OMRI Daily Digest II, No. 184, 21 September 1995

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

Open Media Research Institute Directory

CONTENTS

  • [1] TURKISH PRIME MINISTER RESIGNS.

  • [2] AIR ATTACKS ON BOSNIAN SERBS INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED.

  • [3] BOSNIAN UPDATE.

  • [4] SERBIAN PRESIDENT SAYS HE REMAINS COMMITTED TO PEACE.

  • [5] CROATIA'S LOWER HOUSE DISSOLVED.

  • [6] AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER IN MONTENEGRO TO CLOSE.

  • [7] ETHNIC HUNGARIANS ON ILIESCU INITIATIVE.

  • [8] MOLDOVA HOLDS CONFERENCE FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS.

  • [9] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES NO CONFIDENCE VOTE.

  • [10] BULGARIAN AMBASSADOR TO UN DEFIES GOVERNMENT.

    •

    OMRI DAILY DIGEST

    No. 184, Part II, 21 September 1995

    SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [1] TURKISH PRIME MINISTER RESIGNS.

    Tansu Ciller on 20 September handed in her resignation to President Suleyman Demirel, Western agencies reported. Demirel accepted the resignation but asked Ciller to act as caretaker premier until a new coalition is formed. Ciller's resignation came after the coalition between her conservative True Path Party and the social democratic Republican People's Party (CHP) broke up over domestic security issues. CHP leader Deniz Baykal had declared that the coalition was "effectively finished" and that Ciller should resign to allow for early elections. The CHP's decision to leave the coalition was prompted by differences over economic, social and human rights issues as well as its declining popularity and its supporters' resistance to Ciller's austerity course. Meanwhile, Mesut Yilmaz of the conservative Motherland Party has also demanded early elections, diminishing Ciller's chances to form a new coalition for the rest of the term, which is due to end in the fall of 1996. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [2] AIR ATTACKS ON BOSNIAN SERBS INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED.

    International media on 20 September reported that NATO and the UN announced the same day that air attacks against Bosnian Serb targets have been indefinitely suspended. But Admiral Leighton Smith, commander of NATO's southern command, and General Bernard Janvier, UN commander in Bosnia, issued a joint statement saying that "any subsequent attack on Sarajevo or any other safe area, or other non-compliance with the Exclusion Zone, freedom of movement or the functioning of the airport would be subject to investigation and resumption of air strikes." The Bosnian Serbs' "compliance" with the demand to remove heavy weapons around Sarajevo led to the suspension of air strikes. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [3] BOSNIAN UPDATE.

    Reuters on 21 September reported that Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian government forces the same day traded artillery fire as government troops continued their advance toward Doboj. The BBC World Service on 21 September reported that Bosnian government forces are continuing a northward push from Ozren Mountain, headed in the direction of Doboj. Meanwhile, Bosnian Serb media report that Bosnian Serb forces have successfully "countered" a Bosnian government and Croatian offensive against the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Banja Luka. Reuters, however, cites UN sources as observing that Bosnian government and Croatian forces are halting their advance on Banja Luka and withdrawing some units. In another development, SRNA quotes Serbian paramilitary leader and internationally wanted war criminal Zeljko Raznatovic, alias Arkan, as saying "We arrived [in Banja Luka] to defend the Serbian people and take back what belongs to us." Arkan, with about 1,000 of his paramilitary supporters, is believed to be in the vicinity of Banja Luka. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [4] SERBIAN PRESIDENT SAYS HE REMAINS COMMITTED TO PEACE.

    UN mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, following a meeting in Belgrade on 20 September, issued a joint statement saying "it was necessary to bring about the end of [regional] hostilities," Tanjug reported. Milosevic reaffirmed his commitment to a diplomatic resolution to the Bosnian crisis. Meanwhile, Nasa Borba on 21 September reported that rump Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic, who is in Paris to begin talks with French officials, arrived with the message that "the desire for peace is not a signal of [Belgrade's] weakness." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [5] CROATIA'S LOWER HOUSE DISSOLVED.

    The lower house of Croatia's parliament dissolved itself on 20 September, Croatian media reported. This move paves the way for early elections, widely rumored to be scheduled for 28 October. It is expected that early voting will strengthen President Franjo Tudjman and his Croatian Democratic Community's hold on power. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [6] AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER IN MONTENEGRO TO CLOSE.

    Montenafax on 19 September reported that the American Cultural Center in Podgorica is slated for closure by April 1996. The report suggests the move is linked to budgetary cuts. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.

    [7] ETHNIC HUNGARIANS ON ILIESCU INITIATIVE.

    Bela Marko, chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania, has welcomed the initiative by Romanian President Ion Iliescu for a "historic reconciliation" with Hungary, Radio Bucharest reported on 20 September. Marko said, however, that similar proposals and negotiations have yielded no concrete results in the past. The issue of ethnic minorities, he added, requires a legal solution, not just a "declaration of intentions." He also said that the Romanian government's plan to appoint a member of the chauvinistic Party of Romanian National Unity as a prefect of Mures County, where a large Magyar minority lives, was "an unfriendly gesture, contrary to proposals for reconciliation." -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [8] MOLDOVA HOLDS CONFERENCE FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS.

    A three-day conference designed to bring together foreign investors and Moldovan businessmen started in Chisinau on 20 September, Infotag reported. Some 200 potential investors from 25 countries are participating in the event, organized by the Moldovan government with assistance from the World Bank and the UN Development Program. Moldovan President Mircea Snegur told the delegates that Moldova wants to provide an adequate political, legal, and economic environment for foreign investment. The legal framework should allow investors to participate in the privatization process and operate on the local securities market, he added. Foreign investment has been rather modest in Moldova, amounting to less than $100 million. Some 450 joint ventures are registered with the authorities. -- Dan Ionescu, OMRI, Inc.

    [9] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES NO CONFIDENCE VOTE.

    The National Assembly on 20 September discussed the no confidence vote in Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, Demokratsiya reported the following day. The vote was submitted by the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) in connection with the death of 14 soldiers (see OMRI Daily Digest, 13 September 1995). SDS Chairman Ivan Kostov held Videnov personally responsible for the incident, saying the government is unable to deal with rising crime and deaths in the army. Bulgarian Socialist Party faction leader Krasimir Premyanov said crime in the army went down considerably when the SDS was in power in 1991-1992. The Bulgarian Business Bloc announced it will not support the SDS, while the People's Union and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedom said they will vote against Videnov. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    [10] BULGARIAN AMBASSADOR TO UN DEFIES GOVERNMENT.

    Slavi Pashovski, Bulgaria's ambassador to the UN, is not included in the official Bulgarian delegation for the organization's next General Assembly, Demokratsiya reported on 21 September. Pashovski blasted the government in a program on state radio, saying it repeatedly ignored his earlier calls for consultations before ordering him to return to Sofia last week. According to Trud, the government sent him a one-way ticket, after which Pashovski decided not to return. Deputy Foreign Minister Irina Bokova called on him to resign, because he had "distanced himself from the government." Pashovski was appointed by the government of the Union of Democratic Forces in 1991. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.

    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 info@omri.cz

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