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Central Asia / Siberia
NEWSLINE: Central Asia, Transcaucasia and RussiaRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Turkmenistan deregulates housing market
President Saparmurat Niyazov has signed a resolution empowering the Ashgabat mayor's office to sell state-owned apartments to individuals and legal entities, including foreigners, Interfax reported on 26 March. The resolution also allows government banks to offer long-term loans to Turkmen citizens for the purpose of purchasing houses or apartments. (Liz Fuller)
Azerbaijan denies condemning NATO strikes . . .
The press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry issued a statement on 27 March denying that Defense Minister Safar Abiev had appended his signature to the statement condemning NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia adopted two days earlier at the CIS defense ministers' meeting in Moscow, Turan reported (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 26 March 1999). (L.F.)
. . . And amends law on military service
Lawmakers on 26 March voted to raise the maximum age for military service from 26 to 27, Interfax reported. They also abolished the previously existing exemption from the draft for only sons and for the sons of persons killed in the Karabakh war or during the Soviet army intervention in Baku in January 1990. (L.F.)
UN military mission to resume Tajik operations
The UN observer mission in Tajikistan has carried out two inspection missions to the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Republic in Tajikistan and will resume operations there shortly, AP-Blitz reported from Dushanbe on 26 March. The UN suspended operations in Gorno-Badakshan last year following the murder last summer of three mission members and their driver in the region. Also on 26 March, the Tajik Supreme Court handed down death sentences to three former opposition fighters found guilty of those murders, Interfax reported. (L.F.)
Russia again hints at shift on Karabakh
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Leonid Drachevskii told journalists in Yerevan, Armenia, on 27 March that as one of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia is prepared to amend the most recent draft peace plan for Nagorno-Karabakh in order to ''find a normal solution acceptable to all parties,'' RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have endorsed that plan, which advocates that Azerbaijan and Karabakh create a ''common state,'' but Azerbaijan has rejected it. Visiting Baku four days earlier, Drachevskii had similarly assured Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev that Moscow will no longer insist that the ''common state'' model be used as the only one for mediating a solution to the conflict (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 25 March 1999). Karabakh Foreign Minister Naira Melkumian, who together with her Armenian counterpart, Vartan Oskanian, met with Drachevskii in Yerevan, said she does not believe Russia favors more concessions to Baku. (L.F.)
Lithuanian parliament chairman visits Georgia
Vytautas Landsbergis held talks in Tbilisi on 25-26 March with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze, and parliamentary chairman Zurab Zhvania, Caucasus Press reported. Shevardnadze thanked Lithuania for supporting Georgia in its quest for full membership in the Council of Europe. Landsbergis expressed Lithuania's interest in gaining observer status with the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization and in participating in joint economic and transport projects. He mentioned specifically the TRACECA project to revive the ''Silk Road'' and the export of Caspian oil via Lithuania. (L.F.)
Primakov backs sacked editor over apology
''Kommersant-Daily'' editor Raf Shakirov was likely dismissed for his published apology to Prime Minister Primakov for an earlier article, not for the article itself, as was first reported, according to the ''Moscow Times'' on 27 March. Speaking on NTV two days earlier, Prime Minister Primakov said that he was indignant over Shakirov's departure. ''To sack a brilliant journalist and good manager for his apologies? You can agree or disagree with him, but if he sees that some information does not correspond with reality and wants to correct it, I think he improves the newspaper,'' Primakov commented. (Julie A. Corwin)
Supreme Court backs Moscow ban on neo-nazi group
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling on 26 March banning the neo-nazi Russian National Unity (RNE) from convening its national congress in Moscow. According to ''Kommersant-Daily'' the next day, the group's last chance may be to appeal to the European Court for Human Rights in the Hague. Also on 26 March, the daily reported, Prosecutor-General Yurii Skuratov instituted criminal proceedings against Duma deputy and member of the Communist Party Albert Makashov for his repeated anti-Semitic public statements. (J.A.C.)
Election upset in Khakassia
According to preliminary data, voters in the Republic of Khakassia voted against incumbents in the 28 March elections for most of the nine city and raion administrations heads and 50 municipal organs, ITAR-TASS reported. One newspaper correspondent, two directors of state enterprises, and a deputy police chief unseated current heads of rural raion administrations, while Petr Ovchinnikov, deputy head of a municipal communications center, was elected mayor of Sayangorsk. (J.A.C.)
©1998 RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
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March 31, 1999
