RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 65, 00-03-31

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 65, 31 March 2000 Caucasus Report," Vol. 1, No. 36, 3 November

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] PROSECUTORS CALL FOR DETENTION OF ARMENIAN EX-MINISTER

[02] DETAILS OF ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION DISCLOSED

[03] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA, TURKEY CONCLUDE SECOND ROUND OF GAS

[04] LUKOIL QUIBBLING OVER BAKU COMPENSATION

[05] GERMAN CHANCELLOR ARRIVES IN GEORGIA

[06] PUTIN CALLS FOR PROLONGING PEACEKEEPERS' ABKHAZ MANDATE

[07] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN SEEKS TO MEDIATE WITH

[08] ...AS U.S. REGISTERS CONCERN

[09] TAJIK PRESIDENT MEETS WITH NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

[10] TURKMENISTAN WAIVES DEMAND FOR PRELIMINARY BONUS FOR GAS

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] U.S. TROOPS, TANKS TO DETER BALKAN 'MISCHIEF'

[12] ROBERTSON WARNS OF FAILURE IN KOSOVA

[13] SERBIAN OFFICIALS FLOUTING EU VISA BAN?

[14] BELGRADE REGIME BEGINS LEGAL PROSECUTION OF OPPOSITION

[15] SERBIAN OPPOSITION: NO BALKAN STABILITY WITHOUT SERBIA

[16] DONORS TELL BALKAN COUNTRIES TO PROMOTE REFORM

[17] MESIC HAILS 'IDYLLIC' RELATIONS WITH CROATIAN GOVERNMENT

[18] ISTRIAN MINISTER APOLOGIZES TO GOVERNMENT

[19] KLEIN WARNS AGAINST BOSNIAN ELECTION OPTIMISM

[20] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION INVITES 'MISINFORMED' U.S. CONGRESSMEN

[21] ROMANIA'S LIBERALS DENY PARTY CONFLICT

[22] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES LOCAL ELECTION CALENDAR

[23] ROMANIA APPROVES CHILD PROTECTION PROGRAMS

[24] MOLDOVAN PREMIER SAYS IMF DEADLINE COULD BE EXTENDED

[25] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT GIVES INITIAL APPROVAL TO LAW ON

[C] END NOTE

[26] COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO DEBATE UKRAINE'S SUSPENSION

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] PROSECUTORS CALL FOR DETENTION OF ARMENIAN EX-MINISTER

Yerevan court on 30 March to authorize him to request that

the parliament lift the deputy's immunity of former Interior

Minister Vano Siradeghian, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported.

Deputies voted in February 1999 to lift Siradeghian's

immunity to allow his prosecution on charges of ordering

several contract killings during his tenure from 1992-1996 as

interior minister on condition that he was not taken into

custody. His trial on those charges got under way in

September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 February and 10

September 1999). Hovsepian said that it is not fair that

other defendants in the same case have been held in custody

for 11 months. He added that relatives of the men Siradeghian

allegedly ordered killed have complained they are being

subjected to intimidation by his associates. LF

[02] DETAILS OF ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION DISCLOSED

visit, Armenian President Robert Kocharian noted that mining,

transport and energy are priority sectors in Armenian-

Georgian economic cooperation, Caucasus Press reported the

following day. Kocharian added that good prospects also exist

for expanding cooperation in the chemical industry. "Hayots

ashkharh" on 30 March quoted Kocharian as saying that he and

his Georgian counterpart, Eduard Shevardnadze, agreed on

construction of a power line to supply energy from Armenia to

Georgia's southern Djavakheti region, which has a majority

Armenian population. Also on 29 March, the two countries'

energy ministers, David Zadoyan and Davit Mirtskhulava,

signed an agreement on the rescheduling of Georgia's $4.4

million debt for earlier energy supplies, according to Snark,

as cited by Groong. LF

[03] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA, TURKEY CONCLUDE SECOND ROUND OF GAS

Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Turkish government working

groups held talks in Tbilisi on 28-30 March with officials

from the international consortium developing Azerbaijan's

Shah Deniz Caspian oil and gas field. On the agenda of those

talks were the legal and technical aspects of exporting that

gas through a pipeline from Baku via Tbilisi to Erzerum,

Caucasus Press reported. Completion of construction of that

pipeline is scheduled for the end of 2002. The pipeline will

have an initial throughput capacity of 5 billion cubic meters

per year. LF

[04] LUKOIL QUIBBLING OVER BAKU COMPENSATION

office is engaged in a dispute with an Azerbaijani insurance

company over damage to one of its gasoline filling stations

sustained during the Baku landslide earlier this month, Turan

reported, citing "Uch nogte" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 March

2000). LUKoil is demanding $1.7 million in compensation in

line with its insurance policy, but the Ateshgakh insurance

company is willing to pay only $1.4 million. LF

[05] GERMAN CHANCELLOR ARRIVES IN GEORGIA

arrived in Tbilisi on 30 March on a two-day state visit, the

first ever to Georgia by the head of a G-7 state, Reuters

reported. Speaking at a joint press conference after

receiving the Order of the Golden Fleece from Georgian

President Shevardnadze, Schroeder said that Berlin has raised

the amount of aid it will grant Georgia this year by 20

percent, to 60 million marks ($30 million). Addressing the

Georgian parliament the same day, Schroeder expressed concern

at Russia's continuing military action in Chechnya, saying

that the EU should play a role in containing conflicts in the

South Caucasus, dpa reported. LF

[06] PUTIN CALLS FOR PROLONGING PEACEKEEPERS' ABKHAZ MANDATE

a written request to the Federation Council to extend until

30 June the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping force

currently deployed under the CIS aegis along the border

between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia, Caucasus Press

reported. Putin said the peacekeepers' continued presence in

the conflict zone meets the interests of the Russian

Federation. In Tbilisi, UN Special Representative Dieter

Boden said on 30 March he sees no alternative at present to

the Russian peacekeepers' continued presence. Astamur Tania,

aide to Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba, welcomed Putin's

initiative, characterizing the CIS peacekeepers as the only

guarantors of peace and security in the region. A delegation

from the Abkhaz parliament-in-exile headed by its chairman,

Tamaz Nadareishvili, was in Moscow earlier this month to try

to persuade Russian State Duma deputies not to vote for the

renewal of the peacekeepers' mandate. LF

[07] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN SEEKS TO MEDIATE WITH

Human Rights Movement of Kyrgyzstan Chairman

Tursunbek Akunov told a press conference in Bishkek on 30

March that official falsification of the outcome of the

parliamentary elections has precipitated a political crisis

in the country, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital

reported. He added that he is trying to arrange a meeting

between senior state officials and representatives of the 100

or so demonstrators who continue their protest picket in

central Bishkek. Also on 30 March, opposition Democratic

Movement of Kyrgyzstan Chairman Jypar Djekshev told

journalists that he has received a written warning from the

Bishkek city prosecutor saying he violated the law by

publishing in the weekly "Res Publika" a protest against the

arrest of Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov. LF

[08] ...AS U.S. REGISTERS CONCERN

Department Deputy Spokesman James Foley said on 30 March that

on her visit to Central Asia next month, Secretary of State

Madeleine Albright will deliver "a tough message" to the

Kyrgyz leadership on democracy and human rights, an RFE/RL

correspondent in Washington reported. LF

[09] TAJIK PRESIDENT MEETS WITH NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

Imomali Rakhmonov has

met for the last time with the members of the Commission for

National Reconciliation, whom he thanked for their

contribution to implementing the 1997 peace agreement, Asia

Plus Blitz reported on 31 March. The commission held its

final session earlier this week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27

March 2000). On 30 March, Rakhmonov met with the World Bank

regional director for Central Asia, Kiyeshi Kadera, and

discussed an ongoing World Bank-sponsored program to

alleviate poverty in Tajikistan. LF

[10] TURKMENISTAN WAIVES DEMAND FOR PRELIMINARY BONUS FOR GAS

During talks in Ashgabat on 28-29 March

with visiting Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, Turkmen

President Saparmurat Niyazov backed down from his earlier

insistence that the international sponsors of the planned

Trans-Caspian gas export pipeline pay Turkmenistan a $500

million bonus prior to the start of construction, Bloomberg

reported on 30 March, citing the "Wall Street Journal." The

two presidents again pledged their shared commitment to

implementing that project, and Demirel undertook to resolve

with Georgia and Azerbaijan all outstanding political

questions relating to it, according to Interfax. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[11] U.S. TROOPS, TANKS TO DETER BALKAN 'MISCHIEF'

Department spokesman Ken Bacon said in Washington on 30 March

that some 125 special reconnaissance soldiers will soon be

stationed on the border between Kosova and Serbia as the

"eyes and ears" of NATO. Those men and women will investigate

on foot any reports of violations of the demilitarized Ground

Safety Zone (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 March 2000). He added

that the U.S. will also send another 14 tanks and six

artillery pieces to Macedonia to deter "any mischief that

might take place along the borders" of that country, Reuters

reported. Elsewhere, U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman

James Foley said that Washington's "antennae are up"

regarding possible activity by militant Albanians in the

Presevo Valley area. Meanwhile in Prishtina, a KFOR spokesman

said that experts are evaluating photographic evidence of a

reported recent Serbian incursion in to the demilitarized

zone. On 30 March, General Vladimir Lazarevic, who commands

the Yugoslav Third Army, visited the Presevo region, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. PM

[12] ROBERTSON WARNS OF FAILURE IN KOSOVA

Lord Robertson said in Stockholm on 31 March that the

Atlantic alliance's mission in Kosova may fail unless member

states provide more money and other resources. "I think it is

quite possible that we will fail and therefore that the whole

world will fail. It is for the international community to

make the decision as to whether we want it to succeed and

whether they are willing to back up fine words with financial

resources," Reuters quoted Robertson as saying. He stressed

that "we are on a razor's edge between success and failure.

We are rebuilding a multi-ethnic democracy in [Kosova]. It's

not going to be an easy job," Robertson added. PM

[13] SERBIAN OFFICIALS FLOUTING EU VISA BAN?

legislators banned by the EU from receiving visas have

arrived in Marseilles for a conference on security and

cooperation in the Mediterranean region, Reuters reported

from Belgrade on 31 March. The four are led by Srdja Bozovic,

who is speaker of the upper house of parliament. Also present

is Ivica Dacic, who heads Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic's Socialist Party organization in Belgrade and

until recently was Milosevic's press spokesman. Jela Veselic

and Vladimir Stambuk represent the United Yugoslav Left

(JUL), which is led by Milosevic's wife and is the political

home of mainly elderly, old-style Communists. JUL's Zivko

Sokolavacki flouted the visa ban in October 1999 to travel to

a conference in Berlin. PM

[14] BELGRADE REGIME BEGINS LEGAL PROSECUTION OF OPPOSITION

A Belgrade court held its first hearings on 30 March

in the trials of several opposition leaders for allegedly

slandering prominent regime politicians during opposition

rallies in late 1999. Social Democratic leader Vuk Obradovic,

who was the first of the leaders to be summoned by the court,

called the trials a "political farce," "Danas" reported.

Vladan Batic of the Alliance for Change said that the trials

are part of a wider campaign of repression, Reuters reported.

A lawyer for the Democratic Party's Zoran Djindjic added that

the trials recall the communist practice of giving jail

sentences to critics. Among the other prominent opposition

leaders facing trial are Milan Protic and Goran Svilanovic.

If found guilty, each of the opposition politicians faces up

to three years in prison. PM

[15] SERBIAN OPPOSITION: NO BALKAN STABILITY WITHOUT SERBIA

discussed the democratization of Serbia and their country's

integration into European structures with EU and U.S.

officials in Brussels, "Vesti" reported on 31 March. The

Serbian politicians stressed that there can be no stability

in the Balkans without a democratic Serbia firmly linked to

its neighbors. The talks took place at the donors' conference

for the EU's Balkan Stability Pact (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29

March 2000). PM

[16] DONORS TELL BALKAN COUNTRIES TO PROMOTE REFORM

President James Wolfensohn and several other speakers told

the Brussels gathering that donors will shun southeastern

Europe unless the governments in that region learn to work

together rather than compete with each one another for

foreign help, "Die Presse" reported on 31 March. The

conference nonetheless produced pledges of $1.75 billion for

some 300 projects due to be launched in the immediate future.

Among the first are expanding the Macedonian border crossing

at Blace and constructing a new Danube bridge linking

Bulgaria and Romania. Pact coordinator Bodo Hombach said that

he will meet every three weeks with European Commissioner

Chris Patten and Javier Solana to review progress on each of

the many projects. Hombach stressed that these meetings are

the response of "those who think in political terms to the

foot-dragging of the bureaucracy," the "Frankfurter

Allgemeine Zeitung" reported. PM

[17] MESIC HAILS 'IDYLLIC' RELATIONS WITH CROATIAN GOVERNMENT

Minister Ivica Racan and the government are "idyllic,"

"Jutarnji list" reported on 31 March. He made the remarks

after a working "lunch of reconciliation" with Racan and

parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic. None of the participants

provided any details of the meeting, except to say that Mesic

and Racan agreed to merge their respective commissions that

are examining reducing presidential powers. Strains in

relations between Mesic and the government became public

recently, threatening to split the governing coalition of one

large and one smaller coalition (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30

March 2000). PM

[18] ISTRIAN MINISTER APOLOGIZES TO GOVERNMENT

heads the Istrian Democratic League and is Croatia's minister

for relations with the EU, apologized for his recent remarks

against the government, "Jutarnji list" reported on 31 March

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 March 2000). He acknowledged that

his call for Istrian autonomy if the government does not bail

out the failed Istarska Banka was "perhaps too strong." He

added that he does not want to provoke an "unnecessary

crisis." The government set up a commission on 30 March to

look into Istarska's problems. PM

[19] KLEIN WARNS AGAINST BOSNIAN ELECTION OPTIMISM

envoy Jacques Klein said in Sarajevo on 30 March that

nationalist parties are likely to win the majority of votes

in the Bosnian local elections scheduled for April, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. Klein stressed that four years

after the end of the war is still "too soon" to expect any

dramatic political changes in Bosnia, comparable to those

that took place in Croatia in January and February. PM

[20] ROMANIAN OPPOSITION INVITES 'MISINFORMED' U.S. CONGRESSMEN

March that it will invite U.S. Congressmen Christopher

Smith and Frank Wolf to visit Romania and "see for

themselves" the "true state of mind of the population" and

"Romanian realities." The PDSR said those "realities" are

known to Smith and Wolf only from "statements by

individuals who represent President Emil Constantinescu,"

RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The two congressmen

recently warned of the possible consequences if the PDSR

and former President Ion Iliescu returned to power (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 27 March 2000). MS

[21] ROMANIA'S LIBERALS DENY PARTY CONFLICT

Party (PNL) Chairman Mircea Ionescu-Quintus said on 30

March that media reports of a struggle for power within the

PNL are "absurd" (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 24 March 2000).

Ionescu-Quintus said he will stick by his decision not to

seek another mandate as PNL chairman in 2001, noting that

he considers Valeriu Stoica, PNL first deputy chairman, as

the most suitable person to be his heir. He added, however,

that he has "no right" to personally decide on the matter

and that the decision must be taken by the PNL congress. MS

[22] ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES LOCAL ELECTION CALENDAR

cabinet decided on 30 March that local elections will be

held on 3 June, with runoffs scheduled for 17 June. There

will be no additional rounds in localities where less than

50 percent of the electorate vote. MS

[23] ROMANIA APPROVES CHILD PROTECTION PROGRAMS

cabinet on 30 March approved a package of programs designed

to improve child protection services and orphanages in the

country, Reuters reported. The EU has specifically called

on Romania to take steps to improve child protection

institutions. VG

[24] MOLDOVAN PREMIER SAYS IMF DEADLINE COULD BE EXTENDED

31 March for the parliament to pass the 2000 budget and

approve the privatization of the wine and tobacco

industries could be extended for "five to seven days, not

more," BASA-Press reported. The passage of those bills

within the deadline is an IMF condition for resuming

credits to Moldova. Braghis added that his cabinet will

negotiate an extension only if it is sure that the

parliament will pass the bills. He said current budget

revenues indicate that the government will be able to get

by next month without foreign assistance. VG

[25] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT GIVES INITIAL APPROVAL TO LAW ON

The Bulgarian National Assembly on 30

March passed in the first reading a bill that declares the

former communist regime, which held sway from 9 September

1944 to 1989, as unlawful, BTA reported. The bill was

passed by a vote of 137 to 60 with two abstentions. After

the debate and the vote, which was broadcast live on

Bulgarian television, deputies from the Bulgarian Socialist

Party (BSP) staged a walkout. The bill enumerates the

crimes of the former regime, declares both the regime and

the Communist Party unlawful and culpable, and lifts the

statute of limitations on crimes committed by the regime.

The bill was supported by deputies from Union of Democratic

Forces, the People's Union, and the Alliance of National

Salvation, while legislators from the BSP and one member of

Euro-Left voted against it. VG

[C] END NOTE

[26] COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO DEBATE UKRAINE'S SUSPENSION

Ukraine will learn next week whether the Council of

Europe will start moves to suspend its membership. The

council's Parliamentary Assembly will debate and vote on the

issue on 4 April.

The Council of Europe is responding to Ukrainian

President Leonid Kuchma's recent decision to press ahead with

plans for a referendum on constitutional changes that

Parliamentary Assembly members have strongly criticized. The

referendum has been modified since the council expressed its

disapproval, but it has not been canceled.

In January, Kuchma said that he wanted to hold a

referendum on 16 April to seek popular approval for extending

his powers and remodeling the parliament to introduce a

second chamber. He said the changes are needed to press ahead

with economic reforms that have often been blocked by a

bitterly divided, single-chamber legislature.

A month later, two members of the council's

Parliamentary Assembly visited Ukraine to examine the

proposed referendum. They found that there was no basis for

it in Ukrainian law and that it encroached on the existing

parliament's powers. They also said the move would be bad for

Ukrainian democracy.

The two council members publicly warned that Ukraine

might be suspended from the council if the referendum went

ahead. In response, Kuchma said he would allow Ukraine's

Constitutional Court to decide whether the referendum could

be held.

Earlier this week, that court excluded two out of the

six questions Kuchma had wanted to ask in the referendum but

allowed the other four to go forward. On 30 March, Kuchma

agreed to the changes and his spokesman said the referendum

would be held.

Danish parliamentary deputy Hanne Severinsen, one of the

two assembly members who visited Ukraine, told RFE/RL that on

31 March, a Council of Europe advisory body of constitutional

experts--known as the Venice Commission--will examine the

Ukrainian court's decision. She said she believes the

referendum still violates council principles and doubts she

will alter her draft proposal to suspend Ukraine, whatever

the Venice Commission advises.

"The draft resolution, which has already been [drafted],

will still be our suggestion to the [assembly's] monitoring

committee," Severinsen commented. And that also means the

suggestion to the Parliamentary Assembly [on 4 April]--that

if this binding referendum is carried through, we ask the

[council's] Committee of Ministers to start preparations for

suspension."

The Committee of Ministers is the organization's chief

executive body and as such is empowered to suspend a member

on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly. In its

51-year history, the Council of Europe has never suspended a

member-state, although Greece was severely criticized for

human-rights abuses by its military regime in the 1970s and

voluntarily ceased participation in council organs.

A few years ago, however, the Parliamentary Assembly

came close to recommending Ukraine's suspension because that

country had not fulfilled its commitment to end capital

punishment. Kyiv has since outlawed the death penalty.

Assembly member Severinsen told RFE/RL that Ukraine

might be able to avoid suspension if the referendum results

are merely advisory, rather than binding. But a spokesman for

the Constitutional Court, Pavlo Yehrafov, said on 29 March

that the referendum is binding. "Government bodies will be

obliged to take [those results] into account and adopt the

appropriate measures about those questions addressed in the

referendum," he commented.

The two referendum questions rejected by the

Constitutional Court dealt with granting the president the

right to dismiss the parliament if a majority of respondents

expressed no confidence and allowing the results of

referendums to alter the constitution.

The four remaining questions include one on permitting

the president to dissolve the parliament if it cannot form a

working majority within one month. The other three deal with

reducing the size of the parliament, creating a second

parliamentary chamber, and reducing deputies' immunity from

prosecution.

The referendum is opposed by parliamentary deputies

across Ukraine's political spectrum. The leader of the

center-right Rukh party, Yury Kostenko, said it would be seen

by other countries as a threat to Ukraine's democratic

development and will cause domestic problems as well.

Serhiy Holovaty, a member of Ukraine's delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly, strongly opposes the referendum. He

praised the Constitutional Court decision because, he said,

it barred the two questions that most threatened democratic

practices:

"The possibility of introducing a new constitution in

Ukraine by using this referendum has been eliminated," he

noted. "That's a blow against those forces that wanted to put

Ukraine on the same track as [Belarusian President Aleksandr]

Lukashenka. Because of this decision, Ukraine will not go

down the Belarusian path. Through its decision, the

Constitutional Court has supported parliament as an

institution."

A recent opinion survey conducted for Ukraine's

Institute of Politics found that less than 50 percent of

Ukrainians surveyed plan to vote in the referendum. If less

than half the electorate does not cast a ballot, the

referendum will be declared invalid.

The author is an RFE/RL senior corespondent based in

Prague.

31-03-00

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

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