RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 98, 00-05-22

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 98, 22 May 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] NEW ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPOINTED

[02] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT FACTIONS REJECT EXCHANGE OF TERRITORY

[03] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION CALLS FOR FREE ELECTIONS

[04] NEW AZERBAIJANI CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION CHAIRMAN

[05] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA DENY HOSTING ISLAMIC ORGANIZATION

[06] SEVEN KILLED IN TWO GEORGIAN SHOOTINGS

[07] KAZAKHSTAN SELLS PART OF TENGIZCHEVROIL STAKE

[08] SUSPECTS IN MURDER OF KAZAKH ARMS EXPORTER APPREHENDED

[09] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION ENUMERATES DEMANDS

[10] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT SEEKS TO HALT RUSSIAN EMIGRATION

[11] TAJIK TV AND RADIO HEAD MURDERED

[12] PUTIN VISITS TURKMENISTAN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] THACI RE-ELECTED PARTY LEADER IN KOSOVA

[14] KOSOVA SERBS, ROMA END HUNGER STRIKE

[15] ARTEMIJE LINKS KOSOVA ELECTIONS TO REFUGEE RETURNS

[16] SERBIAN OPPOSITION WANTS DETAINEES FREED

[17] HAVE SERBIAN POLICE INTIMIDATED PUBLIC?

[18] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS SEEKING HELP FROM 'BIG, DEMOCRATIC

[19] ALBRIGHT CALLS ON SERBIAN OFFICIALS TO 'CHOOSE'

[20] BELGRADE DECRIES SANCTIONS--AND MONTENEGRO'S EXCLUSION FROM

[21] SERBIAN COURT SENTENCES 143 KOSOVARS

[22] MONTENEGRO 'WON'T WAIT'

[23] BUSY WEEKEND IN CROATIAN POLITICS

[24] ROMANIAN POLITICIANS CALL ON ILIESCU TO QUIT PRESIDENTIAL

[25] ROMANIA ASKS INTERPOL TO LOCATE CONVICTED GENERAL

[26] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REFUSES TO RATIFY TREATY WITH UKRAINE

[27] MOLDOVAN TRANSDNIESTER PRISONER OPPOSED TO BASIC TREATY WITH

[28] CORRUPTION ENDEMIC TO BULGARIA'S PAST OR PRESENT?

[29] BULGARIAN PREMIER VOWS TO PUSH REFORMS, CUT UNEMPLOYMENT

[C] END NOTE

[30] A BIG BANG OUTSIDE A CLOSELY GUARDED DOOR

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] NEW ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPOINTED

issued a series of decrees on 20 May detailing the

composition of the new cabinet headed by Andranik Markarian

and increasing the number of ministries, RFE/RL's Yerevan

bureau reported. Most ministers from the outgoing cabinet

retain their posts, including the ministers of finance and

the economy, industry and trade, national security, justice,

foreign affairs, and internal affairs. In an unexpected move,

Kocharian appointed his close associate, former Interior and

National Security Minister Serzh Sarkisian, as defense

minister. Both the Ministry of Health and Social Security and

the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection were

split into two separate components. The second-largest

parliamentary faction, Kayunutiun, received the portfolios

for the environment and for transport and communications. LF

[02] ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT FACTIONS REJECT EXCHANGE OF TERRITORY

represented in the Armenian parliament issued a statement

rejecting any proposed exchange of territory between Armenia

and Azerbaijan as a violation of Armenia's territorial

integrity, Noyan Tapan and RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported.

It added that any proposed settlement of the Karabakh

conflict must be endorsed by the Armenian parliament. The

statement noted presidential spokesman Vahe Gabrielian's

denial the previous day that Kocharian and his Azerbaijani

counterpart, Heidar Aliev, had reached any such agreement

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 2000). LF

[03] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION CALLS FOR FREE ELECTIONS

10,000 and 20,000 people marched through central Baku on 20

May to demand amendments to the existing election legislation

to ensure that the November elections to the legislature are

truly democratic, Turan and Reuters reported. Some also

chanted "Karabakh!" and "Resignation!" Hundreds of armed

police lined the route taken by the demonstrators but did not

intervene. Leaders of several opposition parties addressed a

subsequent meeting, whose participants adopted 14 demands,

including that parliament debate the election law drafted by

the opposition, that the Azerbaijani leadership comply with

its human-rights pledges to the Council of Europe, and that

police refrain from violence against opposition

representatives and release those persons imprisoned for

participating in the unsanctioned opposition demonstration in

Baku on 29 April. LF

[04] NEW AZERBAIJANI CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION CHAIRMAN

Central Electoral Commission department head

Mazakhir Magomed ogly Panakhov has been named chairman of the

commission, replacing Djafar Veliev, who was appointed

chairman of Azerbaijan's Economic Court, ITAR-TASS and Turan

reported on 19 May. Panakhov, who is a physicist, formerly

edited "Azerbaijan International Magazine." LF

[05] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA DENY HOSTING ISLAMIC ORGANIZATION

head of the Azerbaijani cabinet's department for religious

affairs, Mustafa Ibragimov, told ITAR-TASS on 19 May that the

Ministry of Justice closed down the Azerbaijan office of the

Saudi Arabia-based international Islamic organization Al-

Haramein two months earlier on the grounds that its

activities did not correspond to its charter. The office was

opened in early 1999, A second Justice Ministry official said

that some of the organization's activities posed a threat to

Azerbaijan's statehood. On 20 May, the Georgian National

Security Ministry denied that Al-Haramein ever had a

representative office in Georgia, according to ITAR-TASS. LF

[06] SEVEN KILLED IN TWO GEORGIAN SHOOTINGS

early on 20 May when unidentified attackers opened fire on

their car near Tskhinvali, the capital of the unrecognized

Republic of South Ossetia, Reuters and Caucasus Press

reported. The previous day, two Abkhaz police officers were

killed and three wounded in an attack on their post in

Abkhazia's Gali Raion, Caucasus Press reported. LF

[07] KAZAKHSTAN SELLS PART OF TENGIZCHEVROIL STAKE

of speculation and contradictory statements, the Kazakh

government last week finally sold 20 percent of its 25

percent stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture to Chevron

for $450 million, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on 18 May.

Chevron now has a 50 percent stake in Tengizchevroil. The

Kazakh government and the U.S. oil company had discussed the

sale last fall but failed to agree on terms (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 6 December 1999). Kazakh government officials

have been debating since last August the advisability of

selling part or all of Astana's share in the company, which

is developing oil fields in eastern Kazakhstan (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 7 September 1999 and 16 March 2000). LF

[08] SUSPECTS IN MURDER OF KAZAKH ARMS EXPORTER APPREHENDED

murder last month in Almaty of Talgat Ibraev, the head of

Kazakhstan's state-owned arms export company, RFE/RL's bureau

in the former capital reported on 18 May (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 18 April 2000). The suspects are Ibraev's driver

and his deputy's driver. LF

[09] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION ENUMERATES DEMANDS

representatives released in Bishkek on 19 May a list of

demands they intend to present to the government during the

roundtable discussion scheduled for early June, RFE/RL's

Bishkek bureau reported. The opposition is demanding the

release of and a fair trial for detained opposition leaders

Feliks Kulov and Emil Aliev, a halt to the persecution of

opposition leaders Jypar Jeksheev and Daniyar Usenov,an end

to harassment of the independent media and NGOs, an objective

appraisal of the parliamentary elections held in February-

March, and registration of the Guild of Prisoners of

Conscience, formed last month (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 April

2000). On 18 May, Russian politicians including State Duma

deputies Sergei Kirienko and Irina Khakamada, wrote to Kyrgyz

President Askar Akaev expressing their concern at

Kyrgyzstan's retreat from democracy and appealing to Akaev to

guarantee human rights. They, too, called for Kulov's release

and a halt to pressure on the media. LF

[10] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT SEEKS TO HALT RUSSIAN EMIGRATION

issued a special decree on 20 May outlining measures to

improve the situation of Kyrgyzstan's dwindling ethnic

Russian minority in order to stem the accelerating emigration

of competent personnel, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported.

"Vremya-MN" reported last month that 2,200 Russian families

left Kyrgyzstan in January and 4,200 in February, compared

with last year's average of 500-600 families a month. LF

[11] TAJIK TV AND RADIO HEAD MURDERED

Tajik State TV and Radio Chairman Saifullo Rakhimov was shot

dead by six unidentified attackers in camouflage uniforms,

who managed to escape. President Imomali Rakhmonov condemned

the shooting as "a terrorist act," Reuters reported. LF

[12] PUTIN VISITS TURKMENISTAN

paid a one-day visit to Ashgabat on 19 May, together with

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Defense Minister Igor Sergeev,

and Gazprom head Rem Vyakhirev. Before their talks, Putin and

Turkmen President Sapamurat Niyazov visited a bazaar and

toured local construction projects. Putin stressed Moscow's

support for Turkmenistan's neutrality and termed Turkmenistan

a "leading partner." He said the development of "large-scale

cooperation" between the two countries would benefit Central

Asia as a whole. Putin also told journalists that Russia has

agreed to purchase an additional 10 billion cubic meters of

Turkmen gas annually at a price still to be negotiated. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[13] THACI RE-ELECTED PARTY LEADER IN KOSOVA

Democratic Progress of Kosova began a three-day congress in

Prishtina on 20 May. Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN's

civilian mission in the province, called the gathering a

"vivid sign of a democratic culture," Reuters reported. He

urged the delegates to promote "open debate...without

intimidation of any kind" in Kosova. This is the first

congress of any party in the province since the 1999 war. On

21 May, the delegates re-elected the former Kosova Liberation

Army's (UCK) Hashim Thaci as chairman and changed the party's

name to Democratic Party of Kosova (PDK). The PDK regards

itself as the political home of former UCK fighters, but many

of them have organized or joined numerous locally-based

smaller parties and coalitions in various parts of the

province. PM

[14] KOSOVA SERBS, ROMA END HUNGER STRIKE

prisoners ended a hunger strike in Mitrovica on 21 May. They

had launched the protest on 12 April to demand that they

stand trial soon before foreign judges. Kouchner said that he

has agreed to their demand. AP reported that it is unclear

where he will find the judges. PM

[15] ARTEMIJE LINKS KOSOVA ELECTIONS TO REFUGEE RETURNS

Orthodox Archbishop Artemije, who is a moderate leader of

Kosova's Serbs and is opposed to Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic, said in Brussels on 19 May that it will be too

early to hold elections in Kosova this fall unless Serbian

and other non-Albanian refugees are able return to their

homes before then. He added that his Serbian National Council

will continue to work with Kouchner's advisory council only

if the refugees can come home and live in security, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. PM

[16] SERBIAN OPPOSITION WANTS DETAINEES FREED

key opposition leaders told several thousand protesters in

Belgrade on 21 May that the authorities must not continue to

detain opposition supporters without charging them (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 2000). In recent days, police have

detained several dozen opposition activists, including one

man whose offense was to wear an opposition T-shirt in

public, AP reported. Most detainees were freed after

questioning. Under current legislation, police can detain

people for 72 hours without filing charges. The authorities

may soon implement a new law that would "create an informal

state of emergency," "The New York Times" reported on 22 May.

Under the new law, the police could detain people "on grounds

of national security" for up to 60 days without filing

charges. Police would be entitled to conduct searches without

warrants and confiscate any firearms, including legally

registered ones. PM

[17] HAVE SERBIAN POLICE INTIMIDATED PUBLIC?

Belgrade on 19 May to defend Serbia against all "enemies."

General Branko Djuric, who heads the Belgrade police, told

the opposition-led city government that the police will

intervene "every time that public order and peace are

threatened," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Some

observers have suggested that the tough police response to

protests has discouraged many people from taking part in the

demonstrations, where attendance has been generally limited

to a few thousand. Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic

told AP on 21 May that the opposition will win only when

large numbers of people take to the streets. The "Financial

Times" suggested on 22 May that many Serbs do not join the

protests because they are apathetic, poorly informed, or

disillusioned with politics. PM

[18] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS SEEKING HELP FROM 'BIG, DEMOCRATIC

Nationalist opposition leader Vuk Draskovic said on

21 May that the opposition will "ask from that big,

democratic country [Russia] to do everything to help stop the

terror in Serbia...and help our efforts to have free and fair

elections here," AP reported. Djindjic said that he and two

other unnamed opposition leaders will soon travel to Moscow

to meet with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and other top

officials to "clarify certain things concerning the Russian

government's views toward the undemocratic authorities in

Serbia." The private news agency Beta reported from Moscow,

however, that the Foreign Ministry denied having "any

contacts whatsoever" with Draskovic. PM

[19] ALBRIGHT CALLS ON SERBIAN OFFICIALS TO 'CHOOSE'

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Washington on

19 May that "officials in Serbia face a choice. They can

stand for the freedom and the rights of all Serbs, or they

can prolong Milosevic's rule by participating in the

oppression," AP reported. She warned that in particular

judges, police, prosecutors, and leaders of the security

forces will have to "face the consequences" if they remain

loyal to the regime. Speaking to a joint press conference

with Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, she praised the

"courageous men and women who are demanding their rights in

the cities and towns across Serbia." PM

[20] BELGRADE DECRIES SANCTIONS--AND MONTENEGRO'S EXCLUSION FROM

The Yugoslav Foreign Ministry said in a letter to the

EU in Brussels on 21 May that EU sanctions constitute

"continuing pressure aimed at destabilizing Yugoslavia,"

Tanjug reported. The sanctions have "also inflicted great

losses on Yugoslavia's neighbors." Belgrade "demands that the

EU immediately lift all sanctions," the message stressed. The

text added, however, that the exclusion of Montenegro from

the sanctions "is a direct attack on the constitutional

system of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the unity of

the people." PM

[21] SERBIAN COURT SENTENCES 143 KOSOVARS

sentenced some 143 ethnic Albanians from the Gjakova area of

Kosova to prison terms of up to 13 years for "terrorism." All

defendants allegedly took part in attacks on Serbian forces

in 1999. It was the biggest mass trial ever held in Serbia,

AP reported on 22 May. PM

[22] MONTENEGRO 'WON'T WAIT'

Lukovac said in Ancona, Italy, on 20 May that his country

"won't wait forever" and will have to "go it alone" if the

Serbian opposition does not oust Milosevic. "We can't afford

to lose another decade, not even a year," Reuters reported.

He was attending a meeting on Adriatic cooperation that

included foreign ministers and other top officials from

Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Greece, and Albania.

Lukovac attended as an observer. The Italian and Croatian

defense ministers signed an agreement on military

cooperation. PM

[23] BUSY WEEKEND IN CROATIAN POLITICS

parliament on 19 May failed for the third time to pass the

government's bill on reconstruction, which will make funds

available to Serbian refugees. The Croatian Democratic

Community, Croatian Democratic Center, and Croatian Party of

[Historic] Rights opposed the measure on the grounds that it

will "give the [Serbian] aggressors rights equal to those of

the [Croatian] victims," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. The next day, the Social Liberals re-elected Drazen

Budisa as their leader. He denied that the party is moving to

the right and reaffirmed its commitment to the coalition with

the Social Democrats. Elsewhere, the Peasants' Party re-

elected Zlatko Tomac as its head. Tomac had asked for a vote

of confidence following the party's poor performance in the

recent Zagreb municipal vote. PM

[24] ROMANIAN POLITICIANS CALL ON ILIESCU TO QUIT PRESIDENTIAL

Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica on 20 May said that

both the "Adrian Costea affair" and the implication of former

President Ion Iliescu in the "hot-line" link to Moscow are

damaging Romania's international credibility. "The most

reasonable solution," he concluded, would be for Iliescu to

withdraw from the 2000 presidential race, RFE/RL's Bucharest

bureau reported. Stoica said that the money-laundering affair

surrounding Costea clearly indicates that the 1996

presidential campaign was financed illegally, and he called

on the parliament to adopt stricter legislation on the

funding of political parties. Hungarian Democratic Federation

of Romania Chairman Bela Marko also called on Iliescu to

withdraw from the race. But Party of Social Democracy in

Romania Executive Vice Chairman Adrian Nastase said Iliescu

remains the party's candidate. Nastase was questioned as a

witness on 19 May by French investigators. MS

[25] ROMANIA ASKS INTERPOL TO LOCATE CONVICTED GENERAL

Romanian authorities on 19 May asked Interpol to help locate

General Victor Stanculescu, who was sentenced to 15 years in

prison for his role in the attempt to quash the December 1989

uprising in Timisoara, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported.

Also on 19 May, General Mihai Chitac, who received the same

prison term as Stanculescu, was indicted for the role he

played as interior minister in the June 1990 miners' rampage

in Bucharest. The Prosecutor-General's Office accuses Chitac

of having ordered the opening of fire on demonstrators who

were also attacked by the miners. Four people died as a

result, and several hundred were injured during the clashes.

MS

[26] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT REFUSES TO RATIFY TREATY WITH UKRAINE

Ukraine and indefinitely suspended the debate on that accord,

Romanian Radio reported. Moldova's legislators debated the

treaty in closed session, but Romanian radio said the

deputies objected to the provision on a swap of small pieces

of territory. MS

[27] MOLDOVAN TRANSDNIESTER PRISONER OPPOSED TO BASIC TREATY WITH

Ilie Ilascu, who has been sentenced to death by the

separatist authorities and is in prison in Tiraspol, has

urged Romanian President Emil Constantinescu to refuse to

promulgate the basic Romanian-Moldovan treaty, Mediafax

reported on 19 May. In a letter to Constantinescu, Ilascu

said the treaty is an "enormous mistake" that will result in

Romania's abandoning "a part of her people." He added that he

is not surprised by the pro-treaty position of the leadership

in Chisinau, whose views he called "pro-Russian and pro-

Communist." Ilascu also accused the Moldovan leadership of

failing to solve the conflict with the Transdniester because

it knows it "can be blackmailed by its KGB files, which are

in Tiraspol." MS

[28] CORRUPTION ENDEMIC TO BULGARIA'S PAST OR PRESENT?

General Nikola Filichev on 19 May said 24 trials related to

the country's economic crash of 1996-1997 will begin by mid-

July, AP reported. Individuals close to the Socialist Party

are suspected of having channeled public money to private

accounts abroad and causing the collapse of 15 banks through

illegal borrowing and defaults on debts. On 20 May, former

Interior Minister Bogomil Bonev said in an interview

published in "24 Chasa" that the ruling Union of Democratic

Forces is guilty of using undeclared funding of doubtful

origin. Bonev said every privatization deal involves at least

one deputy from the union acting as intermediary. And he

added that individuals with links to the ruling coalition

have been involved in smuggling gold and weapons. MS

[29] BULGARIAN PREMIER VOWS TO PUSH REFORMS, CUT UNEMPLOYMENT

under a "well-based suspicion" of being corrupt will be fired

even before evidence is collected on his or her deeds, AP and

Reuters reported. Kostov pledged to continue the reform

process, despite a sharp drop in his cabinet's popularity due

to resentment over the social costs of restructuring. He said

coping with unemployment will be the main concern of his

government but expressed confidence that "the greatest

hardships are past us." He said his government intends to

privatize the BTC telecom monopoly as well as Bulgaria's

largest bank, Bulbank, in line with pledges it made to the

IMF, the World Bank, and other international lenders. MS

[C] END NOTE

[30] A BIG BANG OUTSIDE A CLOSELY GUARDED DOOR

Several East European countries are calling on NATO

to admit all nine applicant states in 2002, an appeal

that reflects their concerns about developments in

Moscow and their fears that the alliance may put off any

further expansion well into the future.

Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Vygaudas

Usackas has labeled this the "big bang" approach, as he

explained at a meeting of applicant states in Vilnius

late last week. According to Usackas, this idea is

designed to reenergize discussions about European

security by highlighting the anxieties of the countries

located between NATO and the Russian Federation.

After admitting Poland, Hungary, and the Czech

Republic in 1999, the alliance pledged that the door to

alliance membership would remain open to all other

countries interested in joining. But as Munich's

"Sueddeutsche Zeitung" pointed out on 17 May , this door

has turned out to be "a very closely guarded" one.

On the one hand, NATO's current members are

experiencing some difficulties in fully integrating the

three newest members and also in defining what role the

alliance should play relative to other defensive

organizations such as the West European Union and the EU

security initiative. Moreover, several NATO countries,

including the U.S., are now involved with elections or

recent changes in government that have in effect stalled

foreign policy initiatives, such as NATO expansion.

On the other hand, many NATO countries appear

reluctant to move the borders of the alliance further

east out of concern over a Russian backlash. Moscow has

made it very clear that it would view any further

expansion of the alliance as a hostile act, and as a

result, the alliance has devoted a great deal of work to

restoring ties with Russia.

Last week, for example, the Russia-NATO Joint

Permanent Council met in Brussels at the ambassadorial

level. That meeting set the stage for Russian

participation at the ministerial level in the NATO

council meeting in Florence on 24 May--the first time

since NATO's Kosova operation that the Russian

government will have been represented at that level.

The nine countries which seek to join the alliance-

-Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia,

Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, and Albania--have drawn

various conclusions from this.

Some have expressed doubt that NATO will ever take

in any new members. Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar,

for example, said recently that "the big question is

less a matter of who will be admitted in the next NATO

expansion than whether there will be another round of

expansion at all."

Others have counted on being among the chosen few,

an approach that has sometimes put these countries at

odds with one another. Slovakia, for example, is

counting on Hungarian backing. Hungary's Prime Minister

Viktor Orban has pointedly said that "without Slovakia,

there won't be a second expansion round."

Usackas's call for a "big bang" approach to

expansion is clearly intended to overcome both these

competing assessments and what many of these countries

see as a certain Western complacency about developments

in Russia. Many of these countries are extremely worried

by the newly assertive Russian foreign policy of

President Vladimir Putin and by the West's obvious

desire to find a common language with the new Russian

leader.

Some of them fear that in the absence of NATO

expansion anytime soon, they will fall into a dangerous

gray area of insecurity where their politics will be

about national survival rather than about domestic

development. And many are concerned that the inclusion

of some, rather, than all will provoke Russia to put new

pressure on those not taken in.

These fears are not new, but the call from Vilnius

suggests they are growing. That may not prompt the

alliance to move more quickly on some or all of the

applicant states. But the introduction of the term "big

bang" may have the effect of leading to a renewed

discussion of just how open the door to NATO membership

really is.

22-05-00

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

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