RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 109, 00-06-06

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 109, 6 June 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN WAR VETERANS CLAIM OFFICIAL HARASSMENT

[02] ANOTHER ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTING SUSPECT RELEASED

[03] FORMER AZERBAIJANI POLICE OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF PLANNING COUP

[04] ABDUCTED UN OFFICIALS RELEASED IN GEORGIA

[05] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES COME TO BLOWS

[06] GEORGIAN PARAMILITARIES DEMAND IMPRISONED COLLEAGUES'

[07] KAZAKH INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL ARRESTED IN ARMS MURDER

[08] KYRGYZ ROUNDTABLE POSTPONED

[09] DROUGHT DAMAGE IN TAJIKISTAN ESTIMATED AT ALMOST $3 MILLION

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] KOUCHNER TO LAUNCH 'EMERGENCY' PRESS LAW FOR KOSOVA

[11] ANTI-SERB VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN KOSOVA

[12] INCIDENT ON KOSOVA-MACEDONIAN BORDER

[13] PROBLEMS BETWEEN MONTENEGRO, EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK?

[14] MONTENEGRIN OFFICIAL BARRED FROM BELGRADE FLIGHT

[15] DRASKOVIC DRAWING CLOSER TO MILOSEVIC?

[16] YUGOSLAV GENERALS PROPOSE MILOSEVIC FOR TOP MEDAL

[17] NEW ELECTION PLOY IN SERBIA?

[18] BOSNIAN SERB COALITION TO REMAIN

[19] KLEIN DETERMINED TO CATCH BOSNIAN MURDERERS

[20] BELGRADE, UNHCR WANT CROATIAN SERBS TO GO HOME

[21] PRELIMINARY RETURNS CONFIRM DEFEAT OF COALITION IN ROMANIAN

[22] ROMANIAN BANK SECTOR FACING MORE DIFFICULTIES

[23] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT BACKS DOWN ON GAGAUZ-YERI

[C] END NOTE

[24] PROMOTING STATESMEN OVER STRONGMEN

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN WAR VETERANS CLAIM OFFICIAL HARASSMENT

leaders of the Yerkrapah Union of veterans of the Karabakh

war, said on 5 June that a comprehensive financial

examination of businesses believed to be controlled by

himself and his family constituted political harassment in

retaliation for his repeated criticisms of President Robert

Kocharian, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He denied owning

any financial interests in Armenia. Gevorgian is one of 12

Yerkrapah members who last month split from their respective

parliamentary factions to form the Hayastan faction (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 16 May 2000). LF

[02] ANOTHER ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTING SUSPECT RELEASED

on 5 June after spending seven months in detention on

suspicion of complicity in the 27 October Armenian parliament

shootings, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. A Yerevan court

ruled last week that there were no grounds to detain him any

longer. Movsisian refused to make any public comment on his

arrest or release. Thirteen people still remain in detention.

LF

[03] FORMER AZERBAIJANI POLICE OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF PLANNING COUP

to Azerbaijan in January, has been charged with planning to

stage a coup in Azerbaijan in March-April 2000, Turan

reported. He had fled to Turkey in January 1997 after being

dismissed from his post following the fall from grace of his

protector, former parliament speaker Rasul Guliev. Efendiev's

son Yuksel accused the Azerbaijani authorities in April of

systematic persecution of his family (see "RFE/RL Caucasus

Report," Vol. 3, No. 4, 28 January 2000 and "RFE/RL

Newsline," 12 April 2000). LF

[04] ABDUCTED UN OFFICIALS RELEASED IN GEORGIA

an employee of the British Halo de-mining trust, and their

Abkhaz interpreter, who had been abducted by unknown men in

Abkhazia's Kodori gorge on 1 June, were handed over to the

Georgian authorities on 5 June without payment of the

$300,000 ransom demanded by their kidnappers. They

subsequently told journalists that their captors, who escaped

arrest, treated them well. Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei

Shamba told Interfax the same day that he did not know on

what terms the hostages were freed. LF

[05] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES COME TO BLOWS

Davitashvili, one of the leaders of the Georgian

parliamentary majority faction, traded blows on 5 June with a

supporter of nationalist deputy Guram Sharadze over the

latter's campaign to reintroduce the practice of designating

the holder's nationality in passports and on documentation

such as birth, marriage, and death certificates, Interfax and

Caucasus Press reported. Last year, Sharadze had protested

President Eduard Shevardnadze's decree abolishing any mention

of the holder's nationality in such documentation. LF

[06] GEORGIAN PARAMILITARIES DEMAND IMPRISONED COLLEAGUES'

Leaders of the paramilitary group Mkhedrioni last

week demanded the release of some 400 of that organization's

members who were not freed under President Shevardnadze's

recent amnesty, Caucasus Press reported. They also protested

as "an insult" claims by Mikhail Saakashvili, leader of the

majority Union of Citizens of Georgia parliament faction,

that amnestied Mkhedrioni members were responsible for

several recent crimes, including the 1 June murder of

Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze's brother Guram. LF

[07] KAZAKH INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL ARRESTED IN ARMS MURDER

unnamed colonel in Kazakhstan's intelligence service has been

detained in Astana on suspicion of committing several

murders, including that on 15 April of Talgat Ibraev, who

headed Kazakhstan's state-owned arms exporting company,

Interfax reported. Ibraev's driver and his deputy's driver

were detained last month in connection with the killing (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 18 April and 21 May 2000). LF

[08] KYRGYZ ROUNDTABLE POSTPONED

originally scheduled to take place on 3-4 June between

representatives of the Kyrgyz leadership, opposition parties,

and NGOs is now likely to take place on 8 June, RFE/RL's

Bishkek bureau reported on 5 June. President Askar Akaev will

participate only in the opening session before departing on 8

June for the Economic Cooperation Organization summit in

Tehran. At a press conference in Bishkek on 5 June,

opposition and NGO representatives deplored the Kyrgyz

leadership's decision to expand participation from nine

representatives of each group to 25. They said this will turn

the meeting into "a bazaar." They also called for the meeting

to be held under the OSCE's aegis. Presidential press

secretary Osmonakun Ibraimov said in Bishkek the same day

that the right of all Kyrgyz NGOs to participate in the

roundtable must be respected. LF

[09] DROUGHT DAMAGE IN TAJIKISTAN ESTIMATED AT ALMOST $3 MILLION

Agriculture Ikhtier Ashurov as saying that drought has

destroyed all grain and cotton crops in the south of Khatlon

Oblast and the north of Leninabad Oblast. He estimated the

total damage at $2.9 million. President Imomali Rakhmonov

last week appealed to the UN, the U.S., and the EU for

financial aid to counter that damage. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[10] KOUCHNER TO LAUNCH 'EMERGENCY' PRESS LAW FOR KOSOVA

Younes, who is the spokeswoman for Bernard Kouchner, the head

of the UN's civilian administration in Kosova, said in

Prishtina on 5 June that he is preparing "emergency" press

legislation that will be "quite limited and very temporary in

nature," AP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June 2000).

The law will prevent publication of articles that could

endanger the safety and lives of specific individuals. The

move comes in the wake of Kouchner's decision to ban an

Albanian-language daily for encouraging "vigilante violence."

Local Albanian journalists, however, disagreed with the ban,

arguing that Kouchner should concentrate his energies on

setting up a functioning legal system that will try war

criminals and thereby make vigilante justice unnecessary.

Veton Surroi, who is arguably Kosova's most-respected

journalist, said that Kouchner's attempt to control the press

is likely to encourage ethnically-motivated violence rather

than curb it, Reuters reported. PM

[11] ANTI-SERB VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN KOSOVA

Prishtina on 5 June that the recent slayings of Serbian

civilians in the province were "concentrated and organized

within two regions" of Kosova, AP reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 5 June 2000). His remarks come in the wake of

charges by local Serbs that organized Albanian groups are

seeking to kill or drive Serbs out of the province as a

prelude to declaring its independence. In Washington, State

Department Spokesman Philip Reeker condemned "senseless and

destructive" acts of violence by Albanians against Serbs. He

added that various U.S. officials have "repeatedly urged

ethnic Albanians...to refrain from violence and vengeance."

On 6 June, unknown persons threw two grenades into a Serbian

cultural center in Gracanica. AP reported that one woman and

a child were injured, but details were sketchy as of 12:00

p.m. local time, Reuters added. PM

[12] INCIDENT ON KOSOVA-MACEDONIAN BORDER

angry Serbs blocked a section of the main road linking

Prishtina with Macedonia to protest the recent killings,

Radio Svobodna Evropa reported. On the border, unknown

individuals wounded two Macedonian border guards after

illegally entering Macedonian territory. In early April,

armed ethnic Albanians captured and held four Macedonian

border guards in a well-publicized incident (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 26 April 2000). PM

[13] PROBLEMS BETWEEN MONTENEGRO, EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK?

June that "EU support [for his reforms] should be even more

generous and enhanced" than what he has received so far. The

president added that he "must express concern as to why this

wide spectrum of different forms of assistance is finding it

slow to become operational," AP reported. Philippe Maystadt,

who heads the European Investment Bank, told the news agency

in Luxembourg that granting a proposed $14 million loan to

Podgorica is "a huge political risk." The banker stressed

that he will require "guarantees from the [EU's] budget"

before making the loan. PM

[14] MONTENEGRIN OFFICIAL BARRED FROM BELGRADE FLIGHT

Rastoder, who is a deputy speaker of the Montenegrin

parliament, was recently barred by officials at Belgrade

airport from flying with a Montenegrin delegation to Vienna

to open an art exhibition there, "Danas" reported on 6 June.

Rastoder, who is a critic of the regime of Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic, said that airport officials have no right

to turn back a passenger who has a valid ticket and visa (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). PM

[15] DRASKOVIC DRAWING CLOSER TO MILOSEVIC?

an opposition leader in Nis, said that the Serbian Renewal

Movement's leader Vuk Draskovic is increasingly following

policies that serve the interests of the regime, "Danas"

reported on 6 June. Rajcic noted that Draskovic has often

been the stumbling block to opposition unity. Draskovic

previously served in a Yugoslav coalition government with

Milosevic's backers. Draskovic and his party represent a

nationalistic, anti-Western line that is virtually

indistinguishable from that of the regime. Persistent but

unconfirmed reports suggest that Milosevic has blackmailed

Draskovic with evidence of the latter's corrupt activities

while holding a post in the Yugoslav government or in control

of the city administration of Belgrade. PM

[16] YUGOSLAV GENERALS PROPOSE MILOSEVIC FOR TOP MEDAL

the General Staff said in a statement that Milosevic should

receive the Order of the National Hero, the state-run daily

"Politika" reported on 6 June. The generals praised his

unspecified "heroic exploits that serve as an example of

heroism in the defense of the sovereignty, territory,

independence, and constitutional order of the Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia." The top officers also praised his

"bravery and effectiveness as supreme commander, along with

his personal bravery" against NATO forces in 1999. Milosevic

displayed "military leadership that has rarely been found in

modern world history," the generals added. They referred to

him several times as their "supreme commander," a term that

the pro-Milosevic media have frequently used in efforts to

portray his defeat in Kosova as a victory. The private weekly

"Vreme" recently pointed out that the title "supreme

commander" is not mentioned in the Yugoslav Constitution. PM

[17] NEW ELECTION PLOY IN SERBIA?

lines at banks on 5 June, which was the first day of a

government program to pay out some of the money that has been

blocked in hard-currency accounts for 10 years or so.

Depositors may withdraw the dinar equivalent of $70 as of 5

June or wait until 1 July to obtain that amount in hard

currency. Several people waiting in lines told Reuters that

the move is a ploy designed to influence voters in the runup

to elections widely expected in the fall. Several depositors

added that they do not trust the government to make hard

currency available in July and prefer to take dinars now. PM

[18] BOSNIAN SERB COALITION TO REMAIN

new head of the Serbian People's Party (SNS), said in Banja

Luka that his first task is to rid the party of the influence

of its former leader, Biljana Plavsic (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

5 June 2000), "Dnevni avaz" reported on 6 June. He added that

its new name will be the Serbian People's Party of the

Republika Srpska (SNSRS). Kostic stressed that he has not

thought "even for a minute" of leaving the Sloga (Concord)

coalition, headed by Prime Minister Milorad Dodik. Some

observers viewed Kostic's election as a Belgrade-inspired

ploy to bring down Dodik and replace him with a pro-Milosevic

government. PM

[19] KLEIN DETERMINED TO CATCH BOSNIAN MURDERERS

who heads the UN's mission in Bosnia, said in Mostar on 5

June that he "will not leave" the republic until the

murderers of Jozo Leutar are found, RFE/RL's South Slavic

Service reported. Leutar was deputy interior minister of the

mainly Muslim and Croatian Bosnian federation and a well-

known fighter against organized crime. He was killed in a car

bomb attack in Sarajevo in March 1999 (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

29 March 1999). PM

[20] BELGRADE, UNHCR WANT CROATIAN SERBS TO GO HOME

Morina, who is the Yugoslav government's chief official for

refugee affairs, joined representatives of the UNHCR in the

Serbian capital on 5 June to urge Serbs from Croatia to

register to return to their homes. She noted that only 10,700

people out of a potential 350,000 refugees have gone back,

"Danas" reported. The Croatian government that was elected at

the beginning of 2000 has repeatedly said that the Serbs are

welcome to return home and made funds available for them to

repair their houses. A major remaining question is the right

of Serbs to reoccupy to their former flats, many of which are

now inhabited by Croatian refugees or veterans of the 1990-

1995 war. Under Croatian law, citizens forfeit the right to a

flat if they have not lived in it or paid rent for six

months. PM

[21] PRELIMINARY RETURNS CONFIRM DEFEAT OF COALITION IN ROMANIAN

Preliminary returns from the first round of

the local elections confirm that the opposition Party of

Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) has scored a major victory

over the ruling coalition. In Bucharest, PDSR candidate Sorin

Oprescu is ahead with 41 percent, and for the first time in

eight years the PDSR will dominate the municipal council,

with more than 43 percent of the vote. Democratic Party

mayoral candidate Traian Basescu has moved ahead of the

Democratic Convention of Romania's candidate, Calin Catalin

Chirita, but they are still neck and neck ahead of the runoff

against Oprescu. Both Cluj Mayor Gheorghe Funar and Iasi

Mayor Constantin Simirad will have to face run-offs, but both

have a comfortable lead over the second-placed candidates. MS

[22] ROMANIAN BANK SECTOR FACING MORE DIFFICULTIES

Popular Bank announced on 5 June that it has frozen deposit

withdrawals "for six months at the most." It said it is

facing "temporary" liquidity difficulties owing to the panic

triggered by the collapse of the National Investment Fund

(FNI). The same day, the supervisory body in charge of

private investment regulations withdrew the license of

Sovinvest, which had administered the FNI. For its part, the

cabinet replaced the chairman of CEC, the country's largest

state saving bank, and five of the seven members of its

administrative council. It said the move follows a recent IMF

recommendation to "de-politicize" CEC, replacing the

administrative council with one composed of experts. On 6

June, the IMF executive board will consider extending

Romania's stand-by loan, after having received clarification

on how the government intends to deal with the ongoing

banking crisis. MS

[23] MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT BACKS DOWN ON GAGAUZ-YERI

on 2 June voted to exempt from value-added tax and import

duties the 6,000 ton fuel transport dispatched from Turkey to

the Gagauz-Yeri autonomous region, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau

reported. The region's Popular Assembly had earlier

threatened to seek "third-party status" in the negotiations

with the Transdniester and not allow the region's inhabitants

to take part in this year's presidential elections in

response to the earlier decision to impose a levy on the

imports (see "RFE RL Newsline," 1 and 2 June 2000).

Meanwhile, at a meeting in Tiraspol, experts representing the

two sides in the Transdniester conflict again failed to reach

agreement on the future status of the region. MS

[C] END NOTE

[24] PROMOTING STATESMEN OVER STRONGMEN

Meeting on Cyprus on 22-23 May, the Council of Europe's

Parliamentary Assembly reviewed Armenia's and Azerbaijan's

outstanding applications for full membership in the council,

where they have both had "special guest" status since early

1996. Later this month, the Parliamentary Assembly is to

formally review those applications.

These pending applications for membership in the Council

of Europe present the Council of Europe with an opportunity

to help strengthen the fragile course of democratic reform in

the South Caucasus. Indeed, the influence of the Council of

Europe, on the other hand, could bolster the promising trend

of governments of statesmen rather than governments of

strongmen.

However, with the recent discovery of yet another

offshore oil field in the Caspian Sea, perhaps the largest

find in 20 years, the Council of Europe's focus on the region

coincides with a looming confrontation between the various

players in the "petroleum game," which could further

destabilize the region. It is to be hoped that the

constructive nature of the council's engagement and its

influence in the region will be used as an effective means to

shape policy and encourage reform in the region.

The recent Cyprus meeting established a new diverging

policy toward the Armenian and Azerbaijani aspirants. The

Council of Europe offered a revised stance on Azerbaijan,

laying down new preconditions linked to the conduct and

outcome of the November Azerbaijani parliamentary elections

and pending a further inquiry into the issue of political

prisoners. With regard to Armenia, the council gave a more

positive assessment of Armenia's human rights practices and

its progress toward democracy.

For Azerbaijan, the timing of the Council of Europe's

review could not have been worse. A series of political

confrontations between President Heidar Aliev and the

increasingly vocal opposition escalated into violent clashes

on the streets of Baku during an unsanctioned opposition

demonstration in late April. The country's opposition parties

and groups have been steadily building a united front.

Moreover, the opposition is seeking to mobilize segments

of Azerbaijani society that have been marginalized by Aliev's

government, such as the growing numbers of unemployed from

industrial centers and the mass of disenfranchised citizens.

By securing a wider political base, the opposition is

advancing a new agenda stressing the inadequacy of reform,

the blatantly uneven distribution of wealth, frustration with

state corruption, and the failure to return Nagorno-Karabakh

to Baku's control. . It is also articulating the population's

disappointment over the government's failure to deliver the

"petroleum profits" that have been long promised. And it has

been successfully highlighting the government's policies of

intimidation and repression of the opposition and independent

media, while engaging in a direct confrontation with the

government over amending electoral legislation ahead of the

November ballot.

Amid these developments, the Council of Europe may offer

a much-needed impetus for a more open and transparent system

of political dialogue in the generally authoritarian

Azerbaijan. The elections are key to Azerbaijan's accession

to the Council of Europe and an important step in overcoming

the country's overall "democracy deficit." Also, the council

may act as a spur for deepening reform and broadening the

rule of law. And as talks on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh

conflict proceed between the Armenian and Azerbaijani

leaders, prospective membership in the council may ensure

that the next generation of leaders adhere to a negotiated

resolution.

For Armenia, which has its own form of political change

and confrontation, albeit a more open and democratic one, the

Council of Europe offers an important check on the dangerous

trend of an increasingly politicized military. In contrast to

Azerbaijan, the pattern of political confrontation between

the president and the opposition has remained within the

confines of accepted democratic procedure, with political

warfare confined to the parliament rather than spilling over

into the streets. Prospective membership in the Council of

Europe offers the opportunity to encourage a consolidation of

these democratic trends.

The most pressing challenge facing the Council of Europe

in the region is the state of civil society. In both Armenia

and Azerbaijan, civil society is very much "cynical society."

The citizens of both countries are disillusioned with their

governments, not least because of corruption, economic

mismanagement, and soaring social disparities. This negative

state of civil society prevents the long term building of

true democratic institutions and hinders the effective

maintenance of the rule of law.

The civil foundation of these two societies needs to be

strengthened by a concerted effort to combat corruption,

correct socio-economic disparities, and encourage open,

pluralistic, and democratic elections. Only in this way can

the Council of Europe, or any other international

organization, hope to remold the region's "cynic society"

into a truly civil one.

The author edits the monthly "Transcaucasus: A Chronology."

06-06-00

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

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