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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 172, 00-09-06

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 172, 6 September 2000


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] CAUSE OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTING SUSPECT'S DEATH UNCLEAR
  • [02] FORMER ARMENIAN PREMIER DEMANDS 'POLITICAL SUPPORT' FOR INVESTIGATION
  • [03] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS TO CONDUCT INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO HIJACK
  • [04] AZERBAIJAN, TURKMENISTAN STILL AT ODDS OVER CASPIAN OIL FIELD
  • [05] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION DRAFTS NEW ABKHAZ PEACE PROPOSAL
  • [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER DEPLORES QUALITY OF DRAFT LEGISLATION
  • [07] OSCE HOSTS ROUNDTABLE BETWEEN KAZAKH AUTHORITIES, POLITICAL PARTIES
  • [08] PRINTERS REFUSE TO PUBLISH KAZAKH NEWSPAPER
  • [09] KYRGYZ PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN DENIES UNDERSTATING CASUALTY FIGURES
  • [10] INCREASE IN MILITARY SPENDING MAY DELAY KYRGYZ DEBT REPAYMENTS

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [11] YUGOSLAV PREMIER WARNS OF CIVIL WAR IF MONTENEGRO BREAKS AWAY
  • [12] ANOTHER SURVEY GIVES KOSTUNICA LARGE LEAD OVER MILOSEVIC...
  • [13] ...AS CHALLENGER SAYS HE'S OPPOSED TO EXTRADITING MILOSEVIC
  • [14] YUGOSLAV ARMY ACCUSES NATO OF AGGRESSIVE POLICY...
  • [15] ...AS NATO FORCES HOLD MANEUVERS IN KOSOVA
  • [16] NO YUGO POLLS IN KOSOVA'S PUBLIC BUILDINGS
  • [17] SOCIALIST PARTY SAYS MILOSEVIC TO VISIT KOSOVA
  • [18] CROATIAN POLICE BEGIN INVESTIGATION OF TUDJMAN'S DAUGHTER
  • [19] OFFICIALS WORRIED THAT AID TO RETURNEES IN BOSNIA NOT ENOUGH
  • [20] FORMER ROMANIAN PREMIER TO BE PROSECUTED?
  • [21] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT READY TO HELP UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [22] PUTIN MOVES TO RE-CENTRALIZE CULTURE

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] CAUSE OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTING SUSPECT'S DEATH UNCLEAR

    It is still unclear whether Norair Yeghiazarian died of a heart attack in his prison cell on 29 August or was electrocuted by a water-heating device, Armenpress reported on 5 September, quoting prosecutor Mikael Badirian (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31 August and 1 September 2000). Yeghiazarian was being held in detention on suspicion of selling arms to the five gunmen who shot eight senior officials in the Armenian parliament last October. Badirian said he does not doubt Yeghiazarian's death was accidental, adding that his body bore no traces of violence and his fellow cell inmates immediately rushed to his aid. LF

    [02] FORMER ARMENIAN PREMIER DEMANDS 'POLITICAL SUPPORT' FOR INVESTIGATION

    Aram Sargsian, whose brother Vazgen was one of the victims of the 27 October parliament shootings, said on 5 September that the investigation into the murders is a political issue and that he and the relatives of the other seven victims will need "political support" in order to establish who was behind the murders, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Sargsian has consistently rejected the claim that the gunmen acted on their own initiative. That claim was made by Nairi Hunanian, the leader of the five gunmen. LF

    [03] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS TO CONDUCT INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO HIJACK

    Meeting in Baku on 5 September, the independent Union of Editors decided to set up its own independent body to investigate the abortive 18 August attempt by a member of the opposition Musavat Party to hijack an Azerbaijani Airlines aircraft, Turan reported. The editor of the opposition newspaper "Yeni Musavat" was arrested on 22 August and charged with complicity in that crime. Also on 5 September, the Nakhichevan branch of the Musavat Party, to which the lone hijacker belonged, issued a statement accusing the exclave's authorities of launching a campaign of repression and persecution against the party. The statement said that Musavat party members are being hindered from registering as election candidates in Nakhichevan. LF

    [04] AZERBAIJAN, TURKMENISTAN STILL AT ODDS OVER CASPIAN OIL FIELD

    Ilham Aliev, who is the vice president of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR and the son of President Heidar Aliev, told journalists in Baku on 5 September that Turkmenistan does not have the capability to exploit independently the Kyapaz Caspian oil field to which both countries lay claim, Interfax reported. Aliev said Azerbaijani specialists calculate that some 20-30 percent of the field lies in Turkmenistan's sector of the Caspian. For that reason, Aliev continued, Baku proposed to Ashgabat that the two countries establish a joint venture to exploit the deposit on a 50:50 basis. Turkmenistan, however, rejected that proposal and continues to insist that it owns the entire field, which is far closer to the eastern than to the western shore of the Caspian. LF

    [05] GEORGIAN OPPOSITION DRAFTS NEW ABKHAZ PEACE PROPOSAL

    Representatives of the Center for Democracy and Freedom, which unites 24 non-parliamentary Georgian opposition parties, told journalists in Tbilisi on 5 September that the center has drafted and sent to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan new proposals for resolving the Abkhaz conflict, Caucasus Press reported. Those proposals require the UN to define the 1992-1993 war as one not between Georgia and Abkhazia, but between Georgia and Russia, given that Russia supplied military aid to the Abkhaz. The opposition representative said that no progress can be made toward resolving the conflict until Russia is totally excluded from the mediation process and stripped of its veto right in the UN Security Council on issues referring to the Abkhaz conflict. LF

    [06] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER DEPLORES QUALITY OF DRAFT LEGISLATION

    Addressing the lower chamber of Kazakhstan's parliament on 5 September, Qasymzhomart Toqaev expressed concern that many draft laws submitted for debate are of a low standard and are adopted without any preliminary discussion with "qualified experts," RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. He noted that most experienced lawyers in Kazakhstan prefer to work for the private sector. Justice Minister Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov told the same session that two of 12 bills designated as priorities by President Nursultan Nazarbaev have not yet been submitted to the parliament, including the new Tax Code. Toqaev also stressed the need to ensure that the Tax Code draft, which he termed "very important for the republic's economy," is completed to the required standard in order to preclude the need for "endless amendments," according to Interfax. LF

    [07] OSCE HOSTS ROUNDTABLE BETWEEN KAZAKH AUTHORITIES, POLITICAL PARTIES

    A roundtable discussion between representatives of the Kazakh government and pro-regime and opposition political parties took place at the OSCE office in Almaty on 2 September, RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported on 5 September. The discussion focused on how the domestic political situation has developed since the January 1999 presidential poll, which both the OSCE and the opposition assessed as unfair and undemocratic. LF

    [08] PRINTERS REFUSE TO PUBLISH KAZAKH NEWSPAPER

    A printing house in Kazakhstan has twice refused to print issues of the local newspaper "Vremya-PO." That move comes after the newspaper published an article in its 25 August issue criticizing Prime Minister Toqaev, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 6 September. LF

    [09] KYRGYZ PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN DENIES UNDERSTATING CASUALTY FIGURES

    Osmonakun Ibraimov, talking to RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 5 September, denied media reports that more than 50 Kyrgyz troops have been killed over the past month in clashes with fighters from the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The official death toll as of 5 September is 31; of those, 27 died in combat, three as a result of accidents, while the body of the last has not been recovered. Defense Ministry officials said on 5 September that there was no fighting that day or the previous night but that bombing raids on presumed militant positions continued on 5 September. Representatives of the signatory states to the CIS Collective Security Treaty met in Moscow on 4 September to discuss the situation in Central Asia, Interfax reported. LF

    [10] INCREASE IN MILITARY SPENDING MAY DELAY KYRGYZ DEBT REPAYMENTS

    Finance Minister Sultan Mederov told the lower house of Kyrgyzstan's parliament on 5 September that his ministry has allocated the Defense Ministry the planned amount of 460 million soms (about $9.8 million) for this budget year, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. In addition to that sum, the ministry received 154 million soms in July-August and will receive a further 82 million soms in September. He said those additional allocations are hindering Kyrgyzstan from meeting foreign debt repayments, according to Interfax. Kyrgyzstan's foreign debt totals $1.22 billion, of which $80 million must be repaid this year. The country's entire annual budget is $250 million. First Deputy Defense Minister Nurdin Chomoev said on 4 September that the army is short of funds (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 September 2000). LF

    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [11] YUGOSLAV PREMIER WARNS OF CIVIL WAR IF MONTENEGRO BREAKS AWAY

    Momir Bulatovic said on 5 September that if Montenegro declares independence from Yugoslavia, a civil war could ensue, Reuters reported citing the Bosnian weekly "Dani." Bulatovic told "Dani" that "there would be a bloody civil war," but he suggested that Yugoslav army units based in Montenegro would not be involved in the fighting. He said if a referendum were held on the issue of independence, "we will respect the will of the citizens. But any other means [of becoming independent] would pave the way to civil war." The same day, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, appealed to "all people of good will in Serbia and Montenegro to do everything to prevent conflict and civil war in Montenegro." He also urged that the upcoming election be "just, honest, free, and recognized by all." PB

    [12] ANOTHER SURVEY GIVES KOSTUNICA LARGE LEAD OVER MILOSEVIC...

    An opinion poll released on 5 September gives main Serbian opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica a large lead over Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ahead of the presidential elections, Reuters reported. The survey, taken by the Belgrade- based Center for Policy Studies, gave Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) candidate Kostunica 43 percent of the support of respondents and Milosevic 21 percent. Srecko Mihailovic, who conducted the poll, said "the political scene is fully polarized, with only two political forces in Serbia's political scene--the DOS and the leftist coalition." The poll also showed that the coalition made up of Milosevic's Socialist Party and the Yugoslav Left of his wife, Mirjana Markovic, would receive 20 percent in the parliamentary vote compared with 41 percent for the DOS. PB

    [13] ...AS CHALLENGER SAYS HE'S OPPOSED TO EXTRADITING MILOSEVIC

    Kostunica, the opposition candidate who is the frontrunner in the 24 September presidential election, said on 5 September that he is against sending President Milosevic to The Hague as an indicted war criminal, Reuters reported. Kostunica said "The Hague indictment against [Milosevic] is as pointless as last year's NATO bombing of Yugoslavia," B2-92's Website reported. PB

    [14] YUGOSLAV ARMY ACCUSES NATO OF AGGRESSIVE POLICY...

    Lieutenant General Vladimir Lazarevic, the commander of Yugoslavia's Third Army, said on 5 September that NATO is using an aggressive policy toward Yugoslavia in an attempt to destabilize the situation in that country, Reuters reported citing Tanjug. Lazarevic, speaking during a tour of the Pristina Corps, currently stationed outside of Kosova in Prokuplje, said NATO is using "propaganda, intelligence, [and] subversive and terrorist activities" to create a "false image of the real situation in Kosovo." He added that NATO also seeks to demoralize the Yugoslav army and is sowing discord between Serbia and Montenegro. PB

    [15] ...AS NATO FORCES HOLD MANEUVERS IN KOSOVA

    British troops engaged in exercises along Kosova's administrative boundary with the rest of Serbia on 5 September, AP reported. Those exercises involve tanks, snipers, and long-range artillery. British Major Harry Hanscomb said the maneuvers are a "deterrent operation from aggression across the boundary. We want to reassure people who live in this area that we have the capability to defend this area of Kosovo." The exercises come three days after Yugoslav soldiers carried out a similar show of force on the other side of the border. Some1,000 soldiers and 200 armored vehicles took part in those maneuvers. PB

    [16] NO YUGO POLLS IN KOSOVA'S PUBLIC BUILDINGS

    Bernard Kouchner, the UN's mission administrator in Kosova, said on 5 September that public buildings in the Serbian province will not be used to house polling stations during the upcoming Yugoslav elections, AP reported. Kouchner said allowing voting to take place in public buildings could lead to confrontations. Slobodan Ilic, a leader of the Socialist Party in Kosova, responded that "we are going to set up polling stations in private houses." PB

    [17] SOCIALIST PARTY SAYS MILOSEVIC TO VISIT KOSOVA

    Milomir Minic, a leading official in Serbia's ruling Socialist Party, said on 5 September that Milosevic will "certainly" make a campaign stop in Kosova, dpa reported. Minic said the date and destination "depend on the election campaign strategy." NATO said last week that Milosevic will be arrested and sent to The Hague if he enters Kosova. PB

    [18] CROATIAN POLICE BEGIN INVESTIGATION OF TUDJMAN'S DAUGHTER

    The Croatian Interior Ministry said a police investigation has begun to determine if Nevenka Tudjman, daughter of the late President Franjo Tudjman, accepted bribes in various business dealings, dpa reported on 6 September, citing the daily "Vecernji list." Among the charges, Ms. Tudjman is alleged to have received some $300,000 for lobbying the Ministry of Science to buy Alcatel's telephone switchboards. She said: "the accusations are a product of a sick imagination, they are turned against the reputation of my father." Current President Stipe Mesic told "The New York Times" on 3 September that the Tudjmans "made a profit due to their positions, becoming the owners of the companies and trust funds in the process of privatization that was never opened to the public." PB

    [19] OFFICIALS WORRIED THAT AID TO RETURNEES IN BOSNIA NOT ENOUGH

    International officials said on 5 September in Sarajevo that foreign assistance to refugees returning to their prewar homes in Bosnia- Herzegovina may not be enough for basic housing needs, AP reported. Werner Blatter, who represents in Bosnia the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said "we are pleased that the number of minority returns continues to increase, but UNHCR is alarmed that many returnees will not have adequate shelter" this winter. He added that if greater assistance is not given, "many returnees will be forced to return to the places of displacement." PB

    [20] FORMER ROMANIAN PREMIER TO BE PROSECUTED?

    Ion Iliescu, chairman of the opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), said on 5 September that there is "no evidence" that former Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, and former Interior Minister Doru Ioan Taracila, now both deputy chairmen of the Senate, were involved in the breaching of the UN oil embargo against Yugoslavia. Iliescu was responding to media reports that the Prosecutor-General's Office is requesting that their parliamentary immunity be lifted so that they can be prosecuted. But a spokesman for the Prosecutor- General's office denied the reports, saying that under existing legislation, the request for the prosecution of ministers or former ministers must be initiated by either the Justice Minister or the country's president or by one of the two chambers of the parliament. Iliescu also said that former Foreign Affairs Minister Adrian Severin has "not yet" joined the PDSR but will do so upon his return from abroad. MS

    [21] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT READY TO HELP UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL

    UN War Crimes Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said in Sofia on 5 September that she is "grateful to the Bulgarian government for its support and readiness to cooperate with the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal," AP reported. Del Ponte spoke after meeting with Foreign Minster Nadezhda Mihailova, who commented that a country's attitude toward the tribunal must be viewed as "a test for political commitment to democracy." Prosecutor- General Nikola Filichev assured Del Ponte that Bulgaria will pass amendments to existing legislation aimed at helping capture suspects wanted by the tribunal. Del Ponte said that she expects Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to be arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment by the court in The Hague. MS

    [C] END NOTE

    [22] PUTIN MOVES TO RE-CENTRALIZE CULTURE

    by Jan Cleave

    In yet another demonstration of his proclivity to re- centralize, Russian President Vladimir Putin has imposed direct government control over the Bolshoi Theater. Many in Moscow had long expected some change at the problem-plagued theater, but Putin's decision to strip one of the country's cultural flagships of its largely autonomous status has surprised and angered many members of the intelligentsia. Rather than help the Bolshoi overcome its problems, as the government claims, the move may well contribute to the theater's decline. More important, it suggests an increasingly bureaucratic and interventionist approach toward the arts under the current leadership.

    Putin's bid to re-centralize control over the country's cultural institutions began just weeks after he was inaugurated as president. In late May, he ordered the abolition of the State Committee for Cinematography (Goskino), which since the end of the Soviet-era had been an influential structure protecting the interests of the studios and film- makers. Under Putin's decree, Goskino's functions were transferred to the Culture Ministry. Outraged by that move, many of the country's film-makers expressed concern that the studios would lose their independence and profits from the film industry, which has begun to recover over the past couple of years, would be swallowed up by the ministry.

    Early last week, Putin took another step toward tightening state supervision of the cultural sphere. With his reputation damaged in the wake of the "Kursk" disaster and about to take another beating over the Ostankino blaze, the president issued a decree imposing direct control over the Bolshoi, which, like the ill-fated submarine and television tower, has seen its funding and prestige dwindle over the past decade. Artistic and general director Vladimir Vasilev, a former star of the Bolshoi ballet company who has been roundly criticized for failing to revamp the theater's image and raise standards during his five-year tenure, was summarily dismissed--reportedly, he first learned of his sacking from the media. Responsibility for the theater was transferred to the Culture Ministry, thereby revoking the largely autonomous status former President Boris Yeltsin had granted the Bolshoi five years ago.

    Vasilev's successor is Anatolii Iksanov, former director of St. Petersburg's Bolshoi Drama Theater and a manager of the state-run Kultura television channel. Iksanov assumes the post of general director, while conductor Gennadii Rozhdestvenskii, whose association with the Bolshoi dates back almost half a century, has been appointed artistic director.

    In interviews with the Russian press, Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi sought to defend Putin's decree, which also pledges more funds for the stalled renovation of the crumbling 19th-century edifice. Vasilev, the minister argued, was not up to the "exacting" task of overseeing the project to renovate the theater, and since Shvydkoi's ministry will be in charge of the renovation funds, a change in management was unavoidable. "How can I be responsible for finances that are not under my control?" Shvydkoi asked. The minister also sought to assuage fears that control will be extended to the Bolshoi's artistic direction, saying his ministry will not oversee the theater "in the Soviet sense of the word."

    However, there are very strong fears that Putin's decree will impact negatively both on the renovation efforts and the theater's artistic integrity. With regard to the former, it is questionable whether the government will be able to find the estimated $350 million required, among other things, to fortify the building's sagging foundations, complete the construction of an annex, and, perhaps most important in the wake of the Ostankino blaze, rewire the theater to meet contemporary safety standards. And it is equally questionable whether international organizations and private individuals will be willing to contribute financially to those efforts (Vasilev, for his part, launched a world-wide appeal earlier this year) when the Russian government, hardly renowned for its transparent handling of international aid, is in charge of the theater.

    As far as the Bolshoi's artistic direction is concerned, Shvydkoi has stressed that over the next five years or so, the key figure at the theater will be the administrative and not the artistic director, suggesting that Rozhdestvenskii will have only a limited input. Moreover, the culture minister's claim that his ministry will not interfere "Soviet-style" in the artistic direction of the Bolshoi already rings hollow: Shvydkoi has been quoted as saying that the theater should be a showcase for Russian opera and ballet and that opera will play a more important role than it did under Vasilev's leadership.

    Widely circulating rumors in Moscow suggest that President Putin is anxious to see the Bolshoi become as successful as St. Petersburg's Mariinskii Theater, which in recent years usurped the Moscow theater's status as Russia's leading opera and ballet house. If that is the case, the president overlooked one essential point--namely that the St. Petersburg theater has, in the person of conductor Valerii Gergiev, a charismatic leader who is renowned for his extraordinary musical talent and entrepreneurial flair and enjoys considerable artistic freedom. Given that the running of the Bolshoi is to be left, at least in the near future, to an administrator answerable to a government minister, it is unlikely that the theater will become a serious rival to its northern counterpart anytime soon.

    To date, the main consequences of Putin's re-centralizing efforts in the cultural sphere have been the expansion of the bureaucracy of the Culture Ministry and the increase of the culture minister's influence over leading artistic institutions. Neither of those developments bodes well for such institutions. Nor are they auspicious augurs for Russia's cultural life in general under the Putin administration.

    06-09-00


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


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