RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 76, 00-04-17

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 76, 17 April 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT VISITS KARABAKH

[02] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION PARTY DEMANDS RETURN OF HEADQUARTERS

[03] OSCE TO INCREASE MONITORING OF GEORGIAN-CHECHEN BORDER

[04] KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT REJECTS U.S. CRITICISM OF ELECTIONS

[05] OPINION POLL INDICATES KYRGYZ SEE LITTLE HOPE FOR DEMOCRACY

[06] ANOTHER RADICAL ISLAMIST ARRESTED IN TAJIKISTAN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[07] DEL PONTE WANTS 'ALL FUGITIVES' SENT TO HAGUE

[08] SERBIAN REGIME DETAINS FOREIGNERS

[09] BELGRADE AUTHORITIES NERVOUS ON EVE OF RALLY

[10] SERBIAN DEMONSTRATORS WARN REGIME, OPPOSITION

[11] BELGRADE PROTEST LEADERS URGE CALM, ORDER

[12] PRINCE ALEKSANDAR URGES SERBS TO ATTEND RALLY

[13] KOUCHNER DOES NOT WANT TOO MANY REFUGEE RETURNS

[14] MONTENEGRO, ALBANIA COOPERATE AGAINST CRIME

[15] SLOVENIAN MINISTER HOPES TO KEEP ON EU SCHEDULE

[16] DID THE 1991 CROATIAN GOVERNMENT KNOW OF MASSACRES?

[17] SERBIAN POLITICIAN SAYS 'YES'

[18] LATEST BOSNIAN VOTE TALLY

[19] BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES KEY LAW

[20] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR 'FLEXIBILITY' IN RUSSIAN

[21] ...WHILE SHOWING LACK OF FLEXIBILITY TOWARD HUNGARY

[22] TRANSYLVANIA MAKES HEADLINES IN ROMANIA AGAIN

[23] BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN BLACK SEA MILITARY EXERCISE ENDS

[24] MOLDOVAN LEADERS FAIL TO CONVINCE COMMUNISTS TO SUPPORT KEY

[25] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO JUDICIARY LAW

[26] BULGARIAN PREMIER EXPRESSES CONFIDENCE IN ECONOMY

[C] END NOTE

[27] ARMENIA SEEKS TO ACCOMMODATE RUSSIAN, U.S. INTERESTS IN SOUTH

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT VISITS KARABAKH

to Stepanakert on 13 April, where he met amid tight security

with senior members of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh

Republic's leadership, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported.

Unconfirmed reports say Kocharian was accompanied by Armenian

Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian. Kocharian also met

with units of the Karabakh Defense Army, whose former

commander, Samvel Babayan, is currently in detention charged

with masterminding the 22 March assassination attempt on the

enclave's president, Arkadii Ghukasian. LF

[02] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION PARTY DEMANDS RETURN OF HEADQUARTERS

outside the Baku mayor's office on 13 April, Turan reported.

The picketers were demanding the return of the Azerbaijan

Popular Front headquarters, from which the party was evicted

in early 1994. Members of Mayor Rafael Allakhverdiev's staff

advised the picketers to address their request to the

Ministry for State Property. LF

[03] OSCE TO INCREASE MONITORING OF GEORGIAN-CHECHEN BORDER

decided to increase to 42 the number of its observers

deployed along the border between Georgia and Chechnya, ITAR-

TASS reported. The observers' mandate was extended until 15

November. The following day, ITAR-TASS quoted Georgian Border

Guard Service spokesman Gela Khutsishvili as saying that

Tbilisi "views with understanding" Moscow's decision to plant

landmines on the most easily accessible paths leading to the

Chechen-Georgian border. On 11 April, a senior official of

the Russian Border Guards Service had admitted in Moscow that

Russian border guards cannot control the entire length of

that border. LF

[04] KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT REJECTS U.S. CRITICISM OF ELECTIONS

have addressed an open letter to the U.S. Helsinki

Commission, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 13 April. The

deputies reject as untrue statements "by foreign radio

stations and local opposition newspapers" claiming that the

parliamentary poll was undemocratic and its outcome

falsified. The deputies affirm that the poll was democratic

and that they "will not depart from the democratic path." The

letter rejects the commission's criticism of the conduct of

the election in Kara-Buura, where opposition Ar-Namys party

chairman Feliks Kulov was apparently defeated in the 12 March

runoff. It also denies that Kulov's arrest last month was

politically motivated. The open letter was published in the

state-run Russian-language newspaper "Slovo Kyrgyzstana" on

13 April. LF

[05] OPINION POLL INDICATES KYRGYZ SEE LITTLE HOPE FOR DEMOCRACY

research group indicates that only 13 percent of an

unspecified number of respondents consider that a democratic

society has emerged in Kyrgyzstan, and 26 percent believe

that in present conditions the creation of a democratic

society is impossible, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 13

April. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they are not

happy with the way the country is currently ruled, and 47.8

percent said they believe that decisions are taken by a small

group of bureaucrats who have little contact with the

population at large. LF

[06] ANOTHER RADICAL ISLAMIST ARRESTED IN TAJIKISTAN

member of the banned Islamist organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir has

been detained in Leninabad Oblast, Asia Plus-Blitz reported

on 14 April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 April 2000). Both

detainees have been charged with disseminating subversive

literature and planning to overthrow the Tajik government. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[07] DEL PONTE WANTS 'ALL FUGITIVES' SENT TO HAGUE

Ponte, who is the Hague-based war crimes tribunal's chief

prosecutor, told NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson on 13

April that she wants NATO's help in arresting all indicted

war criminals in the former Yugoslavia. She said: "Thanks for

the arrests [of Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo Krajisnik and

other war crimes suspects], but it's not enough. I'm asking

for the arrest of all fugitives. How long is it going to

take?" (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 4 April 2000.) Robertson

replied that the indicted war criminals will be arrested "as

soon as possible," Reuters reported. He called on them to

"come to The Hague rather than face the rough justice of the

Balkans," recalling the Belgrade murder in January of Zeljko

"Arkan" Raznatovic. Robertson noted that arresting war crimes

suspects will be a dangerous task. "There are risks because

these people are violent. The forces of SFOR and KFOR are

willing to take those risks.... There is a lot of creativity

involved," Robertson added. PM

[08] SERBIAN REGIME DETAINS FOREIGNERS

six foreign journalists and three Spanish trade union

officials at Belgrade airport on 13 April. The foreigners had

come to attend a rally to support early general elections the

following day. A spokesman for the independent Serbian trade

union Nezavisnost (Independence) called the detentions a

"primitive act of revenge" by the regime of Yugoslav

President Slobodan Milosevic, AP reported. PM

[09] BELGRADE AUTHORITIES NERVOUS ON EVE OF RALLY

Belgrade on 13 April, indicted war criminal and Yugoslav

Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic said that the

opposition is responsible for making sure that the rally

passes without incident. He added that he fears that the

meeting's organizers may "carry out terrorist acts," RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. He did not elaborate.

Milosevic's Socialist Party said in a statement that holding

a rally "is just another attempt at dragging citizens into

carrying out the task of destabilizing Serbia," AP reported.

Elsewhere, a Belgrade court handed down a ruling against the

Serbian Renewal Movement in a slander case stemming from

1994. The party was fined $100,000 in the long-dormant case.

A party spokesman called the ruling a "monstrous witch-hunt,"

Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Milosevic-run TV Politika

announced plans to show "The Matrix" and other current

Hollywood hit films at the same time as the rally is taking

place. PM

[10] SERBIAN DEMONSTRATORS WARN REGIME, OPPOSITION

protesters left Novi Sad on foot for Belgrade on 13 April. A

spokesman for the student organization Otpor (Resistance)

told Reuters that the young people's message is "good-bye"

both to Milosevic and his regime and to the fractious

opposition leaders. A second protester added that "we are

going to show everybody that only united can we succeed."

Belgrade University Professor Gordana Naunovic said of the

opposition leaders: "Friday will be a big test for them. I

think this is their last chance" to show that they are worthy

of citizens' trust. PM

[11] BELGRADE PROTEST LEADERS URGE CALM, ORDER

Belgrade on 13 April, Alliance for Change leaders Milan

Protic, Vladan Batic, and Goran Svilanovic called on all

citizens of the capital to come to the rally in Republic

Square. Batic said that he expects the meeting to take place

"without incident," adding that his main fear is that the

authorities will try to intimidate people into not attending,

RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

[12] PRINCE ALEKSANDAR URGES SERBS TO ATTEND RALLY

13 April, Crown Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, who is the

claimant to the Serbian throne, said in a message that "all

Serbs and citizens of Yugoslavia [should] come together and

establish a broad mass movement for democracy and change.

This will bring the nation a rebirth, order, and progress."

He added that "this is the moment when the fate of the nation

will be decided." PM

[13] KOUCHNER DOES NOT WANT TOO MANY REFUGEE RETURNS

Kouchner, who is the UN's chief civilian administrator in

Kosova, urged countries hosting refugees from there not to

send back too many people too soon. Speaking in Prishtina on

13 April, he stressed that there are infrastructure and

security problems in the province (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13

April 2000). Kouchner said: "The returns are just starting,

and we already have problems with too many [people] arriving

simultaneously and with a lack of regard for the dangers to

ethnic minorities. It is crucial that we put things right

quickly. Otherwise, the tens of thousands of returnees

expected this year will swamp the capacity to absorb them."

He urged unnamed countries to minimize forced returns of

Serbs, Roma, and other minorities, as well as to help the

authorities in Kosova integrate returnees, Reuters reported.

PM

[14] MONTENEGRO, ALBANIA COOPERATE AGAINST CRIME

move by Montenegro to strengthen ties to neighboring

countries despite Belgrade's objections, regional police

chiefs from Montenegro and Albania met in Podgorica on 13

April. They agreed on measures to exchange information on

criminals and to fight prostitution and smuggling, Reuters

reported. Shkoder police chief Bilbil Mema noted that this

was the first time "in 50 years" that police from the two

countries agreed to cooperate. He stressed that the agreement

"means that people who commit crimes in Albania and seek

refuge in Montenegro to cover their tracks will be identified

by Montenegrin police and vice versa." PM

[15] SLOVENIAN MINISTER HOPES TO KEEP ON EU SCHEDULE

Affairs Minister Igor Bavcar said in Ljubljana on 13 April

that he believes that the parliament will pass the necessary

legislation to meet EU deadlines despite the current

political crisis (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 April 2000). He

noted that European issues enjoy a broad consensus among

parties, Reuters reported. PM

[16] DID THE 1991 CROATIAN GOVERNMENT KNOW OF MASSACRES?

Greguric, who was prime minister of Croatia's 1991-1992

wartime government of national unity, said in Zagreb that

there were neither concentration camps nor "liquidations" on

the Croatian side during that time (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13

April 2000). He added that there was no "official

information" within the government about executions of

Serbian civilians, "Jutarnji list" reported on 14 April.

Greguric stressed that his cabinet even had one Serb in it

and that one should recall that it operated under wartime

conditions. Urging "more understanding and objectivity," he

argued that charges of atrocities against Serbs call into

question whether it was necessary to establish an independent

Croatia. One should always remember that Croatia had no

choice but to leave Milosevic's Yugoslavia, Greguric

concluded. PM

[17] SERBIAN POLITICIAN SAYS 'YES'

Djukic of the Serbian People's Party argued that Greguric,

President Franjo Tudjman, and other top leaders did indeed

know of the 1991 killings in Gospic. Among the others Djukic

mentioned who are still active in politics: Stipe Mesic,

Drazen Budisa, Zdravko Tomac, Mate Granic, and Josip Manolic,

"Novi List" reported on 14 April. PM

[18] LATEST BOSNIAN VOTE TALLY

municipalities confirm the sweep of nationalist parties in

the 8 April local elections. Thousands of absentee ballots

remain to be counted, but "Oslobodjenje" of 14 April gives

the following vote totals to date: the Serbian Democratic

Party leads in 52 districts, the Croatian Democratic

Community in 28, the Muslim Party of Democratic Action in 24,

and the civic-based Social Democratic Party in 18. PM

[19] BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES KEY LAW

the joint parliament passed legislation on 13 April that

expands the size and powers of the joint Council of

Ministers. Serbian, Croatian, and Muslim ministers will

rotate on an eight-month basis. In addition to the previous

ministries of foreign affairs, foreign trade, and civilian

affairs and communications, three new posts will be added.

They deal with refugees and human rights, European

integration, and joint government finances, RFE/RL's South

Slavic Service reported. PM

[20] ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR 'FLEXIBILITY' IN RUSSIAN

Petre Roman on 13 April said his country is

prepared to show "flexibility" in talks with Moscow on the

pending basic treaty and "expects a similar approach" from

the Russian side, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Roman

said a condemnation in the treaty of the Ribbentrop-Molotov

pact of 1939 is less important than the restitution of the

Romanian state treasury held in Moscow since World War I. And

he added that "compromise" could be reached on the

condemnation, based on a resolution passed in 1991 by the

Congress of People's Deputies of the former Soviet Union in

1991, which also condemned the pact. MS

[21] ...WHILE SHOWING LACK OF FLEXIBILITY TOWARD HUNGARY

also said that the opening of a Hungarian consulate in the

Transylvanian town of Miercurea Ciuc would be "unsuitable in

the present political context" but that Romania would

"welcome" the opening of a Hungarian consulate in Constanta,

"a town with large economic perspectives." Observers note

that while Miercurea Ciuc is in the heart of an area with a

large ethnic-Hungarian population, the Black Sea port of

Constanta has only a small Hungarian minority. Romanian Radio

cited Hungarian Radio as reporting on 14 April that the two

countries' premiers had agreed in Budapest last month that

consulates would be opened in both towns. Hungarian Prime

Minister Viktor Orban begins a visit to Bucharest on 14 April

and is expected to discuss, among other things, the Hungarian

proposal to open the two new consulates. MS

[22] TRANSYLVANIA MAKES HEADLINES IN ROMANIA AGAIN

ethnic Romanians demonstrated in the Transylvanian town of

Sfintul Gheorghe on 13 April against what they called the

local council's discriminatory policies against the Romanian

minority and against discrimination of Romanians in the

heavily Magyar-populated counties of Harghita and Covasna,

Mediafax reported. The demonstrators were received by Sfintul

Gheorghe Hungarian Mayor Albert Almos, who rejected

accusations that his policies are anti-Romanian. In Targu

Mures, Hungarian Mayor Imre Fodor was questioned at the local

prosecutor's office on suspicion of abusing his office. Elod

Kincses, chairman of the local branch of the Hungarian

Democratic Federation of Romania, said Fodor's interrogation

was part of a plan to prevent him from running in the

upcoming local elections. The opposition Party of Social

Democracy in Romania said it is "worried" about the

infringement of Romanians' "natural rights" in Harghita and

Covasna. MS

[23] BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN BLACK SEA MILITARY EXERCISE ENDS

Bulgarian-Romanian Storm 2000 joint naval exercise on the

Black Sea came to an end on 13 April, BTA reported. Bulgarian

Naval Chief of Staff Petar Petrov praised the exercise and

described it as important for "mutual trust and stability in

the Black Sea region." VG

[24] MOLDOVAN LEADERS FAIL TO CONVINCE COMMUNISTS TO SUPPORT KEY

President Petru Lucinschi and Prime Minister

Dumitru Braghis failed on 13 April to convince the Communist

faction in parliament to support a bill on the privatization

of the country's wine and tobacco industries, BASA-Press

reported. After a closed-door meeting which Lucinschi and

Braghis attended, the Communists announced that they would

not support the bill. The privatization of the two industries

is one of the key conditions set by the IMF for the approval

of more credits to Moldova. At present, only the Christian

Democrats have offered unconditional support to the

privatization bill. In other news, the parliament on 13 April

adopted the social insurance budget with revenues and

expenditures of 1.227 billion lei ($97.5 million), Flux

reported. Passage of the budget is another of the conditions

set by the IMF. VG

[25] BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO JUDICIARY LAW

the judiciary that will strip the Supreme Judicial Council of

its power to initiate disciplinary proceedings against

judges, prosecutors and investigators, BTA reported. The

presidents of the Supreme Cassation and Supreme

Administration courts as well as the prosecutor-general will

retain those powers in their respective areas. The justice

minister will also retain the right to launch disciplinary

proceedings against any magistrate. VG

[26] BULGARIAN PREMIER EXPRESSES CONFIDENCE IN ECONOMY

Kostov said on 13 April that the indicators of the Bulgarian

economy "are good, irrespective of some negative tendencies,"

BTA reported. Kostov was responding to preliminary figures

released by the National Statistics Office, which indicate

that the country's foreign trade deficit in 1999 exceeded $1

billion. However, exports have increased 20 percent in

January and February and the trade deficit fell by 43 percent

from December 1999 to January 2000, AFP reported. Official

statistics also indicate that the unemployment rate is now at

18.2 percent and that some 40 percent of Bulgarians live

below the poverty line. VG

[C] END NOTE

[27] ARMENIA SEEKS TO ACCOMMODATE RUSSIAN, U.S. INTERESTS IN SOUTH

By Harry Tamrazian

Over the past few years, Armenia has abandoned its

primarily Russia-centric foreign and security policy in favor

of a more balanced and multifaceted approach. One of the

fundamental principles of its new foreign policy, as

expounded by the country's top diplomats, is that of

"complementarity." That same principle was introduced in the

EU's Maastricht Treaty of 1992 to denote coordination and

cooperation between member states and the union's executive

body.

In Armenia's foreign policy, complementarity means

cooperating and maintaining good relations with all countries

that are willing to establish and maintain friendly and

mutually beneficial relations with Yerevan. Thus while

remaining a close ally of Russia and a trading partner of

Iran, Armenia has nonetheless managed to maintain strong

relations with the U.S. Yerevan also wants to establish

diplomatic ties and start economic cooperation with its

traditional foe, Turkey, which is vying with Russia and Iran

for influence in the South Caucasus.

With regard to Armenia's immediate neighbors in the

South Caucasus, complementarity has two dimensions: non-

interference in those countries' foreign relations and

promoting the maximum degree of economic and security

cooperation on a regional level.

"We are not playing on the differences and rivalries

between major regional powers in Caucasus. Armenia should not

be a place where the interests of major powers collide, but

rather a country where the interests can be balanced,

complemented," Armenian diplomats say in their press

briefings.

So far, Armenia has been quite successful in keeping a

delicate foreign-policy balance. In a bold move last year,

when NATO warplanes were bombing Serbia and Russia was

threatening to cut ties with the West, Armenian President

Robert Kocharian joined fellow South Caucasus Presidents

Eduard Shevardnadze and Heidar Aliev in travelling to

Washington to celebrate NATO's 50th anniversary with Western

leaders.

But that was then. Today, there are new questions to

consider. Specifically, will Vladimir Putin's victory in last

month's Russian presidential election herald a fundamental

change in Russia's behavior toward the South Caucasus? Will

Moscow be more assertive towards rival and friends alike?

What will happen if, for example, Russia pressures Armenia to

join its union with Belarus?

Armenian diplomats believe they can resist any such

tough calls from the Kremlin. In an interview with RFE/RL two

weeks ago, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Armen

Martirossian said President-elect Putin will observe the

status quo in the South Caucasus because he was hand-picked

as a successor by former President Boris Yeltsin himself.

But if Yerevan takes its policy of complementarity too

far, it may risk precipitating a cooling of relations with

Moscow. Armenian President Robert Kocharian's recent proposal

to create a security system in South Caucasus with the

participation of Russia, Turkey, and Iran and with the

support of the US and the EU--which is a prime example of the

complementarity that Armenia wants to introduce in the

region--has already engendered negative comment from some

Russian leaders.

And Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey each have a

different idea of how to make the South Caucasus a more

secure place. The leaders of those countries have their own

security projects in which Russia does not play a major role.

During his visit to Tbilisi in March, for example, Turkish

President Suleyman Demirel unveiled his security project for

the South Caucasus. Russia was invited to participate in

Demirel's Security project as one of several neighboring

countries.

The principle of complementarity is a workable

diplomatic concept if the two major players in the region,

the U.S. and Russia, are not in a confrontational mood and at

least formally remain partners within the OSCE and other

international organizations engaged in peace-making missions

in the South Caucasus.

Armenian diplomats believe that U.S. President Bill

Clinton was right when he suggested Putin will seek to

cooperate with the West at least in the spheres of nuclear

disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and other global

issues. That approach would make it possible for Armenia to

continue its policy of complementarity. But will Russia try

to extend that cooperation with the West in the unstable

South Caucasus?

Many senior officials and experts in the region are

skeptical. In an interview last week with the Azerbaijani

newspaper "Zaman," former Azerbaijani state adviser Vafa

Guluzade warned that Russia is preparing for a war in South

Caucasus. But not everyone agrees with that doomsday

scenario. Some analysts even suggest that Russia might change

its priorities and expand the list of its friends in the

South Caucasus to include Azerbaijan.

The author is deputy director of RFE/RL's Armenian Service.

17-04-00

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

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