From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: RFE/RL report excerpts
Date: 30 Sep 1992 11:00:19 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
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                   RFE/RL Daily Report

                                       No. 188, 30 September 1992


                   SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

TENSE SITUATION IN TAJIKISTAN. Tajikistan's deposed President
Rakhmon Nabiev told an RFE/RL correspondent on 29 September that
he had not been beaten up and hospitalized, as had been reported
by the Nega news agency the previous day. The same day, Moscow and
Dushanbe news agencies reported that pro-Nabiev forces from Kulyab
Oblast were still in control of the town of Kurgan-Tyube, an
opposition stronghold, and that the town had sustained major
damage in the fighting.  The government in Dushanbe has devised a
plan to disarm the population by buying their illegal weapons, but
local authorities will have to put up the money.  An article in
the 30 September issue of Nezavisimaya gazeta draws attention to
the rising crime rate in Tajikistan and reports that leaders of
the opposing sides in the civil war say they have no control over
some 20% of their forces.  The same source says that anti-Nabiev
forces in Kurgan-Tyube are being led by radical members of the
Islamic Renaissance Party.  (Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.)

STATUS OF BESIEGED RUSSIAN TROOPS IN TAJIKISTAN UNCLEAR. Russian
news agencies reported on 29 September that the Russian military
unit that was besieged near Kurgan-Tyube by fighters from Kulyab
has still not been able to drive off the Tajik fighters trying to
capture Russian arms and equipment.  Meanwhile, Western news
agencies reported on 29 September a statement by the Russian
Defense Ministry that a "limited military contingent" of Russian
reinforcements had arrived in Tajikistan to protect Russian troops
already deployed there, their families, and military facilities.
(Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.)

FOREIGN HELP FOR TAJIKISTAN? In a speech to the UN General
Assembly on 29 September, Tajik Foreign Minister Khudoberdi
Kholiknazarov played down the scope of the fighting in his
country, saying that it is presently limited to the center of
Kurgan-Tyube Oblast, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. He appealed
for international help in ensuring that democracy prevails.  The
same day Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati told Tajik
Minister of Culture Zakirdzhan Vazirov, on a visit to Tehran, that
Iran is ready to help in working out a peaceful settlement of the
civil war in Tajikistan, Western news agencies reported, quoting
the official IRNA news agency.  (Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.)

SHANIBOV'S ESCAPE AND SITUATION IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA. Musa
Shanibov, president of the Confederation of the Mountain Peoples
of the Caucasus, was not released from custody, as earlier
reported, but escaped, Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on 30
September. Shanibov, who had been detained for his part in the
confederation's despatch of volunteers to Abkhazia, returned in
triumph to Nalchik, where he told a meeting of 30,000, reinforced
by delegations from North Ossetia, Checheno-Ingushetia, and
Karachaevo-Cherkesia, that he would continue the struggle for the
independence of the North Caucasus. The meeting called for the
removal of Russian troops from Kabardino-Balkaria and the
punishment of local officials. The article in Nezavisimaya gazeta
gives the impression that the Kabardino-Balkarian authorities are
no longer in charge of the situation. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL, Inc.)

CIS DEFENSE MINISTERS TO MEET BEFORE BISHKEK SUMMIT. Lieutenant
General Leonid Ivashov stated on 28 September that at a meeting of
Defense Ministers in Bishkek on 7 October, the question of forming
a joint concept of military security will be discussed. ITAR-TASS
reported that the ministers will also reexamine the functioning of
the CIS joint command in light of recent developments, possibly
turning it into a multinational command structure.  Ivashov
acknowledged that there remained differences between Ukraine and
the CIS joint command, but noted that there was "positive
movement" in their relations.  (John Lepingwell, RFE/RL, Inc.)

STALEMATE IN RUSSIA'S TALKS WITH TATARSTAN.  A session of the
collegium of the Russian government on 29 September noted that
Russia's talks with Tatarstan have not been crowned with success,
ITAR-TASS reported.  The head of the Russian government's press
center, Gennadii Shipitko, said that Russia was insisting that
Tatarstan was part of Russia, while Tatarstan wanted to be
considered completely independent in the legal sense and to be
treated by Russia according to the norms of international law.
Tatarstan also wanted to decide its own military policy, Shipitko
added, and was opposed to its citizens having Russian as well as
Tatarstan citizenship. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL, Inc.)

RUSSIAN REPUBLICS SUPPORT KHASBULATOV. On 28 September a statement
signed by the leaders of most of the republics of the Russian
Federation, in which they expressed their support for the Russian
parliament and its chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov, was made public,
Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on 29 September.  The newspaper's
correspondent suggests that the republics have an interest in
preserving an equal balance of power between the Russian
president, parliament, and government, but it also sees the
republics emerging more and more as a fourth force, which could
upset the other three if it is not taken into account.  (Ann
Sheehy, RFE/RL, Inc.)

TURKEY RESTRICTS VISITORS FROM BULGARIA. Bulgarian-Turkish
relations received a potential setback on 29 September when Turkey
unilaterally imposed restrictions on Bulgarian citizens seeking to
enter Turkey.  The move is intended to reduce the number of
Bulgarian Turks leaving Bulgaria in search of better job
prospects.  The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry indicated that no
advanced warning was given and is seeking clarification. Effective
immediately, Bulgarian citizens wishing to enter Turkey must
demonstrate that they have at least $70 for each day of their
stay, or $30 if they are part of an organized tourist group. Those
visiting relatives must pledge to return to Bulgaria.  Some
300-350,000 Bulgarian Turks fled to Turkey in 1989 as a result of
a Bulgarian assimilation policy. While perhaps as many as half
later returned, those remaining in Turkey burdening an economy
beset by inflation and high unemployment.  In a new wave an
estimated 40,000 have entered Turkey using tourist visas and have
failed to return to Bulgaria.  (Duncan Perry, RFE/RL, Inc.)