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OMRI: Daily Digest, Vol. 3, No. 18, 97-01-27

Open Media Research Institute: Daily Digest Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Open Media Research Institute <http://www.omri.cz>

Vol. 3, No. 18, 27 January 1997


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] NEW ARRESTS IN GEORGIA.
  • [02] SHEVARDNADZE SETS CONDITIONS FOR REMAINING IN RUSSIAN "SPHERE OF INFLUENCE."
  • [03] ARMENIAN OFFICIAL ON FUTURE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH NEGOTIATIONS.
  • [04] OFFICIALS SAY COUP ATTEMPT IN AZERBAIJAN THWARTED.
  • [05] DISARMAMENT BEGINS IN TURSUN ZADE.
  • [06] LANGUAGE LAW REVIEWED IN KAZAKSTAN.

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [07] RIOTS THROUGHOUT ALBANIA . . .
  • [08] . . . WHILE PARLIAMENT CALLS IN MILITARY.
  • [09] POLITICAL DEADLOCK IN BULGARIA CONTINUES.
  • [10] BELGRADE DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE.
  • [11] MORE VIOLENCE AGAINST MUSLIMS TRYING TO GO HOME.
  • [12] MUSLIM-CROAT TENSIONS CONTINUE.
  • [13] FORMER BOSNIAN SERB LEADER DIES.
  • [14] BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON MUSLIM-CROAT RELATIONS.
  • [15] CROATIAN OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION PAYS TAXES FOLLOWING EVASION CHARGES.
  • [16] NEW GOVERNMENT IN SLOVENIA.
  • [17] ROMANIAN ROUNDUP.

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] NEW ARRESTS IN GEORGIA.

    Georgian police have arrested 12 people who, according to Interior Minister Kakhi Targamadze, plotted to assassinate several high-ranking officials and were "partially funded from abroad," international agencies reported on 24 January. Targamadze alleged that some of those arrested are members of the banned Mkhedrioni paramilitary organization that helped to overthrow former President Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Procurator General Jamlet Babilashvili said the "terrorist group" had links with former Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, who, according to Georgian authorities, was implicated in the assassination attempt on President Eduard Shevardnadze in August 1995. -- Emil Danielyan

    [02] SHEVARDNADZE SETS CONDITIONS FOR REMAINING IN RUSSIAN "SPHERE OF INFLUENCE."

    Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said his country will not remain in Russia's "sphere of influence" unless Moscow helps Georgia restore its sovereignty over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, international agencies reported on 26 January. According to AFP, Shevardnadze earlier cited Russian officials as complaining that the West wants to "lure Georgia away" from Russian influence. Georgia has repeatedly threatened to make the presence of Russian troops on its territory contingent on Moscow using its influence to resolve the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry of the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia has blamed "Georgian secret services" for attacks on Abkhaz military posts, ITAR-TASS reported on 24 January. The Georgian Security Ministry denied the allegations. -- Emil Danielyan

    [03] ARMENIAN OFFICIAL ON FUTURE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH NEGOTIATIONS.

    Zhirayr Libaridian, the chief aide to Armenian President Levon Ter- Petrossyan, said Armenia will no longer hold direct negotiations with Azerbaijan without the participation of representatives of the self- proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Noyan Tapan reported on 24 January. Libaridian said the decision was taken in the wake of the December 1996 OSCE summit in Lisbon. Libaridian, who previously had a number of meetings with his Azerbaijani counterpart Vafa Guluzade, argued that Azerbaijan wants to use its rich oil reserves as a bargaining chip in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In related news, Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev met Russian presidential aide Emil Pain, in Baku. The two agreed that the any resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should preserve Azerbaijan's territorial integrity while granting autonomy and security guarantees to Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian media reported. -- Emil Danielyan

    [04] OFFICIALS SAY COUP ATTEMPT IN AZERBAIJAN THWARTED.

    Azerbaijan's Ministry of National Security and the state prosecutor issued a joint statement on 24 January claiming that they thwarted a coup attempt planned for late last fall, Azerbaijani and Russian sources reported the same day. The statement says the coup was planned by former President Ayaz Mutalibov, former Prime Minister Suret Huseinov, and former KGB chief Vagif Huseinov, and involved unnamed foreign intelligence officers. The plot allegedly unraveled when a key conspirator, former OPON Commander of Kazak District Elchin Amiraslanov, was arrested for murdering three law enforcement officials in October. Some 40 people have been arrested in connection with the alleged coup attempt. -- Lowell Bezanis

    [05] DISARMAMENT BEGINS IN TURSUN ZADE.

    The commander of the Tajik Army's First Brigade, Col. Mahmud Khudaberdiyev, began on 25 January to enforce a presidential order to disarm all non- military formations in the city of of Tursun Zade, Russian sources reported. For four years various outlaw groups have struggled to gain control of the city, which is home to Central Asia's largest aluminum factory. According to the presidential order, disarmament should be completed by 28 January. Khudaberdiyev claims this will not be a problem and that the people of the city support his efforts, but he warned that any group which fails to comply will be eliminated. NTV reported on 25 January that Khudaberdiyev's unauthorized early January attack on Tursun Zade convinced President Imomali Rakhmonov to sign the disarmament order. -- Bruce Pannier

    [06] LANGUAGE LAW REVIEWED IN KAZAKSTAN.

    The upper house of the Kazakstani parliament on 24 January discussed a draft of the country's language law, already passed by the lower house, which would increase the use of the Kazak language in the country, ITAR- TASS and Radio Mayak reported. Though Kazak is officially the state language, the lower house claimed it is not fully used and is still inferior to Russian. The bill gives ethnic Kazaks in the government until 2005 to master the language and ethnic Russians until 2010, but some parliamentarians now doubt that this deadline can be met without greater efforts to promote the state language's use. -- Bruce Pannier and Merhat Sharipzhan

    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [07] RIOTS THROUGHOUT ALBANIA . . .

    Demonstrators clashed with police in towns throughout the country over the weekend as they protested the recent collapse of pyramid schemes, international media reported. Hundreds of thousands of Albanians have reportedly lost their life savings because of the collapse. Around 30,000 people rallied in Tirana on 26 January. Police fired pistol shots into the air when some 3,000 protesters tried to advance toward the parliament. Eighty-four policemen were reported injured, some seriously. About 30 people were arrested. The Democratic Party headquarters and government buildings were torched in Korca, Fier, and Vlora, while protesters set fire to the building of the oil company Albpetrol in Patos. On 25 January, demonstrators blocked the main north-south highway. Meanwhile, 230 rioting inmates at the Barwhor prison near Kavaja tried to burn down the prison; two prisoners died in clashes with the police in the night from 26-27 January. Justice Minister Kristofer Peci claimed the situation had returned to normal by early this morning. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [08] . . . WHILE PARLIAMENT CALLS IN MILITARY.

    The parliament on 26 January gave President Sali Berisha special powers to deploy military units to restore law and order, international media reported. "A limited number of army units will be temporarily engaged alongside police forces to protect state and public institutions and to ensure the free flow of traffic on national roads," a parliamentary statement said. But Foreign Minister and Democratic Party Chairman Tritan Shehu, who was attacked at a demonstration in Tirana the previous day, said the parliament's decision has "nothing to do with a state of emergency." The army has been put on alert in Tirana to guard ministries, the central bank, and other strategic buildings. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi has told the demonstrators that they will get their money back beginning in early February. Authorities have seized around $300 million from two pyramid scheme accounts, but that sum is unlikely to cover all losses. Another mass demonstration is scheduled to take place in Shkoder today. -- Fabian Schmidt

    [09] POLITICAL DEADLOCK IN BULGARIA CONTINUES.

    President Petar Stoyanov on 24 January held talks with leaders of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the opposition in an attempt to resolve the country's political crisis, RFE/RL reported. Stoyanov said no agreement is possible unless both sides become far more flexible, and he called the BSP's demands "very difficult" for the opposition to accept. BSP leader Georgi Parvanov said his party will agree to a "non-Socialist, broad- based" government that can take over until December 1997--provided that government is headed by BSP premier-designate Nikolay Dobrev, who is currently interior minister. On 26 January, Stoyanov had separate meeting with BSP and opposition leaders. Meanwhile, thousands of people took part in anti-BSP rallies over the weekend to demand new parliamentary elections. The Confederation of Labor Podkrepa has announced it will stage strikes in 14 cities, including Sofia. -- Stefan Krause

    [10] BELGRADE DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE.

    By about 7:30 a.m. local time on 27 January, an estimated 300,000 demonstrators had taken to Belgrade streets in response to a call by Orthodox Church leaders, Reuters reported. The elderly Patriarch Pavle headed the demonstration, along with some two dozen priests, to mark Saint Sava's day. Earlier, police withdrew the cordon around downtown Belgrade, allowing some 50,000 students and others to march along the city's main streets. These latest developments follow a weekend of low-level violence in the capital and other Serbian cities. Meanwhile, Vojislav Seselj, ultranationalist leader of the Serbian Radical Party, has met in Belgrade with members of the Russian State Duma. Commenting on the mass demonstrations, Seselj told the government-controlled Vecernje novosti that "the leaders of [the opposition coalition Zajedno] are serving the West, contrary to the interests of their own people..., while the demonstrators march under foreign flags." -- Stan Markotich

    [11] MORE VIOLENCE AGAINST MUSLIMS TRYING TO GO HOME.

    Bosnian Serb crowds on 25 January attacked Muslims who were attempting to deliver construction materials and otherwise help families seeking to return to the village of Gajevi just inside Serb-held territory (see OMRI Daily Digest, 24 January 1997). Some 100 men armed with crowbars attacked and injured Semsudin Mujic, who was driving a tractor hauling prefabricated building materials, AFP wrote. The attackers stole some of those materials. A Muslim witness said that SFOR soldiers stood by and watched the beatings but did nothing. U.S. spokesperson Sgt. Marianne Mirabella said, however, that "security in the Republika Srpska is surely not the responsibility of SFOR. That's the responsibility of Republika Srpska police. They ought to be ashamed." The Muslim families are seeking to exercise their right under the Dayton agreement to go home. They have been vetted under a system supervised by the UN and agreed to by all sides. -- Patrick Moore

    [12] MUSLIM-CROAT TENSIONS CONTINUE.

    The Croatian member of the Bosnian presidency, Kresimir Zubak, accused the Muslims of still harboring foreign Islamic fighters, AFP reported on 25 January. In further evidence of friction between the nominal allies, Federal Deputy Minister Drago Bilandzija, a Croat, told Oslobodjenje that the State Directorate--a major public-sector company--is laundering money and evading taxes on a grand scale. He himself has been accused of corruption by Muslim Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic. Increasingly, public tensions threaten to split the shaky coalition between the Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ). Leaders of the two parties, meeting over the weekend, issued an 11-point program aimed at harmonizing their relationship, Oslobodjenje wrote on 27 January. According to that text, the presidency and vice presidency of the federation will rotate annually between Croats and Muslims. The president for 1997 will be a Croat. -- Patrick Moore

    [13] FORMER BOSNIAN SERB LEADER DIES.

    Nikola Koljevic (60) died on 25 January in the Belgrade military hospital as a result of a suicide attempt in Pale on 16 January, AFP said, quoting Tanjug. As a vice president of the Republika Srpska, he had helped negotiate the Dayton agreement. But he had been pushed to the political sidelines by the Bosnian Serb leadership after the 14 September elections. He became depressed as a result of this treatment, as he himself made clear in a suicide note left for his family (see Pursuing Balkan Peace, 21 January 1997). -- Patrick Moore

    [14] BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON MUSLIM-CROAT RELATIONS.

    Jadranko Prlic on 24 January met with his Croatian counterpart, Mate Granic, to discuss worsened relations between Muslims and Croats in the Bosnian Federation, international media reported. Prlic attributed that development to the increasing harassment of Muslims in Mostar and differences over issues such as defense, AFP reported. But he added "there is no problem that cannot be resolved with dialogue." Both officials agreed that the Federation Forum--over which U.S. envoy to Bosnia-Herzegovina John Cornblum is to preside--should convene "as soon as possible." Prlic also met Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak to discuss Croatia's assistance in training the Bosnian federal army, Dnevni Avaz reported on 27 January. The ministers discussed bilateral cooperation in preventing border incidents and implementing an agreement on sub-regional weapons control. -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [15] CROATIAN OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION PAYS TAXES FOLLOWING EVASION CHARGES.

    The Croatian office of the international humanitarian organization sponsored by George Soros has paid $500,000 in taxes one month after Croatian financial police charged the office with tax evasion, Reuters reported on 25 January. Office executive director Srdjan Dvornik said the taxes had been paid in order to prevent further problems in Croatia. He added that the foundation will appeal to get the money back once the police has sent the conclusions of its investigation. State-run television commented that by paying the taxes, the foundation has admitted it violated the law. Croatian financial police stormed the Zagreb premises of the organization in December and claimed to have found evidence of " financial malpractice." -- Daria Sito Sucic

    [16] NEW GOVERNMENT IN SLOVENIA.

    Janez Drnovsek, prime minister-designate and leader of the Liberal Democrats (LDS), on 24 January announced he has formed a new government, Radio Slovenija reported. Talks between the LDS and the three conservative Slovenian Spring parties--which have 44 of the 90 parliamentary seats-- broke down earlier this month. Drnovsek said he has forged a coalition with the former communist United List of Social Democrats and several minor parties, resulting in a one-seat majority. He said the LDS will have nine portfolios, the former Communists five, and two minor parties one seat each. The agriculture and justice portfolios still have to be filled. Drnovsek may attempt to extend an olive branch to the Slovenian Spring parties with offers of those two posts. -- Stan Markotich

    [17] ROMANIAN ROUNDUP.

    The Executive Bureau of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania on 25 January said it will propose a "political and social pact" at a meeting later this week with President Emil Constantinescu, Radio Bucharest reported. The bureau said it was "concerned" about what it called the new government's "political purges." It asked the president to use his influence over the governing coalition to put an end to the firings and hirings among the heads of state institutions. Meanwhile, a Bucharest appeals court on 24 January rejected Miron Cozma's request for bail, Radio Bucharest reported. Cozma is being detained on charges of "undermining state authority" by helping organize the miners' rampages in the Romanian capital in 1990 and 1991. Cozma's lawyer said after the ruling that he was dropping the case because of a "work overload." Miners held protest rallies earlier this month to demand Cozma's release on bail. -- Zsolt Mato

    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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