RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 151, 00-08-08

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 151, 8 August 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN STATE NEWS AGENCY STAFF DEMAND PAY ARREARS

[02] U.S., EU PRESSURE AZERBAIJAN TO AMEND ELECTION LAWS

[03] NATO NOT TO TAKE OVER RUSSIAN AIR BASE IN GEORGIA

[04] GEORGIAN OFFICIAL SAYS RED CROSS WORKERS ABDUCTED

[05] GEORGIANS, LOCAL GREEK MINORITY CLASH IN TSALKA

[06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PROSECUTOR GENERAL ADVOCATES CODE OF

[07] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN ACQUITTED

[08] UZBEK FORCES SEEK TO REPEL INCURSION FROM TAJIKISTAN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] SERBIAN UNITED OPPOSITION PICKS KOSTUNICA FOR PRESIDENCY

[10] SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY NOMINATES 'THE GRAVEDIGGER'

[11] DRASKOVIC FIRM ON DIVIDING SERBIAN OPPOSITION VOTE

[12] YUGOSLAV ARMY MOVES WESTERN CAPTIVES TO BELGRADE

[13] OSCE BANS STAFF TRAVEL TO MONTENEGRO

[14] YUGOSLAV NAVY FREES CROATIAN SHIP

[15] AUSTRALIA TO BAR YUGOSLAV ELITE VISITORS

[16] IMPRISONED SERBIAN JOURNALIST MOVED TO HOSPITAL

[17] MEDICAL CHARITY TO LEAVE PARTS OF KOSOVA

[18] PETRITSCH RULES ON BOSNIAN SUCCESSION

[19] U.S. 'AFRAID' TO CATCH KARADZIC?

[20] NEW CENTER-RIGHT ALLIANCE SET UP IN ROMANIA

[21] ROMANIAN PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS REACT TO STOLOJAN'S CANDIDACY...

[22] ...WHILE SECOND POLL SHOWS ILIESCU MIGHT LOSE

[23] RUSSIAN, MOLDOVAN TROOPS HOLD JOINT EXERCISE

[24] MOLDOVA CUTS RADIO BROADCASTS

[25] BULGARIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL VOWS TO PUNISH BUG PLANTERS

[26] BULGARIA REJECTS RUSSIAN CRITICISM OF KOSTOV

[C] END NOTE

[27] SAUDI AID WORKERS BULLDOZE BALKAN MONUMENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN STATE NEWS AGENCY STAFF DEMAND PAY ARREARS

one-day strike on 7 August to demand back salaries, which

have not been paid since March, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau

reported. Of a total 36 million drams ($70,000) earmarked in

this year's budget for Armenpress, only 8 million drams has

been made available to date. Eduard Militonian, who heads the

government department for information and publishing, which

supervises Armenpress, assured the agency's staff that they

will be paid on 8 August. LF

[02] U.S., EU PRESSURE AZERBAIJAN TO AMEND ELECTION LAWS

Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev urging him to amend the

country's election legislation in accordance with

recommendations from the OSCE's Office for Democratic

Institutions and Human Rights, Turan reported on 8 August.

The ambassadors warn that failure to do so may jeopardize

Azerbaijan's Council of Europe membership. "Azadlyg" reported

on 8 August that the issue of Azerbaijan's acceptance into

full membership has been removed from the agenda of the

Council of Europe Council of Ministers' session scheduled for

2 September. Also on 8 August, presidential administration

official Ali Hasanov confirmed that U.S. Secretary of State

Madeleine Albright has also written to Aliev in connection

with the 5 November parliamentary elections. On 7 August,

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliev said that while

Azerbaijan "respects" the OSCE, it will not yield to pressure

from that organization to amend its legislation, Turan

reported. LF

[03] NATO NOT TO TAKE OVER RUSSIAN AIR BASE IN GEORGIA

Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili and a senior Defense

Ministry official on 7 August both rejected as "fantasy" the

speculation that a NATO delegation that arrived in Tbilisi

that day planned to inspect the airfield at the Russian

military base at Vaziani, near Tbilisi, to determine whether

it is suitable for NATO needs, Caucasus Press reported. In

compliance with an agreement signed in Istanbul last

November, Russia began last week withdrawing excess military

equipment from the Vaziani base in order to comply with the

quota Russia is allowed under the revised CFE Treaty. LF

[04] GEORGIAN OFFICIAL SAYS RED CROSS WORKERS ABDUCTED

Interior Minister Kakha Bakuradze told journalists in Tbilisi

on 7 August that the three Red Cross workers who disappeared

on 4 August in the Pankisi gorge were abducted, Caucasus

Press reported. Bakuradze added that the Georgian authorities

have a good idea who the abductors are, but did not disclose

their identity. He added that he is confident that the lives

of the three officials are not in danger. Also on 7 August,

the Tbilisi office of the International Red Cross Committee

said it has suspended all humanitarian operations in the

Pankisi gorge, where several thousand refugees from Chechnya

have settled, ITAR-TASS reported. LF

[05] GEORGIANS, LOCAL GREEK MINORITY CLASH IN TSALKA

people, including some women and children, were injured in

fighting on 6 August in the south Georgian district of Tsalka

between Pontic Greeks and Georgians from Adjaria who tried to

occupy the abandoned homes of Greeks who had emigrated,

Caucasus Press and Interfax reported on 7 August (see "RFE/RL

Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 25, 22 June 2000). The Pontic

Greeks constitute a majority of the local population. Police

intervened to halt the skirmish. The local prosecutor has

opened a criminal investigation into the incident. LF

[06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PROSECUTOR GENERAL ADVOCATES CODE OF

Speaking at a press conference in Astana

on 5 August, Yurii Khitrin said that a journalistic code of

honor and ethics is urgently needed, Asia Plus-Blitz reported

on 7 August. Khitrin said Kazakhstan's media "have become a

battlefield" for settling scores, and claimed that of 148

critical articles checked for accuracy, 44 contained

unfounded charges. Khitrin admitted that his office has

registered instances in which journalists' or media outlets'

rights had been violated, and that some government press

centers refuse on occasion to release information to the

media. He said that his office will not enforce any

censorship of the media in Kazakhstan. LF

[07] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN ACQUITTED

Nurlan Ashyrbekov announced late on 7 August the acquittal of

former Vice President and Bishkek Mayor Feliks Kulov,

RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The military prosecutor had

demanded an eight-year sentence for Kulov on charges of abuse

of his official position in 1997-1998 when he served as

National Security Minister. Kulov's co-defendant, Djanybek

Bakhchiev, who formerly headed the anti-terror group within

the National Security Ministry, was sentenced to seven years'

imprisonment, and two other former ministry employees each

received suspended sentences of five years. Interfax quoted

Kulov as telling supporters who had gathered outside the

courtroom that he will decide within one week, after

consulting with other opposition candidates, whether to run

against incumbent Askar Akaev in the 29 October presidential

poll. The Ar-Namys party, of which Kulov is chairman, has

nominated him as its candidate. LF

[08] UZBEK FORCES SEEK TO REPEL INCURSION FROM TAJIKISTAN

security forces clashed on 6 August with members of several

groups of Islamists who penetrated the Surkhandarya Oblast of

southern Kyrgyzstan from Afghanistan via Tajikistan,

"Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 8 August. The Islamists,

whose numbers are variously estimated at between 70-100, are

said to be loyal to Djuma Namangani and Takhir Yuldash, the

leaders of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Tajikistan has intensified controls along its border with

Uzbekistan, deputy Border Protection Committee chief Major

General Safarali Saifullaev told Asia Plus-Blitz on 8 August.

LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[09] SERBIAN UNITED OPPOSITION PICKS KOSTUNICA FOR PRESIDENCY

on 7 August to field nationalist politician Vojislav

Kostunica as their joint candidate. Kostunica said that "the

so-called opposition" Serbian Renewal Movement's (SPO)

decision to run its own candidate, Vojislav Mihajlovic,

"makes it more difficult for us, but it also makes [the

SPO's] future more difficult" by underscoring strategic links

between the SPO and the regime, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 7 August 2000). Kostunica added that the

nomination of presidential candidates by the SPO and by

Vojislav Seselj's Radicals are an "attempt [to reduce the

chances] that the united opposition's candidate will enter

the second round of voting," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. PM

[10] SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY NOMINATES 'THE GRAVEDIGGER'

Radicals agreed in Belgrade on 7 August to run Tomislav

Nikolic as their presidential candidate. He is known as "the

gravedigger" because he once managed a cemetery in

Kragujevac, Reuters reported. Seselj, who will be named prime

minister should Nikolic win, said that Nikolic "has the best

chances to be elected president considering his reputation

and merits in protecting the national interests of the

Serbian people." Neither he nor Mihajlovic has ever appeared

in a national public opinion poll. PM

[11] DRASKOVIC FIRM ON DIVIDING SERBIAN OPPOSITION VOTE

leader Vuk Draskovic said in Belgrade on 7 August that he

sticks by Mihajlovic's candidacy. He added that he will not

reply to an appeal from the united opposition to reconsider

because he did not like "the tone" of their letter, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. In Washington, a State

Department spokesman called for "a united opposition to

Milosevic." PM

[12] YUGOSLAV ARMY MOVES WESTERN CAPTIVES TO BELGRADE

Zecevic, who is the defense lawyer appointed by the Yugoslav

government, said on 8 August that the army has sent its two

British and two Canadian prisoners to a military court in

Belgrade, AP reported from the Serbian capital (see "RFE/RL

Balkan Report," 8 August 2000). He stressed that "the only

thing to determine is whether the demolition devices and a

few fuses found in their car are really explosives that can

cause destruction. I think those were not serious

explosives." The authorities legally have six months to

investigate. In London's "The Times," Balkan expert Misha

Glenny wrote that those four and the four Dutch prisoners

"are little more than hostages of [Yugoslav President

Slobodan] Milosevic's election strategy...reminding his

electorate that...Kosovo, remains occupied by NATO forces and

suggesting that Western intelligence officers are crawling

all over the country." Meanwhile, Britain has sought Russian

diplomatic assistance in the case, the "Financial Times"

reported. The Foreign Office has--unsuccessfully--demanded

that Belgrade explain its actions. PM

[13] OSCE BANS STAFF TRAVEL TO MONTENEGRO

agency reported from Prishtina on 8 August that the OSCE, for

which the two Britons work, has banned its staff from

traveling to Montenegro. The Slovenian Foreign Ministry urged

its citizens traveling to or already in Montenegro to

exercise caution and avoid staying in the frontier zone or

near military bases. PM

[14] YUGOSLAV NAVY FREES CROATIAN SHIP

Croatian freighter "Dea" to leave the Montenegrin port of

Zelenika where the navy had detained the ship for two days,

RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 7 August. The navy

said in a statement that it held the ship as part of a

"routine operation aimed at protecting the maritime

frontier." The Croatian Foreign Ministry said in a statement

that the navy acted "illegally" because all the ship's papers

were in order. The Montenegrin police played a key role in

obtaining the "Dea's" release, "Vecernji list" reported. PM

[15] AUSTRALIA TO BAR YUGOSLAV ELITE VISITORS

Alexander Downer said in Canberra on 8 August that his

country will join the U.S., EU, Canada, New Zealand, and

several other countries in banning members of the Milosevic

regime from entering the country. The U.S. list of banned

persons contains over 800 names, Reuters reported. PM

[16] IMPRISONED SERBIAN JOURNALIST MOVED TO HOSPITAL

authorities transferred Miroslav Filipovic on 8 August to a

military hospital in Belgrade because of heart problems, AP

reported. He is serving a seven-year sentence for "espionage"

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 July 2000). PM

[17] MEDICAL CHARITY TO LEAVE PARTS OF KOSOVA

international medical charity Medecins sans frontiers (MSF)

is removing its Belgian staff from some Serbian enclaves and

northern Mitrovica, where ethnic Albanians live amid Serbs,

Reuters reported. MSF stressed in a statement that its staff

cannot work in areas where people are "in a state of extreme

insecurity." The statement added that violence is destroying

what little remains of the province's ethnic diversity. MSF

stressed that "civilian populations of different ethnic

groups are being terrorized by constant and organized acts of

violence which target them specifically. MSF refuses to be

either a passive accomplice to this process or remain silent

about the lack of efficient action by the international

community." The UN's civilian authority in Kosova, to which

MSF has repeatedly complained, is headed by former MSF leader

Bernard Kouchner. PM

[18] PETRITSCH RULES ON BOSNIAN SUCCESSION

who is the international community's high representative in

Bosnia, ruled in Sarajevo on 7 August that the Muslim vacancy

on the joint presidency must be filled by the parliament

slated to be elected in the fall and not by the current

parliament (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 August 2000). PM

[19] U.S. 'AFRAID' TO CATCH KARADZIC?

probably not be ordered to capture indicted war criminal

Radovan Karadzic because of "a political decision in

Washington that there should be no American deaths in

Bosnia," London's "The Times" reported on 8 August, quoting

an unnamed U.S. official in that republic. The official added

that "given that, probably only British troops backed by the

SAS are up to the job." Jacques Klein--the U.S. general who

heads the UN mission in Bosnia--stressed that "we must arrest

Karadzic" if the international community is to be credible in

asking Croatia to arrest its war criminals. Elsewhere, "The

New York Times" wrote that Karadzic may be trying to enter

Serbia from Bosnia or Montenegro. PM

[20] NEW CENTER-RIGHT ALLIANCE SET UP IN ROMANIA

of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD),

the Union of Rightist Forces (UFD), and the Ecologist

Federation (FER) on 7 August signed an agreement setting up a

new electoral alliance, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported.

The alliance is called Democratic Convention of Romania 2000

(CDR 2000). Under the agreement, each party preserves its

separate identity, program, and structures, and pledges to

respect the CDR 2000's joint political and economic strategy.

The alliance will support the same presidential candidate and

run on joint lists in the fall presidential and parliamentary

elections. CDR 2000 will be headed by a council consisting of

four PNTCD, three UFD, and two FER members. MS

[21] ROMANIAN PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS REACT TO STOLOJAN'S CANDIDACY...

said on 7 August that the nomination of former Premier

Theodor Stolojan as a presidential candidate of the National

Liberal Party (PNL) the previous day was proof that the

coalition parties lack personalities capable of running for

the highest state office and are forced to appeal to

"outsiders," RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Alliance for

Romania (APR) leader Teodor Melescanu said Stolojan is

"entirely unsuitable" for the presidential office, which

needs "a person with political experience, not an

accountant." Melescanu also accused Stolojan of breaking the

agreement under which Stolojan would be APR's candidate for

the premiership and Melescanu himself its presidential

contender. "This places an enormous question mark over the

seriousness, credibility, and consistency of a man who is no

longer a technocrat once he steps into politics," he said. MS

[22] ...WHILE SECOND POLL SHOWS ILIESCU MIGHT LOSE

President Iliescu would lose in a runoff against either

Stolojan or Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu, a public opinion

poll conducted by the Bureau of Social Research shows.

Iliescu leads the field of presidential contenders with 31

percent backing, but Stolojan would garner 53.4 percent of

the vote in a runoff with Iliescu, while Isarescu would be

backed by 51 percent. This is the second poll that shows

Iliescu might fail in his presidential bid (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 3 August 2000). In a Stolojan-Isarescu runoff, the

former premier would win over the incumbent at a difference

of nearly 4 percentage points. The poll shows Greater Romania

Party leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor being backed by 11.5

percent, followed by Democratic Party leader Petre Roman and

Melescanu, both of whom are backed by 8 percent. MS

[23] RUSSIAN, MOLDOVAN TROOPS HOLD JOINT EXERCISE

Moldovan troops are participating in a joint peacekeeping

exercise at Moldova's Bulboaca base near Chisinau from 8-12

August, Flux and Infotag reported. Called "Blue Shield 2000,"

the exercise is being conducted within the framework of the

agreement on military cooperation between the two countries

for 2000. It involves 34 Russian and 150 Moldovan troopers.

The first joint Russian-Moldovan exercise was held in July

1999. MS

[24] MOLDOVA CUTS RADIO BROADCASTS

eliminated its night broadcasts as of 8 August due to a lack

of funds, Romanian Radio reported the previous day. As of 14

August, the radio's second channel is also to be eliminated,

while medium-wave broadcasts will be cut from 18 to 8 hours

daily. The radio will continue its regular, 18 hours of daily

broadcasts only on FM. The radio's management says the

measures are "temporary" and due to MoldRadio being some $1

million in debt to the state company that relays the

broadcasts. MoldRadio's entire budget for 2000 is $2 million.

MS

[25] BULGARIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL VOWS TO PUNISH BUG PLANTERS

distributed by BTA, said on 7 August that those who are

guilty of having planted eavesdropping devices in his

apartment and the apartments of several other officials and

parliamentarians "will be punished regardless of their

position in society," Reuters reported. Filichev said the

investigation into the scandal--dubbed in Bulgarian media as

"Bug Gate"--is continuing and his office "will defend the

right of all Bulgarian citizens from violation by either the

criminal world or administrative bodies" (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 31 July, 2, 4 and 7 August 2000).

[26] BULGARIA REJECTS RUSSIAN CRITICISM OF KOSTOV

problems of national security is a sovereign right of the

Bulgarian state" and "judgments or interpretations" by other

states in connection with exercising this right are

"inappropriate"--this is how Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko

Vlaikov reacted to Russian criticism of statements made by

Prime Minister Ivan Kostov and Foreign Minister Nadezhda

Mihailova during a recent parliamentary debate on Bulgarian

national security goals, Reuters reported. Kostov said during

the debate that his country's refusal last year to allow over

flights of Russian troops to Kosova helped prevent the

failure of the international peace keeping mission there;

Mihailova also defended that decision. The Russian Foreign

Ministry on 7 August expressed regret over Kostov's

"unfriendly statements" and said they demonstrated "an

inadequate assessment of our actions in the region,"

according to an earlier ITAR-TASS report. MS

[C] END NOTE

[27] SAUDI AID WORKERS BULLDOZE BALKAN MONUMENTS

The Saudi bulldozing of some of the most historically

valuable architectural monuments in the western Kosova market

town of Djakovica is merely the latest in a series of

iconoclastic activities in the Balkans undertaken in the name

of reconstruction assistance by Arab aid organizations. War-

damaged historic buildings are not repaired, but rather

demolished to make way for what the Arab donors consider to

be more proper Islamic structures.

The destruction is a further blow to Kosova's

architectural heritage, following the destruction by Serbian

forces and civilians in 1998 and 1999 of over 200 mosques and

other Islamic structures--about one-third of the total number

in the province.

Harvard University Fine Arts librarian Andras

Riedlmayer, the co-author of a survey of Kosova's war-damaged

architectural sites, is outraged by the Saudi demolition

program.

"Unfortunately, a Saudi aid agency got permits from the

local reconstruction agency and from the local institute for

the preservation of monuments to work on the restoration, so

to speak, of the Hadum mosque complex in the center of the

historic district."

Riedlmayer says the Saudis began on 24 July by trying to

knock down all the Ottoman-era gravestones in the cemetery of

the Hadum mosque.

"The Saudis were interested in removing them because

they consider gravestones to be idolatrous. They are

followers of Wahhabism, which is an extremist interpretation

of Islam at odds with the practice of most of the Muslim

world."

The Wahhabis are a purist movement founded in the 18th

century by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (c. 1703-1791). He

converted the Saud tribe, which now rules Saudi Arabia. The

Wahhabis are the largest and most powerful Muslim sect in

Saudi Arabia.

Riedlmayer says the Saudis are obsessed with having all

ancient tombstones, mausoleums, and Sufi shrines located near

mosques eliminated, since--unlike most Muslims in the world

today--the Wahhabis believe these to be "un-Islamic" and

idolatrous. He said: "the Wahhabis, with their wealth and

fanaticism, are a menace to heritage, in some ways more

dangerous than the [Serb paramilitary] Chetniks, since about

the latter, at least, no one harbors any illusions regarding

their uncharitable intentions."

The Saudi Joint Relief Committee for the People of

Kosovo and Chechnya, established by royal decree, has built

mosques, schools, clinics, and shelters for displaced

persons. It has also supplied the province with several

hundred tons of medicine, food, blankets, tents, and clothing

during the last 13 months.

But spreading the message of Wahhabi Islam appears to be

another aim of the committee. The new mosques are white, boxy

structures devoid of detail--a far cry from the centuries-old

Ottoman-style mosques that characterize the urban and village

landscape in much of the Balkans.

Riedlmayer says NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers declined to

intervene in Djakovica after the Saudis showed their

authorized papers.

"Eventually the Department of Culture in UNMIK (the UN

administration) was notified. They spoke with the Saudis on

[27 July] and tried to get them to desist. However, on [28

July], the Saudis sent in a bulldozer [and] knocked down the

buildings around the Hadum mosque, including the library

built in 1733 and ancient gravestones in the graveyard."

The Hadum mosque itself, which survived last year's

fighting largely intact--despite fire damage to its porch and

grenade damage to its minaret--remains endangered. If the

past is prologue, the frescoes could soon be whitewashed by

Wahhabi purists.

Attempts by RFE/RL to contact the UNMIK-Joint Interim

Administration's Department of Culture, the Kosovo Institute

for the Protection of Monuments, or the Saudi Joint Relief

Committee in Kosovo were unsuccessful.

However, Peruvian Alvaro Higueras, from the UNMIK

Culture Department, confirmed in a telephone call to

Riedlmayer on 3 August that the Saudis had razed the library

and Koran school.

Higueras said the Saudis planned to build a reinforced

concrete Islamic center on the cleared site. But the UNMIK

official says the Saudis applied for permission for a

restoration project, not for new construction. Higueras says

an order has now been issued to stop construction

indefinitely. He says the Saudis will have to "undo the

damage" and restore the Ottoman-era buildings using

traditional materials and techniques.

Riedlmayer has documented cases in which the Saudi and

other Arab aid agencies have destroyed other historic Islamic

buildings elsewhere in Kosova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and

Bulgaria.

Last October, while Riedlmayer was in Kosova conducting

a survey of war-damaged architectural heritage, he witnessed

the destruction of Muslim cemeteries in Vushtrri. He says an

Islamic aid agency from the United Arab Emirates had

pressured local Albanian residents to sledgehammer the graves

of their ancestors, completely clearing two historic

graveyards next to the Gazi Ali Beg and Karamanli mosques of

more than 100 gravestones dating back to the 15th century.

Only the grave marker of Gazi Ali Beg himself remained, as

the locals refused to allow that one to be smashed.

Riedlmayer says the UAE aid agency promised to rebuild

the damaged mosques "twice as big and twice as Islamic," but

only if the gravestones were removed. He says the agency, the

largest aid organization in the town, also made an implicit

threat to withhold humanitarian aid if the donors' request

was ignored.

Riedlmayer notes that during and immediately after the

war in Bosnia (1992-95), a Saudi aid agency took charge of

the restoration of the Gazi Husrev Beg mosque (Begova

dzamija) as well as other historic mosques in Sarajevo and in

many other towns and villages.

At the Beg mosque, the Saudis ordered the Ottoman tile

work and painted wall decorations stripped off and discarded

and had the whole building redone, as Riedlmayer puts it "in

gleaming hospital white, even the minaret slathered in white

plaster." He says that in scores of villages, the Saudis had

war-damaged but restorable historic Ottoman-style Bosnian

mosques demolished and redone Saudi-style. All of the

colorful Balkan-Muslim interior decor was eliminated, and

separate entrances were added to segregate women.

To drive home the significance of the Saudi destruction

in the Balkans, Riedlmayer says, "Imagine, if you will, some

terrible catastrophe affecting the historic churches of Rome

and Tuscany, and then having" modern-day U.S. Christian sects

coming in and insisting that they be redone in "proper

Christian style."

The author is a senior RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague.

To view photos of some of the structures described in the

article go to:

08-08-00

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

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