their status as

refugees. Of the more than 300,000 such refugees who fled to

Armenia, only some 12,000 have acquired Armenian citizenship,

Noyan Tapan reported last December. LF

[05] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR SOUTH CAUCASUS

Heidar Aliev has written to outgoing Turkish

President Suleyman Demirel to express his support for the

Caucasus stability pact that Demirel proposed during a visit

to Georgia in January, AFP reported on 14 May, citing an

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry statement (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 17 January 2000). Aliev said such a pact could be

crucial in resolving the Karabakh conflict and contributing

to a "permanent peace" in the South Caucasus. Aliev also

expressed his thanks to Demirel for the latter's contribution

to developing Azerbaijani-Turkish relations. LF

[06] AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT PASSES ELECTION LAW IN SECOND READING

the Central Electoral Commission in the second reading by a

vote of 86 to six, Turan reported. None of the changes

proposed by opposition deputies during the first reading was

incorporated into the bill, which stipulates that the

parliament majority, the opposition, and independent deputies

should be equally represented on the 18-member commission.

The opposition is demanding that the Azerbaijani authorities

and the parliamentary minority be equally represented. LF

[07] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT UNVEILS NEW GOVERNMENT

Georgian Constitution, Eduard Shevardnadze has submitted to

the parliament his list of 19 proposed ministerial

candidates, Caucasus Press and ITAR-TASS reported on 14 May.

All but four ministers in the outgoing government retain

their posts, including Agriculture Minister Bakur Gulua, who

is implicated in a major corruption scandal and whose

candidacy deputies had indicated they would reject. The new

appointees are parliamentary Tax Committee Chairman Zurab

Nogaideli as finance minister, First Deputy Minister of State

Vano Chkhartishvili as economics and industry minister,

Deputy Foreign Minister Sesilia Gogoberidze as minister of

culture, and Georgia's ambassador to Russia Malkhaz Kakabadze

as minister without portfolio with responsibility for

conflict resolution. Observers had anticipated that

Kakabadze's predecessor in Moscow, outgoing Minister of State

Vazha Lortkipanizde, might be appointed to that post (see

"RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 19, 11 May 2000). LF

[08] ABKHAZIA REJECTS UN PROPOSAL

rejected out of hand, and is not prepared even to discuss, a

UN proposal on the division of constitutional powers between

Abkhazia and the central Georgian government, Caucasus Press

reported on 15 May. Astamur Tania, who is an aide to Abkhaz

President Vladislav Ardzinba, said that at present Sukhum is

prepared to begin talks only on economic restoration and the

repatriation to Abkhazia of ethnic Georgian displaced

persons. He argued that the UN has no right to impose a model

for relations between Abkhazia and Tbilisi and that it is up

to those two parties to reach agreement between themselves on

the optimum model for relations. Tania also expressed doubt

that the appointment of Kakabadze as Georgian minister

without portfolio would expedite a solution to the conflict.

He said Sukhum would have preferred to continue negotiations

with Lortkipanidze, who is familiar with the Abkhaz problem

and has a good working relationship with the Abkhaz

leadership. LF

[09] KYRGYZSTAN DETAINS, RELEASES DEMONSTRATORS

on 12 May arrested some 30 participants in the ongoing

demonstration to demand the release of arrested opposition

Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov and the annulment of the

results of the February-March parliamentary elections,

RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. The arrested

demonstrators had attempted to march to the Kyrgyztelecom

building in violation of a 31 March police edict that they

remain on the city's Maksim Gorky Square. Charges were

brought against some of those detained, but all were released

later the same day. On 13 May, Kyrgyz Security Council

Secretary Bolot Djanuzakov met again with the demonstrators s

to ask them not to stage further marches in Bishkek (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 9 May 2000). But the coalition of Kyrgyz

NGOs said the same day that it will appeal the 31 March edict

as unconstitutional. LF

[10] TRIAL OF KYRGYZ OPPOSITION LEADER OPENS

Bechara) leader Daniyar Usenov went on trial on 12 May in a

Bishkek district court on charges of assaulting businessman

Kengseh Mukaev in 1996, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The

same day, Mukaev, who has repeatedly said that he bears no

grudge against Usenov, formally appealed against a medical

statement that Usenov caused him serious injury and requested

a new medical examination, which the court rejected. He

denounced the court proceedings as politically motivated. LF

[11] U.S. GENERAL VISITS KYRGYZSTAN

talks in Bishkek on 10-11 May with Kyrgyz government and

military officials on assessing bilateral military

cooperation, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Zinney also

attended a simulated peacekeeping operation by special units

trained under U.S. supervision, according to Interfax. LF

[12] TURKMENISTAN RESTRICTS SEARCHES OF PRIVATE HOMES

apparently intended to rein in the Turkmen security services,

which some observers believe have become a law unto

themselves, President Saparmurat Niyazov on 12 May signed a

constitutional law banning searches of private homes without

the prior sanction of a special commission comprised of

senior government officials and representatives of public

organizations and law enforcement agencies, Interfax

reported. In the future, searches of private homes may be

undertaken only after that body has given permission and only

if there are grounds for suspecting that arms. ammunition, or

more than 5 kilograms of drugs are stored there. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] YET ANOTHER HIGH-LEVEL KILLING IN SERBIA

Milivoje Gutovic fatally shot Bosko Perosevic at an

agricultural trade fair in Novi Sad on 13 May. Perosevic was

head of the Vojvodina provincial government and of the local

branch of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist

Party. This is the latest in a series of high-level murders;

none of the previous killings has been solved. This was the

first such shooting that took place outside Belgrade and in

which the gunman was quickly identified and captured.

London's "The Daily Telegraph" suggested on 15 May that

Gutovic might be "psychologically troubled" or that the

slaying may be the result of a "bloody turf war" between

criminal syndicates. Alcohol may have been a factor

determining the behavior of Gutovic, who comes from the

village of Ratkovo, as did his victim, the "Los Angeles

Times" added. Zarko Jokanovic of the New Democracy party

suggested that Socialist hard-liners may have disliked

Perosevic, whom Jokanovic described as "tolerant, educated

and ready for [political] cooperation," Reuters reported. PM

[14] SERBIAN REGIME THREATENS CRACKDOWN ON OTPOR...

a statement that Gutovic, who is 50, was "beyond doubt" an

activist in the Otpor (Resistance) student movement and in

Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), AP reported

from Belgrade on 14 May. The statement added that a search of

Gutovic's home revealed "posters and propaganda material of

Otpor and the SPO as well as brochures on terrorism."

Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic said that "all

those who perform activities against the state will be

treated in accordance with the law. The time of their street

demonstrations is over." He stressed that the killing "was

not the work of a single maniac but an organized murder with

a deep political background, with the aim of destabilizing

Yugoslavia." Socialist Party Secretary-General Gorica Gajevic

added that "the NATO aggressors are now putting their weapons

in the hands of their servants here, to do their dirty job

for them and to spread fear and chaos." Gajevic called Otpor

activists "ordinary NATO mercenaries." PM

[15] ...WHILE OTPOR STANDS ITS GROUND

opposition supporters if they hold a planned rally in

Belgrade at 3:00 p.m. on 15 May, Matic said "that is

correct," "The Guardian" reported on 15 May. Opposition

leader Vladan Batic confirmed that the rally will go ahead

nonetheless. "The citizens of Serbia must view this rally as

the struggle for survival, freedom, and democracy," he told

Draskovic's Studio-B Television. The previous day, the SPO

said in a statement that "if the murder has a political

background, the real culprits should be sought within the

regime,...which instigates bloody conflicts." The statement

also called Gutovic a "monster" and denied any links to him.

Otpor's Ivan Marovic accused the regime of spreading "lies"

and "political marketing tricks" in an effort to "use the

tragedy...to crack down on political opponents," AP reported.

Otpor said in a statement that "this is the last opportunity

to take decisive action against a further escalation of

violence that could turn into chaos and anarchy," "Danas"

reported. PM

[16] REGIME TO PREVENT BELGRADE RALLY?

anti-Milosevic activists during the morning of 15 May,

Reuters reported from Belgrade. An unspecified number of

busses filled with police arrived in the capital from

outside. PM

[17] DRASKOVIC TO SHED NON-VIOLENCE?

honor of the World War II monarchist Chetnik leader Draza

Mihajlovic in Ravna Gora on 14 May that the SPO "in the

future will no longer defend itself from repression only with

speeches, meetings, and declarations," RFE/RL's South Slavic

Service reported. Draskovic added that his movement will use

"all possible means" to carry out its "holy patriotic duty"

against what he called "the occupation regime" of Milosevic.

He did not elaborate. The themes of the rally were "Uprising"

and "On to Belgrade," "Vesti" reported. PM

[18] OFFICIAL BELGRADE CELEBRATES SECURITY DAY

forces marked the Day of the State Security Bodies in

Belgrade on 14 May. General Obrad Stevanovic of the State

Security Services said that employees of the Serbian Interior

Ministry have had "good results" in investigating and

catching criminals over the last 12 months, RFE/RL's South

Slavic Service reported. The previous day, Defense Minister

Dragoljub Ojdanic noted that this year's Security Day comes

at a time when Serbia is under great pressure from external

enemies. Army chief-of-staff General Nebojsa Pavkovic issued

a similar statement. PM

[19] SERBIAN JOURNALIST FREED

Miroslav Filipovic on 12 May (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 May

2000). His lawyer told the private news agency Beta that "the

actions of the military prosecutor and court were very

correct. The military judicial system proved efficient."

Filipovic denied that he had been involved in espionage and

noted that he signed every article he published. PM

[20] FIRST WAR CRIMES TRIAL IN KOSOVA OPENS

Jokic began in Kosova on 15 May for alleged war crimes

stemming from his activities as leader of a nine-member

paramilitary band during the recent conflict in Kosova,

Reuters reported. Jokic denies those charges and argues that

there was no paramilitary activity in the area where he is

alleged to have committed the crimes. His is the first war

crimes trial to be held in the province. The trial was

adjourned the same day after the defendant failed to appear.

Meanwhile in Prishtina, a UN spokeswoman said that trials of

other Serbs and Roma will begin in Mitrovica starting 6 June.

She said that security preparations for the trials cannot be

completed before that date. Some 30 Serbs and five Roma are

on a hunger strike to demand that their trials take place as

soon as possible. PM

[21] CROATIAN GOVERNMENT UNVEILS ECONOMIC PROGRAM

on 13 May unveiled a 100-day program aimed at promoting

growth and creating jobs. "Jutarnji list" wrote on 15 May

that the government will have its work cut out for it. On 12

May, the parliament annulled legislation requiring the

government to bail out failing banks at taxpayers' expense.

The previous government is widely believed to have used the

legislation to rescue banks that had made bad loans to

government supporters. PM

[22] NEW ZAGREB POLITICAL LINEUP

parties in the recent Zagreb municipal elections agreed on 13

May that the Social Democrats' Milan Bandic will be the new

mayor and that the Social Liberals' Filip Borac will head the

city council. The Square of Croatian Heroes will receive back

its former name of Square of the Victims of Fascism (see

"RFE/RL Balkan Report," 12 May 2000). PM

[23] SLOVENIAN PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE PROPOSES CABINET

Bajuk will be finance minister as well as government head in

his new cabinet. Lojze Peterle, who was the first prime

minister after independence in 1991, will be foreign

minister, Reuters reported from Ljubljana on 13 May. The

parliament has yet to approve the cabinet. PM

[24] PETRITSCH CLARIFIES BOSNIAN PRIVATIZATION LAW

Petritsch, who is the international community's chief

representative in Bosnia, has decreed changes in the

privatization law to protect investors in cases in which the

ownership of assets are disputed, Reuters reported from

Sarajevo on 12 May. His moves also clarify restitution

procedures. International officials have said repeatedly that

Bosnia needs investments if it is to make the transition from

an aid-dependent economy to a market one and that investors

will not invest until substantial reforms are enacted. PM

[25] ALBANIA'S BERISHA SPEAKS IN SOCIALIST CENTER

Party leader and former President Sali Berisha told a small

gathering in Vlora on 14 May that his government's conduct

helped avert a civil war after the collapse of pyramid

schemes in 1997. He added that subsequent Socialist policies

have turned Vlora into a "paradise of the Albanian and

regional mafias," AP reported. Local officials had previously

said that Berisha is not welcome in Vlora, but his relatively

low-key rally passed without incident. His appearance marks

the opening of campaigning for local elections slated for

October (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2 May 2000). PM

[26] ROMANIAN JOURNALIST BEATEN BY POLICE

journalist for a Constanta-based newspaper and a Reuters

correspondent, was severely beaten by police on 12 May while

trying to photograph a "private party," the daily "Ziua"

reported on 15 May. The party was hosted by Constanta

county's police chief, Ion Carlig, who was celebrating his

promotion to the rank of general. Dragan suffered several

injuries, including a broken leg, and will remain

hospitalized for some two months. According to the newspaper,

Dragan received most of his injuries from press officer Major

Marian Saragea. The Romanian Journalist Association protested

the incident and asked for Carlig's suspension pending

investigation, while the Interior Ministry said it has begun

a probe into the matter. ZI

[27] COMMUNISTS WALK OUT OF PARLIAMENT TO PROTEST

The Communist Party faction of

the Moldovan parliament walked out of the chamber on 12 May

to protest the absence of Moldovan language classes at

universities, Infotag reported. Party leader Vladimir Voronin

said the fact that "Romanian language and literature" is

listed on the curriculum of higher education institutions in

Moldova but no reference is made to "Moldovan language and

literature" is a violation of the country's constitution.

Voronin said the Communists want the vote postponed so that

the government can study the constitution. He said if the

cabinet refuses to do so, the Communists will dismiss it. The

Communist Party holds 40 of the 101 seats in parliament. PB

[28] ACCUSED BULGARIANS CLAIM CONFESSIONS MADE UNDER PRESSURE

of the six Bulgarian medics charged with intentionally

infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus said

they confessed to the charges under duress, the medics'

lawyer said in Tripoli on 12 May. The six, five nurses and

one doctor, are charged with contaminating 393 children in a

Benghazi hospital. Libya says 40 of the children have died

from AIDS. The six Bulgarians were detained 15 months ago and

face the death penalty if convicted. The trial is scheduled

to begin on 4 June. PB

[29] TOURISM IN BULGARIA REBOUNDS

May that tourism in the first quarter of this year was up 27

percent compared with the same period in 1999, AP reported.

Tourism suffered badly last year owing to the war in

Yugoslavia. The Economy Ministry said that 506,870 people

have visited Bulgaria from January to April and that it

expects some $1.2 billion in revenue from the sector this

year. PB

[C] END NOTE

[30] TRIAL OF 'SEPARATISTS' HIGHLIGHTS PLIGHT OF KAZAKHSTAN'S

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

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article