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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 180, 99-09-15

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. 3, No. 180, 15 September 1999


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET
  • [02] AZERBAIJAN CONDEMNS ALLEGED ARMENIAN CLAIM ON NAKHICHEVAN
  • [03] UN MEDIATOR TRIES TO KICKSTART ABKHAZ TALKS...
  • [04] ...AS NATO RULES OUT KOSOVA-STYLE INTERVENTION
  • [05] KAZAKHSTAN RETRACTS ORDER FOR FORMER PREMIER'S ARREST
  • [06] KAZAKHSTAN HOSTS REGIONAL SECURITY CONFERENCE
  • [07] KAZAKH AUTHORITIES ARREST MIG SALE SUSPECT
  • [08] UZBEK GUERRILLAS AGREE TO TALKS WITH KYRGYZ MILITARY
  • [09] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT ENDS VISIT TO GERMANY
  • [10] INTERNATIONAL WATCHDOG CALLS FOR INVESTIGATING TURKMEN
  • [11] FIVE PARTIES TO CONTEST UZBEK PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [12] RETURNING SERBIAN REFUGEES AMBUSHED IN KOSOVA
  • [13] ETHNIC ALBANIAN REPRESENTATIVES AGREE ON DEMOCRACY PLAN
  • [14] PRODI URGES BALKAN PEOPLE TO OVERCOME HATRED
  • [15] EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SETS UP FUND FOR SERBIAN REFUGEES
  • [16] NO SERBIAN JUDGES ON KOSOVA COURT
  • [17] ANNAN 'ALARMED' OVER HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN SERBIA
  • [18] SERBIAN PREMIER TELLS OPPOSITION NOT TO EXPECT OUTSIDE AID
  • [19] CLINTON AND CO. FAIL TO APPEAR IN NIS
  • [20] DJUKANOVIC TO MEDIATE BETWEEN FEUDING SERBIAN OPPOSITION
  • [21] KILIBARDA: MILOSEVIC MANIPULATING MONTENEGRIN CLANS
  • [22] MUSLIMS RETURN TO PALE
  • [23] KARADZIC IN SREBRENICA?
  • [24] BOSNIAN SERBS TO RETURN TO MILITARY TALKS
  • [25] MAJKO PROMISES SECURITY IN TROPOJA
  • [26] ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS 'NATIONAL' AFTER ALL
  • [27] MOLDOVAN DEFENSE MINISTRY DENIES MERCENARIES FOUGHT IN

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [28] TEN YEARS LATER: HOW POLAND LED THE WAY

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET

    Vagharshak

    Harutiunian and Safar Abiev met on the northern frontier

    between Armenia and Azerbaijan on 14 September to discuss

    strengthening border security and preventing violations of

    the cease-fire that took effect in 1994, Reuters and RFE/RL's

    Yerevan bureau reported. The two countries' presidents agreed

    to the meeting last month during talks in Geneva (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 23 August 1999). Speaking at a press briefing in

    Yerevan on 14 September, presidential press spokesman Vahe

    Gabrielian said that at their most recent meeting in Yalta on

    10 September, Robert Kocharian and Heidar Aliev agreed that

    peace talks under the aegis of the OSCE Minsk Group should be

    resumed, according to Noyan Tapan. They also agreed on

    unspecified confidence-building measures in the border zone

    and in the vicinity of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh

    Republic. LF

    [02] AZERBAIJAN CONDEMNS ALLEGED ARMENIAN CLAIM ON NAKHICHEVAN

    Azerbaijan's State Foreign Policy Adviser Vafa Guluzade has

    said that a recent statement by Armenians from the

    Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan constitutes an Armenian

    government claim on Azerbaijani territory, Noyan Tapan

    reported on 15 September. Guluzade hinted that Baku might

    respond to that claim by demanding the return to Armenia of

    some 200,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis who fled in 1988. Meeting in

    Yerevan on 11 September, representatives of an estimated

    400,000 Armenians who originated from Nakhichevan formed a

    National Council of Nakhichevan Armenians. That council

    adopted an appeal to the Armenian parliament to declare

    invalid the provision of the 1921 treaty whereby Nakhichevan

    was designated part of the Azerbaijan SSR. The region had

    formerly been part of the Yerevan province of the Tsarist

    Empire and of the independent Armenian Republic in 1918-1920.

    Presidential spokesman Gabrielian pointed out that the

    National Council of Nakhichevan Armenians is a public

    organization, not an official government body. LF

    [03] UN MEDIATOR TRIES TO KICKSTART ABKHAZ TALKS...

    UN special

    representative in Georgia Liviu Bota held talks with Georgian

    Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze in Tbilisi on 13

    September but reportedly failed to set a date for further

    talks between Tbilisi and Sukhumi on resolving the Abkhaz

    conflict, Caucasus Press reported. The following day in

    Sukhumi, Bota met with Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba,

    who backed Bota's proposal to convene a session of the

    Georgian-Abkhaz Coordinating Council before the end of this

    month to discuss security issues, according to Interfax.

    Arzdinba told Bota he had written to Georgian President

    Eduard Shevardnadze expressing concern at reports that

    Georgian guerrillas plan subversive activities in Abkhazia's

    southernmost Gali Raion in the runup to the Abkhaz

    presidential elections on 3 October. Tbilisi does not

    recognize the validity of that poll, in which Arzdzinba is

    the sole candidate. Bota, who has been appointed Romania's

    representative to the OSCE, extended his term in Georgia

    after Russia vetoed all other candidates proposed to succeed

    him as the UN Secretary-General's special representative

    there. LF

    [04] ...AS NATO RULES OUT KOSOVA-STYLE INTERVENTION

    Chris

    Donnelly, who is an adviser to NATO Secretary-General George

    Robertson, told the Georgian parliament's Defense and

    Security Committee on 13 September that NATO will not

    intervene in Abkhazia, Interfax reported. Donnelly explained

    that NATO's intervention in Kosova was launched only after it

    became clear that all other peace efforts had failed and that

    the situation in the former Yugoslavia threatened European

    security. By contrast, Interfax quoted Donnelly as saying,

    NATO does not consider Abkhazia such a danger. He added that

    it is time to work out a model for resolving conflicts in the

    South Caucasus. Leading Georgian politicians have for months

    been campaigning for NATO military intervention in Abkhazia.

    LF

    [05] KAZAKHSTAN RETRACTS ORDER FOR FORMER PREMIER'S ARREST

    Kazakhstan's Prosecutor-General Yurii Khitrin on 14 September

    retracted the order for the arrest of Akezhan Kazhegeldin,

    RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. The Russian authorities had

    rejected that request, saying the charges brought against

    Kazhegeldin are not adequately documented. The former premier

    is accused of tax evasion and illegal possession of property

    abroad. The Russian OMON guards outside Kazhegeldin's room at

    the Barvikha sanatorium, where he is under observation after

    suffering a suspected heart attack, were removed late on 14

    September. In Almaty, members of Kazhegeldin's People's

    Republican Party of Kazakhstan who tried to stage a protest

    demonstration outside the Russian Embassy on 14 September to

    demand his release were immediately dispersed by police. Six

    of them were arrested, fined, and warned that they would

    receive labor camp sentences if they participated in further

    such unsanctioned demonstrations. LF

    [06] KAZAKHSTAN HOSTS REGIONAL SECURITY CONFERENCE

    Foreign

    ministers from 16 countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China,

    Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia,

    Palestine, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and

    Uzbekistan) signed a declaration on the principles of mutual

    relations at a conference in Almaty on 14 September.

    Observers from 10 other countries also attended. Kazakhstan's

    President Nursultan Nazarbaev told participants that the

    problem of ensuring regional security is of special

    significance for Asian states, since the region accounts for

    two-thirds of the world's population and 55 percent of global

    GDP. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov stressed that

    security in Asia is a key priority of Russia's foreign

    policy. The conference is intended to function as an Asian

    security body modeled on the OSCE (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3

    June 1999). LF

    [07] KAZAKH AUTHORITIES ARREST MIG SALE SUSPECT

    Kazakhstan's

    National Security Committee has arrested a man suspected of

    acting as intermediary in the sale of some 30-40 MiG-21

    fighter aircraft to North Korea, AP and Interfax reported on

    14 September. AP quoted National Security Committee press

    spokesman Kenzhebulat Beknazarov as saying that the man was

    paid $1.8 million for his services. Kazakhstan's Foreign

    Minister Kasymzhomart Toqaev on 12 September denied that the

    Kazakh government had any knowledge of the sale (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 13 September 1999). LF

    [08] UZBEK GUERRILLAS AGREE TO TALKS WITH KYRGYZ MILITARY

    Kyrgyz

    human rights activist Tursunbek Akunov told an RFE/RL's

    Kyrgyz Service correspondent in Batken on 14 September that

    Yunus Abdurakmanov, the leader of the Uzbek guerrillas

    holding a group of hostages in southern Kyrgyzstan, has

    agreed to talks with Kyrgyz officials and will not demand a

    ransom for the hostages. Interfax quoted Akunov as saying

    that the guerrillas are prepared to negotiate with the

    commanders of Kyrgyz troops deployed in the region but that

    those troops cannot agree to such talks until they receive

    permission to do so from the government in Bishkek. LF

    [09] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT ENDS VISIT TO GERMANY

    On a three-day

    official visit to Germany, Askar Akaev met in Berlin on 13

    September with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to discuss

    bilateral economic cooperation, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service

    reported. President Akaev thanked Germany for its support

    during the first stage of economic reform in Kyrgyzstan and

    requested German financial support for construction of a new

    hydro-power station and in exporting electricity to

    neighboring China. Akaev also requested a DM 75 million ($40

    million) loan to support small business in Kyrgyzstan and an

    additional DM 20 million in technical help. In addition,

    Akaev held talks with President Johannes Rau. In Bonn on 14

    September, two cooperation agreements were signed between the

    German and Kyrgyz governments. Under one of those accords,

    Germany will grant Kyrgyzstan a DM 60 million low-interest

    loan for improving the health care service and reconstruction

    of the energy system. LF

    [10] INTERNATIONAL WATCHDOG CALLS FOR INVESTIGATING TURKMEN

    DISSIDENT'S JAIL DEATH

    Human Rights Watch on 14 September

    called on the government of Turkmenistan to launch an

    investigation into the circumstances of the death of Khoshali

    Garaev, who was found dead in his prison cell last week (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 September 1999). The Turkmen

    authorities claim he committed suicide. Garaev, who was 37,

    had recently written to relatives saying he was in good

    health and hoped to be amnestied by the end of the year. Also

    on 14 September, Amnesty International issued an appeal on

    behalf of Mukhametli Aymuradov, who was sentenced in 1995

    with Garaev on charges of "anti-state crimes." Aymuradov is

    53 and in poor health. LF

    [11] FIVE PARTIES TO CONTEST UZBEK PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

    A

    spokesman for Uzbekistan's Central Electoral Commission told

    journalists in Tashkent on 14 September that five political

    parties have received permission to contend the 5 December

    parliamentary elections, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 23 August 1999). They are the People's Democratic

    Party (the former Communist Party of Uzbekistan), the Adolat

    (Justice) party, the National Revival Party, the For the

    Progress of the Motherland Party, and the Fidorkorlar

    (Selfless Ones). LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [12] RETURNING SERBIAN REFUGEES AMBUSHED IN KOSOVA

    Unidentified

    attackers fired at a convoy of returning Serbian refugees

    near Ranilug, in the U.S. sector of Kosova, on 14 September,

    AP reported. One unidentified person was killed and two Serbs

    injured. Elsewhere, KFOR soldiers found two elderly

    Montenegrin women killed in their home in Peja. In Prishtina,

    unidentified attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade into

    a Serbian cafe, injuring three Serbs, Reuters reported.

    Tanjug reported that 13 prisoners in Mitrovica--11 Serbs, one

    Montenegrin, and one ethnic Albanian--went on a hunger strike

    to protest what they called "total disregard" of Serbian

    criminal law in proceedings that the recently established UN

    court has launched against them. In an open letter, the

    prisoners said they were jailed on the basis of "unfounded

    reports and testimonies" by anonymous ethnic Albanians. FS

    [13] ETHNIC ALBANIAN REPRESENTATIVES AGREE ON DEMOCRACY PLAN

    A

    group of 39 ethnic Albanians representing four political

    parties, various social organizations, and media outlets in

    Kosova agreed in Washington on 14 September on "a framework

    of basic principles, practices, and procedures to help guide

    Kosova during and after its transition to democratic self-

    rule," Reuters reported. The Kosovars, including the Kosova

    Liberation Army's Hashim Thaci, were invited by the U.S.

    Institute of Peace at the State Department's request. In a

    10-page document, the Kosovars agreed to support a "multi-

    ethnic society that includes equal opportunity for all." U.S.

    Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the delegation:

    "You must combat the temptations of revenge, corruption, and

    criminality.... Evidence of unchecked criminality would lose

    you the support of the international community and the trust

    of your people." FS

    [14] PRODI URGES BALKAN PEOPLE TO OVERCOME HATRED

    President-

    designate of the European Commission Romano Prodi told the

    European Parliament in Strasbourg on 14 September that the

    people of the Balkans must overcome conflicts among

    themselves in order to be included in the process of European

    integration, an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent

    reported. The parliamentary commission on Southeastern

    Europe, headed by German legislator Doris Pack, is scheduled

    to submit a proposal to the European Parliament on 15

    September on financing Kosova's reconstruction. The plan

    envisages annual expenses of 500 million euros ($519.5

    million) up to the year 2004. Pack recently voiced sharp

    criticism of the EU agency for the reconstruction of Kosova

    and demanded that the EU office in Prishtina become largely

    independent of its counterpart in Thessaloniki (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 22 July 1999). FS

    [15] EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SETS UP FUND FOR SERBIAN REFUGEES

    The

    European Parliament has agreed to set up a special fund to

    help Serbian refugees from Kosova, Vladan Batic of the

    opposition Alliance for Change told the Frankfurt-based

    Serbian daily "Vesti" of 15 September. Batic added that the

    alliance recently proposed setting up the fund. Strasbourg's

    approval is the first success of the alliance on the

    international stage, he noted. PM

    [16] NO SERBIAN JUDGES ON KOSOVA COURT

    UN Special Representative

    Bernard Kouchner swore in five judges and two prosecutors for

    a newly formed court of appeals in Prishtina on 14 September,

    Reuters reported. All are ethnic Albanians and some are legal

    professionals whom Milosevic fired in 1989. Kouchner said

    that he has been unable to find any Serbs who are qualified

    for jobs with the appeals court. He added that he will

    continue to look for suitable applicants and "hold open" an

    unspecified number of positions for Serbs. PM

    [17] ANNAN 'ALARMED' OVER HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN SERBIA

    UN

    Secretary-General Kofi Annan is "alarmed" over the

    "deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Serbia, his

    spokesman said in New York on 14 September. He noted that

    "the sharp contraction of the economy in 1999, coupled with

    inflation, is compounding severe pension and salary problems

    and dramatically reducing the population's resources. There

    is a real threat of rising food prices and dwindling drug

    supply, problems which will be exacerbated by plummeting

    household income, partly due to a dramatic increase in

    unemployment." This is the first time that Annan has raised

    such concerns in public, AP reported. PM

    [18] SERBIAN PREMIER TELLS OPPOSITION NOT TO EXPECT OUTSIDE AID

    Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic said in Belgrade that

    hyperinflation will not return (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13

    September 1999). He called unnamed opposition leaders

    "Lilliputians" whom NATO is using to "destroy the

    government," "Danas" reported on 15 September. He added that

    the government "does not have time to respond to mindless

    criticism from compromised politicians and leaders of tiny

    political parties." Marjanovic stressed that only the

    government is working for the benefit of Serbia's population.

    He warned opposition-controlled cities and towns not to

    expect any reconstruction aid from abroad. The EU recently

    pledged aid to "democratically controlled" cities and towns

    (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 September 1999). PM

    [19] CLINTON AND CO. FAIL TO APPEAR IN NIS

    Judge Miloje Micic of

    the Nis County Court canceled a hearing on war crimes on 14

    September because 14 indicted persons failed to respond to

    their respective summonses. The 14 included U.S. President

    Bill Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State Albright, British Prime

    Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, former

    German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and NATO Secretary-

    General Javier Solana. The judge said that he will announce a

    new date for a hearing once he has determined that the

    indicted persons have indeed received their summonses,

    "Danas" reported. PM

    [20] DJUKANOVIC TO MEDIATE BETWEEN FEUDING SERBIAN OPPOSITION

    LEADERS?

    Vojvodina opposition leaders Miodrag Isakov and

    Nenad Canak said that Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic

    has offered to mediate between Serbia's factious opposition

    leaders, "Vesti" reported on 15 September. The two Vojvodina

    leaders added that they support Montenegro's proposals for

    changing the legal relationship between Serbia and

    Montenegro. On 15 September, Djukanovic said in Budapest that

    he fully supports the Serbian opposition. He stressed that

    only Serbs can bring democracy to Serbia. PM

    [21] KILIBARDA: MILOSEVIC MANIPULATING MONTENEGRIN CLANS

    Montenegrin People's Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister

    Novak Kilibarda said that Milosevic and Momir Bulatovic, who

    is his chief ally in Montenegro, have "manipulated" several

    recent meetings of traditional clan organizations for their

    own political ends. At the clan gatherings, many speakers

    called for the preservation of unity between Montenegro and

    Serbia, "Danas" reported on 15 December. Most recently,

    leaders of the Piper clan said they will secede from

    Montenegro if the government declares independence from

    Serbia. The Piper clan officials said that independence would

    render null and void the 1796 agreement under which the

    Pipers joined Montenegro. PM

    [22] MUSLIMS RETURN TO PALE

    Some 30 Muslim families received keys

    to their rebuilt houses in the Pale area on 14 September,

    Reuters reported. It was the first organized return of Muslim

    residents to the ski resort, which became the Bosnian Serb

    capital during the 1992-1995 war (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report,"

    14 September 1999). The UNHCR's Werner Blatter called the

    return a "breakthrough." PM

    [23] KARADZIC IN SREBRENICA?

    Wartime Bosnian Serb leader and

    indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic recently gave a speech

    in Srebrenica in the company of his long-time ally Momcilo

    Krajisnik, Reuters reported on 15 September. Karadzic praised

    the "heroism" of Serbian forces during the 1992-1995 war and

    urged Serbs not to leave the town "where the most glorious

    pages of Serbian history have been written." Srebrenica was

    the scene of the largest massacre in post-1945 Europe after

    Serbian forces captured it from the Muslims in July 1995. An

    agreement between the international community and Bosnian

    Serb leaders specifies that Karadzic is not to make any

    public appearances. Unconfirmed reports occasionally appear

    in the regional or international media that he has been

    sighted in Belgrade, Montenegro, or eastern Bosnia. He is one

    of the most wanted war criminals sought by the Hague-based

    tribunal. PM

    [24] BOSNIAN SERBS TO RETURN TO MILITARY TALKS

    A spokeswoman for

    the international community's Wolfgang Petritsch said in

    Sarajevo on 14 September that Bosnian Serb military officials

    have agreed to resume attending regular meetings of the

    Standing Committee on Military Matters with Muslim, Croatian,

    and international representatives (see "RFE/RL Balkan

    Report," 31 August 1999). PM

    [25] MAJKO PROMISES SECURITY IN TROPOJA

    Albanian Prime Minister

    Pandeli Majko, visiting Tropoja on 14 September, promised

    local inhabitants that he will restore the rule of law there,

    an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent reported. Majko

    said that it is necessary that the government and opposition

    communicate with each other and put an end to rhetoric of

    hate and "politics of the street." Majko accepted his

    administration's responsibility for the delayed

    implementation of public order in Tropoja region. He stressed

    that it is unacceptable that Tropoja is becoming an "oasis of

    crime." Majko rejected the view that in Albania there is

    antagonism between the north and the south, and he thanked

    the citizens of Tropoja for helping border guards and

    refugees during the Kosova conflict. FS

    [26] ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS 'NATIONAL' AFTER ALL

    Government

    spokeswoman Adriana Saftoiu said on 14 September that Prime

    Minister Radu Vasile has "used his prerogatives" to send to

    the parliament a draft law on religious denominations in

    which the Romanian Orthodox Church is defined as a "National

    Church." The government last week decided not to grant that

    status to the Church, prompting a strong protest by Patriarch

    Teoctist (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 and 13 September 1999).

    MS

    [27] MOLDOVAN DEFENSE MINISTRY DENIES MERCENARIES FOUGHT IN

    KOSOVA

    The Defense Ministry on 14 September denied that

    Moldovan mercenaries fought on the side of Yugoslavia during

    the Kosova crisis, Flux reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14

    September 1999). The ministry said allegations by the

    Moldovan Helsinki Committee on Human Rights chairman Stefan

    Uratu "tarnish the image of Moldova's army and of Moldova as

    a whole." However, the ministry indirectly confirmed Uratu's

    declaration the previous day that retired officers applied to

    serve in Yugoslavia. The ministry noted that those officers

    believed the Moldovan peace-keeping force about to be set up

    under the Partnership for Peace program would be sent there

    to serve with Yugoslav forces. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [28] TEN YEARS LATER: HOW POLAND LED THE WAY

    by Jan de Weydenthal

    Ten years ago, the Polish Communists voluntarily stepped

    down from power, after losing the first partly free elections

    in a Soviet bloc country. The largest of the East European

    countries, Poland led the way in bringing about the demise of

    communism in the region. As Poland took step after step

    toward democracy without provoking a response from Moscow,

    other communist countries were emboldened to follow suit.

    It was in Poland that the Communists were first forced

    by popular protests to accept a major breach in their power.

    In September 1980, the labor union, Solidarity, was

    established as the first independent union in a communist

    country. Solidarity was suppressed by military force 16

    months later, but public opposition to communist rule neither

    disappeared nor weakened. Solidarity rebounded at the end of

    the 1980s.

    It was also in Poland that the Communists were first

    forced by public pressure to accept free parliamentary

    elections. Such elections took place in June 1989, and the

    Communists were declared the losers.

    And it was in Poland that the first democratic

    government in East Central Europe took office after decades

    of communist rule. In fact, the Polish Communists themselves

    voted it into office on 12 September 1989.

    In the process, Poland's Communists, who had long

    claimed for themselves the right to determine all aspects of

    society's development, were gradually forced into obscurity.

    They dissolved their party in 1990 and became social

    democrats.

    The communists' downfall in Poland was a long time

    coming. Years of divisiveness, managerial inefficiency, and

    political corruption had weakened their control.

    Already in the 1970s, the Communists suffered severe

    political setbacks twice (in 1970 and 1976) when they were

    forced to change policies under pressure of workers'

    protests.

    Their authority was further undermined when former

    Cracow Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected pope in October

    1978. Less than a year later, the pope, now known as John

    Paul II, paid a visit to his native country, prompting an

    outburst of national pride. In the eyes of most Poles, it was

    the pope, rather than any communist leader, who had the right

    to guide the nation.

    But ultimately, communism in Poland collapsed because

    its proponent did not secure effective support from the

    Soviet Union. Moscow declined to intervene to put down

    Solidarity, instead pressing their Polish allies to do so.

    The Soviet Union merely watched in early 1989 as the

    Communists in Poland negotiated away political control. And

    Soviet leaders eagerly opened a dialogue with the first

    democratic, non-communist Polish government.

    These developments were not lost on other countries in

    Central Europe. Dissidents in various countries had kept

    close contacts with their Polish colleagues. They all took

    note of Moscow's passive attitude toward Poland. And all were

    determined to put it to the test in their own countries.

    Kestutis Girnius, the coordinator of RFE/RL's Baltic

    services, notes that Soviet passivity toward Polish reform

    was encouraging to democrats in neighboring Lithuania

    "Similar processes were taking place in Lithuania, which

    began to become more free in 1989," he said. "And the fact

    that Moscow did not resort to violence to stop change in

    Poland and prevent Solidarity from coming to power encouraged

    Lithuania to believe that Moscow would eventually let them

    go."

    Some analysts say Moscow's paralysis was the result of a

    conscious policy guided by the widely proclaimed strategy of

    perestroika. Others say Moscow was unable to intervene

    because its economy was in decline and its army tied up in

    the Afghan war.

    The legendary leader of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, said at

    the time that communism collapsed because it was simply

    outdated. In November 1989, he told a press conference in

    Washington that political changes in the region merely

    reflected the spirit of the times: "The reforms in Eastern

    Europe are not happening because [Soviet leader Mikhail]

    Gorbachev or Walesa or somebody else wants them. The

    irreversibility of reform is based on the fact that those

    reforms are part of the development of civilization. After

    satellites, computers, and calculators, we are just following

    the steps of technology. So there is no question about

    reversibility or irreversibility of reforms. The question is

    not if, but how. The question is in what time span and what's

    the price going to be."

    Pro-democracy activists in other communist countries

    supported those moves. Within months of the emergence of a

    democratic government in Poland, an unstoppable wave of

    change swept the entire region. And the system that dominated

    Central European politics, economics and societies for

    decades became history.

    The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague.

    15-09-99


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


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