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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 2, No. 120, 98-06-24Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 2, No. 120, 24 June 1998CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] TURKEY, U.S. CRITICIZE IMPUTED ARMENIAN THREAT...Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Necati Utkan told journalists on 23 June that Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian's imputed threat that Armenia may consider annexing Nagorno-Karabakh "reveals the real intentions and uncompromising attitudes of the Armenian government," according to the "Turkish Daily News." Utcan added that "the fundamental fault in the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is Armenia's." The previous day, U.S. State department spokesman James Rubin had termed Oskanian's alleged statement "disturbing" and "unacceptable." Oskanian had told journalists on 17 June that if Azerbaijan continues for a period of years to reject a settlement of the conflict based on compromise, Armenia would have to consider all alternative options, including the possibility of reunification with the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. LF[02] ...WHILE ARMENIAN OFFICIALS DENY SUCH A THREAT WAS MADEPresident Robert Kocharian told journalists in Yerevan on 23 June that he thinks Oskanian's statement was taken out of context and misinterpreted, Armenpress and Interfax reported. Kocharian said Armenia "does not reject a solution to the Karabakh conflict" and hopes that resumed peace negotiations will yield a solution acceptable to all parties. Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arsen Gasparian similarly told Snark that it is "unfortunate that one segment from Oskanian's statement has been taken out of context and is being characterized in ways that are unfounded." He, too, stressed Armenia's determination to resolve the conflict peacefully. " Also on 23 June, the Karabakh Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Oskanian's insistence that Yerevan is not currently raising the issue of either independence for Karabakh or its unification with Armenia is consistent with Yerevan's rejection of any preconditions for resuming the negotiating process, Noyan Tapan reported. LF[03] U.S.-ARMENIAN BILLIONAIRE TO HELP FUND IRAN- ARMENIA-GEORGIA HIGHWAYPresident Kocharian told journalists on 23 June that U.S.-Armenian billionaire Kirk Kerkorian has donated $85 million toward the construction of a highway linking Iran and Georgia's Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The highway will cut 50 km from the shortest route from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea at present. Kocharian said the project has already been approved by Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, and he expressed hope that the EU will provide the rest of the sum in its TRACECA project. Kerkorian, who has just completed his first- ever visit to Armenia, is also said to have allocated $15 million to complete reconstruction of the area around Gyumri, Armenia's second-largest city, devastated by the 1988 earthquake. LF[04] GEORGIA ACCUSES ABKHAZIA OF ARMED INCURSIONSThe Georgian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement accusing Abkhaz armed detachments of attacking villages in Georgia's Zugdidi and Tsalendjikha Raions, according to an RFE/RL correspondent in Tbilisi on 24 June. Speaking to Georgian journalists, Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba warned that if the White Legion Georgian partisan organization continues its operations in Abkhazia's Gali Raion, Abkhazia may create its own legion to engage in similar activities on Georgian territory. LF[05] GEORGIAN ELECTION CONTROVERSY CONTINUESIn the repeat by-election in the southeastern district of Lagodekhi on 21 June, the candidate of the ruling Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK) defeated his rival from the Socialist Party by 80 votes, according to Caucasus Press. The SMK had demanded repeat elections, claiming that the Socialist Party candidate's victory by an equally slim margin in the first round of voting was due to mass violations. Socialist Party chairman Vakhtang Rcheulishvili has alleged that the second round was also falsified. He noted that local authorities had threatened reprisals against members of the local Azerbaijani minority who voted in the first round for the Socialist candidate. Meanwhile, Socialist Party deputy Tengiz Djushia told Caucasus Press that he will bring criminal charges against several SMK supporters who physically attacked him outside a polling station on 21 June. LF[06] U.S. CRITICIZES AZERBAIJANI ELECTION LAWU.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin on 22 June expressed the hope that the Azerbaijani leadership will amend the Law on the Central Electoral Commission passed in May, Turan reported. Rubin said that in its present version, the law "is not sufficiently representative of the whole political spectrum and will limit the ability of the opposition parties to play a role in the election process." Rubin also called on the Azerbaijani leadership to ensure all presidential candidates have access to the print and electronic media in accordance with OSCE standards. LF[07] KYRGYZ LAWMAKERS RAISE RETIREMENT AGE...The Legislative Assembly of the Kyrgyz parliament adopted an amendment to the law on pensioners raising the retirement age by six months every year over the next six years, RFE/RL correspondents reported on 22 June. The current retirement age for men is 60 and for women 55. The chairwoman of Kyrgyzstan's Social Fund, Roza Uchkempirova, told a news conference in Bishkek on 23 June that there are now 543,000 pensioners in the country. Those continuing to work after they reach the eligible age for retirement will receive 50 percent of their pension. ITAR-TASS reported on 23 June that only 15 percent of the funds necessary to pay pensions are available in the state budget. BP[08] ...WHILE UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES DANGEROUS LEVELSWhile freeing up some $23 million from the state budget, the amendment to the law on pensioners is bound to add to the problem of unemployment in Kyrgyzstan, according to RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service. The chairman of the parliament's Committee on Social Affairs, Jangoroz Kanimetov, said on 22 June that out of a population of 4.65 million, 2.38 million are of working age but only 1.88 million are considered active. This contradicts the registered unemployment figure of 54,000 and an unofficial government estimate of 100,000. On 20 June, the chairman of Kyrgyzstan's Patriotic Party, Nazarbek Nyshanov, claimed there are currently 1.2 million unemployed in the country. BP[09] FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER CLEARED OF FINANCIAL ABUSEAn investigation carried out by the Kazakh National Security Ministry has cleared former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin of using his position for personal financial gain, Interfax and RFE/RL correspondents reported. Committee chairman Alnur Musaev said on 22 June in Astana that the property worth millions of dollars that Kazhegeldin owns was acquired through commercial ventures before he joined the government in 1994. The findings of the investigation were released one week after Kazhegeldin hinted he may transform his Union of Manufacturers and Entrepreneurs into a political party. Such a move may pave the way for Kazhegeldin's nomination as a candidate for the 2000 presidential elections. BP[10] TAJIK LAWMAKERS ENDORSE BAN ON POLYGAMYThe Tajik parliament has upheld the ban on polygamy, the Russian newspaper "Trud" reported on 20 June. The debate among Tajik lawmakers was described as "heated." Nonetheless, they voted to keep in place the existing law and to impose a fine equal to 500 minimum wages or two years in a forced labor camp for those who break law. "Trud" claims that half of the men in Tajikistan over 40 have two wives. BP[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] HOLBROOKE GIVES MILOSEVIC 'LAST CHANCE'Richard Holbrooke, who is the U.S. ambassador-designate to the UN, arrived in Prishtina on 24 June to meet with Kosovar leaders and to visit the embattled community of Decan. The previous day, he told Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade that he must implement all the demands of the international Contact Group and that time is running out. Holbrooke gave reporters no details of his long meeting with Milosevic but said that his message to everyone on his current Balkan tour is that "we're at a critical moment in the crisis surrounding Kosova and we are here to prevent the fighting escalating into a general war." PM[12] MOSCOW WANTS MILOSEVIC TO KEEP PROMISESMilosevic also met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Nikolai Afanasievskii, who told the Yugoslav leader that the situation in Kosova is "extremely difficult" and that both sides must end the violence. Afanasievskii added that Milosevic must implement the promises he made to Russian President Boris Yeltsin one week earlier (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 June 1998). PM[13] MACEDONIA, GREECE AGAINST INTERVENTIONPrior to arriving in Belgrade, Holbrooke met on 23 June with Kosovar shadow- state President Ibrahim Rugova and Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov in Skopje. Gligorov told Holbrooke that there is still time for a diplomatic solution to the Kosovar crisis. The Macedonian president later told reporters that Holbrooke does not consider Macedonia to be "part of the Kosovar problem," "Nasa Borba" reported. In Athens, Macedonian Foreign Minister Blagoje Handziski and his Greek counterpart, Theodoros Pangalos, said they oppose NATO intervention in Kosova and favor a diplomatic solution. Pangalos warned Western countries against meddling in Balkan affairs and said that "enough blood has flowed in the Balkans because of [Westerners'} amateurism." He added that Milosevic has already met four out of five demands by the Contact Group and cannot withdraw his forces as long as "separatists" do not stop the violence. PM[14] NANO WARNS OF 'BALKANIZATION OF EUROPE'Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano told the "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" of 23 June that NATO intervention is necessary to support diplomatic efforts and prevent Milosevic from killing his own civilian population. Nano warned Western Europeans against thinking that they can ignore the Kosovar crisis because "the Balkans are far away. All Europe runs the risk of becoming Balkanized" if Kosova spins out of control. The prime minister stressed that peace and stability in the Balkans are not possible as long as Milosevic, whom he called "old-fashioned, dogmatic, and Stalinist," remains in power. Nano added that Serbia is sorely in need of "an explosion of democracy" like the one that most of Eastern Europe experienced at the end of the 1980s. PM[15] SLOVENIAN SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES KOSOVAPrime Minister Janez Drnovsek's National Security Council discussed "the crisis situation in Kosova and its possible consequences for Slovenia's security," "Nasa Borba" reported on 24 June. President Milan Kucan said at a press conference to mark the seventh anniversary of Slovenia's independence that Kosova needs internationally guaranteed autonomy. He added that Kosova is not an internal affair of Serbia's because it could affect the stability of the Balkans and all of Europe. Kucan stressed that the conflict between "democracy and totalitarianism," and not "the nationalisms of individual peoples," was responsible for the dissolution of Yugoslavia. He added that this process is continuing and that the Montenegrin people alone can decide Montenegro's future "on the same basis that the Slovenes" determined their own course. PM[16] SOLANA TELLS RUGOVA TO NEGOTIATE...Rugova told NATO Secretary General Javier Solana in Brussels on 24 June that NATO should provide "some kind of protection in Kosova so that massive massacres and massive ethnic cleansing are prevented.... Kosova has the right to become independent as it's part of a country that has dissolved." Solana, however, told his visitor "emphatically [and] categorically" that Rugova must "return to the negotiating table [with Milosevic] immediately and without preconditions." The Kosovars refuse to sit down with Serbian officials as long as the repression continues. Meanwhile, Reuters reported from NATO headquarters that alliance officials are becoming less disposed toward launching air strikes against Serbia and stress instead "the need for more information about the situation on the ground." The officials say that Serbia faces a determined armed insurgency and that NATO does not want to play into the hands of the Kosova Liberation Army in its fight for independence. PM[17] ...MEETS WITH BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTERNadezhda Mihailova and NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana met in Vienna on 22 June at a NATO workshop and discussed the conflict in Kosova, BTA reported. Mihailova stressed the importance Bulgaria attaches to finding a political solution to the conflict. But Solana and General Wesley Clark, the supreme allied commander in Europe, who also attended the meeting, made it clear that the alliance is considering all options for dealing with the Kosova crisis. U.S. Ambassador to Sofia Avis Boheln, visiting a hospital in Tran that is being reconstructed with U.S. aid, denied rumors that the reconstruction is related to the Kosova conflict, an RFE/RL correspondent in Sofia reported. A joint U.S.-Bulgarian military exercise is scheduled to take place near Tran from 30 July to 7 August. MS[18] IZETBEGOVIC WANTS DAYTON AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTED OR CHANGEDBosnian President Alija Izetbegovic told "Vecernje novine" of 23 June that the Dayton agreement will have to be changed if Serbian and Croatian officials block the implementation of Dayton after the September general elections. He stressed that no single ethnic group's representatives should be allowed to hamstring "the functioning of the state." In Pale, the governing body of Radovan Karadzic's Serbian Democratic Party selected Momcilo Krajisnik to run for re-election as the Serbian member of the joint presidency. The party placed Dragan Cavic at the head of its list of candidates for the Republika Srpska legislature and Slobodan Bijelic at the top of the slate for the joint Bosnian parliament. And in Banja Luka, officials of the Republika Srpska and Croatia signed an agreement on the return of refugees. PM[19] FINAL ALBANIAN ELECTION RESULTS ANNOUNCEDA spokesman for the Central Election Commission said in Tirana on 23 June that the governing Alliance for the State (ASH) won the local by-elections in the municipalities of Vlora, Patos, Roskovec, and Ura Vajgurore, while the opposition Union for Democracy (BPD) won in Kavaja (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 June 1998). ASH also won in six smaller communities, while the BPD won in three, "Gazeta Shqiptare" reported. FS[20] OSCE DECLARES BALLOT FAIROSCE Ambassador Daan Everts said on 23 June in Tirana that the elections were a "significant improvement over the 1997 extraordinary parliamentary elections in terms of voting climate and election administration." But he added that the 52 percent turnout was disappointing. Owen Masters, who is the elections rapporteur for the Council of Europe, said that "by and large, these elections have been conducted in a fair and democratic manner." At the same time, a joint OSCE and Council of Europe statement stressed that "there is a need for the state to make structural improvements in the system of voter registration." FS[21] ROMANIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE ON SECURITATE FILESMircea Ghiordunescu, deputy director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, says most of the files of Securitate informers who were Communist Party (PCR) members were destroyed during the communist era, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported.on 23 June. Ghiordunescu said a PCR plenum decided in 1967 that PCR members who were secret police informers would not have files. He added that between 1971 and 1979, some 270,000 files of PCR informers were destroyed and that between 22 December 1989 and 26 March 1990 more than 27, 000 files "disappeared" from the Securitate records, which are now kept by the Romanian Intelligence Service. Meanwhile, the Senate on 23 June failed to debate the last article of a law on access to Securitate records, MS[22] MOLDOVAN REFORMS MINISTER ON 'ECONOMIC BANKRUPTCY'Deputy Prime Minister and Economic Reforms Minister Ion Sturdza says the country's economy is "on the brink of bankruptcy," RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported on 23 June. Sturdza told a forum of Moldovan businessmen that in the past, ministries did not really take into account budgetary constraints and that as a result, Moldova now has a huge foreign debt of $1.3 billion, as well arrears in the payment of wages and pensions. He said the country's foreign debt amounts to 60 percent of GDP and that an "anti- crisis program" is about to be launched. Sturdza said the government will cease subsidizing loss- making sectors, such as energy, and many agricultural enterprises that are no longer able to pay their debts to the state budget. MS[23] UZBEK PRESIDENT IN BULGARIAIslam Karimov met with President Petar Stoyanov and Prime Minister Ivan Kostov in Sofia on 23 June to discuss economic cooperation, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. Karimov said that a project for a highway linking Europe to Asia is "not a fantasy, but reality." The two sides are due to sign several accords on economic cooperation and tourism during Karimov's visit. Also on 23 June, President Petar Stoyanov received visiting Turkish parliamentary chairman Hikmet Cetin, with whom he discussed joint economic projects, bilateral relations, and the Kosova conflict. MS[C] END NOTE[24] ENVOYS REFUSE TO DANCE TO LUKASHENKA'S MUSICby Jan MaksymiukThe Drazdy residential compound north of Minsk was built in a pine forest in the late 1940s for the Minsk nomenklatura. In the early 1990s, its wooden houses became the residences of two dozen ambassadors to the newly established Republic of Belarus. After the 1994 presidential elections, Drazdy also became the residence of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. This month, the compound made the headlines as the setting for the most bizarre diplomatic conflict in modern history, which journalists have dubbed the "sewer war." In late April, foreign diplomats living at Drazdy were notified that they would have to move out owing to urgent repairs to the compound's utility systems. Nobody took this warning very seriously, particularly since most ambassadors had extended their leases until the end of 2001. But the ambassadors subsequently received an order to move out by 10 June. To add weight to the written word, the authorities dispatched a team of workers to weld shut the gate to U.S. Ambassador Daniel Speckhard's residence. They left the compound only after the diplomat, alerted by his wife, arrived with a group of reporters. On 10 June, Lukashenka stepped in and extended the eviction deadline by one week, saying the move was in response to Speckhard's request that the diplomats be given time to pack their belongings. The latter strongly denied having made such a request. In fact, together with other Western ambassadors, he demanded that Belarus observe the Vienna convention on the treatment of diplomatic representatives. Lukashenka later hinted that he did not feel comfortable living in close proximity to Western diplomats. That hint was unexpectedly confirmed on 17 June, when the Drazdy site was declared the "residence of the president of the Republic of Belarus" and a sign to that effect appeared over the main entrance. The ambassadors were to be allowed to stay in the compound but were to have the status of "guests of the Belarusian president," as a deputy foreign minister put it. As such, they would have to apply for special passes to the compound for both themselves and their guests. The same deputy foreign minister also warned that would have to suffer "a lot of inconveniences" in connection with the repairs. Water, electricity, and telephone services were promptly cut off from diplomatic residences, and a ditch was dug in front of the compound's gates to prevent the diplomats from entering the area by car. Until that time, the ambassadors had behaved as Lukashenka wanted them to behave: they had protested but had essentially accepted his rules of the game and tried to adapt. They had declared themselves ready to suffer hardships during the repairs. But they had not suspected that the Belarusian authorities would force them to "float in sewage," as Foreign Minister Ivan Antanovich had graphically described their prospective lot one week earlier. The diplomats appear to have finally lost their patience when it became evident that there was no office where they could apply for entry permits to the compound. On 22 June, six nations--Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the U.S.--recalled their ambassadors for consultations. For people in the West, Lukashenka's apparent motive for the eviction order is the most baffling aspect of the diplomatic row. Has he really risked an international scandal simply to enlarge his own residence? Belarusian independent journalists would answer in the affirmative, having repeatedly stressed that Lukashenka, a former collective farm director, manages Belarus's affairs like those of a kolkhoz--in a callous, authoritarian, and uncivilized manner. It seems he cares no more about foreign ambassadors than he does about Belarusian kolkhoz workers. But his attempt to humiliate Western envoys may also be guided by personal revenge. Owing to his dictatorial ways and numerous violations of human rights, Belarus has become almost completely isolated in the West. Few Western statesmen will risk shaking hands with Lukashenka today. This is undoubtedly a festering wound to the pride of the self-styled leader of the East Slavic world, who some observers claim is still aspiring to the Kremlin throne. And that wound prompts him to hit back wherever and whenever he can. Apart from expressing indignation and outrage, the West has virtually no means to punish Lukashenka. The Belarusian economy is virtually independent of the West; therefore, economic sanctions would have no impact. On the other hand, the Drazdy debacle has shown Lukashenka that he is fully at the mercy of Russia, Belarus's only ally. Moscow supports Lukashenka's blatantly undemocratic regime while claiming to build democracy at home. But it cannot be ruled out that the Kremlin will undertake a mediation mission to try to curb Lukashenka's diplomatic vagaries. 24-06-98 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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