OMRI Daily Digest I,II, No. 77, 19 April 1995

From: "Steve Iatrou" <siatrou@cdsp.neu.edu>

CONTENTS

  • [01] TURKISH SUPPORT FOR PETRO-CHEMICAL PLANT.

  • [02] FRANCE WANTS UN SECURITY COUNCIL SESSION ON BOSNIA.

  • [03] OTHER BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS.

  • [04] SERBIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH MEDIATORS.

  • [05] OPPOSITION PARTY CLAIMS HARASSMENT.

  • [06] ISTRIANS CALL FOR AUTONOMY.

  • [07] KOSOVO UPDATE.

  • [08] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT AND PREMIER CLASH OVER NATO MEMBERSHIP.

  • [09] GREECE, ALBANIA NEGOTIATE OVER MINORITIES.

  • [10] COMMUNIST ALBANIA TRAINED FOREIGN TERRORISTS.

  • [11] HOXHA'S SON UNDER HOUSE ARREST.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 77, Part I, 19 April 1995

    [01] TURKISH SUPPORT FOR PETRO-CHEMICAL PLANT.

    Moscow and Ankara are discussing a $120 million loan to Russia in exchange for natural gas deliveries to Turkey, Interfax reported on 18 April. The money would be used to complete construction of the first unit of a polypropylene facility in Budyonnovsk, Stavropol region, by the Turkish contractor Tekfen. The plant, estimated to cost $280 million, is to yield 100,000 metric tons of polypropylene annually. Last year, Russia provided Turkey with 5.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas. -- Lowell Bezanis, OMRI, Inc.

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 77, Part II, 19 April 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [02] FRANCE WANTS UN SECURITY COUNCIL SESSION ON BOSNIA.

    International media reported on 18 April that Paris has demanded a special meeting of the leading UN body in order to grant peacekeepers permission to use force more easily in response to attacks. France has also threatened to pull out its 4,500-member UNPROFOR contingent unless the cease-fire is extended beyond 1 May and unless peace talks resume. The demands come in the wake of the killing of two French soldiers in Bosnia and of increased Serbian shelling of Sarajevo. But the key factor behind the calls seems to be the hotly contested presidential election on 23 April in a country where the Bosnian war and the safety of peacekeepers attract voters' attention. AFP notes that Prime Minister Edouard Balladur has stressed the possibility of withdrawal, while his rival Jacques Chirac wants ultimatums to be issued and air strikes to follow. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [03] OTHER BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS.

    The 19 April edition of the Los Angeles Times reported that Bosnian Serb forces the previous day refused to guarantee the safety of an aircraft taking U.S. Ambassador Victor Jackovich from Sarajevo to his new posting in Slovenia. He was forced to use the hazardous land route instead. Secretary of State Warren Christopher noted that Bosnia "is a very dangerous place for Americans to serve" and called the Serbian move "unjustified and outrageous." But a BBC commentary on the latest French demands and on Christopher's remarks suggested that the international community's weakness in the face of aggression to date makes it unlikely that the Serbs will take the latest threats seriously. Meanwhile in Serb-controlled Bosnian territory, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic visited Banja Luka and the front lines in central Bosnia where he promised a shakeup in the civilian and military leaderships. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [04] SERBIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH MEDIATORS.

    Nasa Borba on 19 April reported that Slobodan Milosevic met the previous day with UN envoy Thorvald Stoltenberg and EU mediator Lord Owen. According to Reuters, the international mediators expected to discuss Belgrade's alleged violations of the rump Yugoslavia's blockade of the Bosnian Serbs. But Tanjug reported only that the talks centered on "further activities aimed at the intensification of the peace process." Meanwhile, Politika reported that Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle gave an interview to the Slovenian daily Dnevnik in which he said that before the war started, he "knew nothing" about Zeljko Raznatovic, alias Arkan, who is the leader of the Serbian paramilitary "Tigers" and currently wanted by Interpol for genocide. Pavle also noted that he first learned from the Swedish embassy in Belgrade that Arkan "listens only to the orders of the Serbian patriarch." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [05] OPPOSITION PARTY CLAIMS HARASSMENT.

    Novi list on 14 April quoted the Croatian Independent Democrats as charging that the Interior Ministry has formed a special unit to spy on the party and bug its telephones. Other opposition parties have voiced similar complaints, and some have experienced mysterious bombings of their offices or have found their leaders evicted from their apartments. Nasa Borba on 18 April reported on other evictions, namely of Serbs, and on other violations of human rights encountered by Serbs living in areas under Croatian government control. The article was based on materials compiled by the Croatian Helsinki Committee. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [06] ISTRIANS CALL FOR AUTONOMY.

    The First World Congress of Istrians, which closed in Pula on 15 April, endorsed a declaration calling for broad autonomy for Istrians in Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy as well as for minority rights, Belgrade and Zagreb dailies reported. The congress said that Istria should become a Euroregion linking the three countries, according to the full text of the meeting published in Slobodna Dalmacija on 19 April. A group loyal to the Croatian government tried to introduce an alternative resolution that did not endorse autonomy, which the Zagreb authorities regard as subversive. Vjesnik charged that autonomy would "open a Pandora's box." Politika, however, ran a headline saying "Istrians want no borders" and called the alternative resolution "an unsuccessful provocation" by Croatia's governing party. Some observers predict that Zagreb still intends to have the last word. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.

    [07] KOSOVO UPDATE.

    Three unidentified ethnic Albanian politicians have been sentenced to two-year prison terms by the Pec local court, international agencies reported on 18 April. The accused have been charged with planning secession from Serbia. A lawyer is quoted as saying that it was "a staged political trial." Meanwhile, the number of ethnic Albanian policemen from Kosovo who have been charged with creating a shadow Kosovar Interior Ministry has risen to 71. The former policemen, who deny the charges, are among the 172 ethnic Albanian police officers who were arrested between November and December 1994. According to official sources, 11 policemen continue to evade the authorities. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [08] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT AND PREMIER CLASH OVER NATO MEMBERSHIP.

    Prime Minister Zhan Videnov on 18 April said Bulgaria is in no hurry to apply for NATO membership, Bulgarian newspapers reported the following day. He said Bulgaria's candidacy for full membership will be appropriate when NATO evolves into a "system of collective and regional security." He also noted that the government is not ready to meet the terms of full membership if these include deployment of nuclear weapons and foreign troops in Bulgaria. President Zhelyu Zhelev, in his annual speech on foreign policy, said on 17 April that his country deserves to become a member of NATO because it is an oasis of calm in the turbulent Balkan region, Reuters reported the same day. He said it is "very important that Bulgaria declares clearly and categorically its urgent request for NATO membership." Zhelev argued that Bulgaria's inclusion in the Western military alliance would create "a NATO triangle on the Balkans pitched between Ankara, Sofia, and Athens," since Bulgaria has good relations with both neighbors. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [09] GREECE, ALBANIA NEGOTIATE OVER MINORITIES.

    Greece and Albania on 18 April resumed talks on the status of the ethnic Greek minority in Albania and of Albanian workers in Greece, AFP reported the same day. The talks, which were broken off 11 months ago, are taking place in Athens at the level of state secretary. Greece is expected to press for further rights of the Greek minority in the education system, while Albania's main concern is the possible legalization of Albanians who work and live illegally in Greece. Negotiations between Athens and Tirana had been suspended after an attack on an Albanian army barrack in April 1994 and the subsequent arrest and trial of five ethnic Greeks in Albania led to serious tensions between the two countries. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] COMMUNIST ALBANIA TRAINED FOREIGN TERRORISTS.

    Blerim Cela, head of the Albanian anti-corruption agency, has said that Albania trained and financed foreign terrorist groups from 1964 to 1970, international agencies reported on 18 April. He said that an $11.6 million "solidarity fund" was created and that small Marxist-Leninist groups--mainly from Sudan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Ecuador--attended training courses at Albanian military schools and in the Albanian army. About $4 million from the fund were used to support left-wing groups in Italy, Germany, and France and to promote Enver Hoxha's publications in foreign languages. Another $400,000 were reportedly appropriated by deputy party leader Namik Dokle to buy a printing machine for the party newspaper Zeri I Popullit in Denmark or Canada. The machine never materialized. -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    [11] HOXHA'S SON UNDER HOUSE ARREST.

    The son of the late Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha has been placed under house arrest on charges of calling for an uprising in an interview about his father, international agencies reported on 18 April. Hoxha reportedly said that "it was not the people who toppled the monument of my father, but the mob. The people were the ones who went out to protect him." He added that "ordinary people in Albania are afraid. They no longer have an Enver Hoxha to protect them." He is also quoted as threatening that "one day, those people who scoffed at my father and my family will have to pay for it." -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.

    This material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research Institute, a Prague-based nonprofit organization.

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