From: trh@jack.sns.COM ((Al Trh))
Subject: Excerpts from Radio Free Europe Report
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BITNET@OHSTVMA.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 12:00:42 GMT

                  RFE/RL Daily Report

                                     No. 186, 28 September 1992

                   SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

TAJIK FIGHTERS TAKE RUSSIAN TROOPS PRISONER.  An operation by law
enforcement agencies to disarm supporters of deposed President
Rakhmon Nabiev, who are from Kulyab Oblast but who have been
fighting in Kurgan-Tyube Oblast, was supposed to have started on
26 September, ITAR-TASS reported.  The following day, however, the
same source reported that armed groups from Kulyab had seized four
tanks, an armored transporter, and an armored car from Russian
forces stationed in Kurgan-Tyube, and that they had captured five
members of the Russian unit. According to the commander of the
Russian division, the unit that lost the equipment was surrounded
by some 350 fighters from Kulyab who wanted to obtain more
equipment and weaponry the same way. (Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.)

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT CRITICAL OF GEORGIA ON ABKHAZIA.  Following
discussion on 25 September of the situation in the North Caucasus
and Abkhazia, the Russian parliament issued a statement saying
that it "denounces the policy of the Georgian leadership...and
demands that the government immediately stop combat operations,
withdraw armed units from Abkhazian territory and strictly fulfill
international covenants on human rights." The statement also
called for the "introduction of necessary contingent of
peace-keeping forces" and offered the services of the Russian
Federation as a mediator in the conflict, ITAR-TASS reported on 25
September. (Suzanne Crow, RFE/RL, Inc.)

ANGRY SHEVARDNADZE TO MEET WITH YELTSIN ON ABKHAZIA. Eduard
Shevardnadze, chairman of Georgia's State Council, made an
unscheduled stop in Moscow on his way home from the United Nations
to discuss with Russian President Boris Yeltsin the Russian
parliament's statement on Abkhazia.  Shevardnadze was quoted by
Russian TV on 27 September as saying: "I cannot recall any
precedent for such crude, high-handed, and unforgivable
interference in the internal affairs of our Republic."
Shevardnadze described the Russian parliament's actions as
"impudent and overtly aggressive" and said that the future of
Russo-Georgian relations, not just the question of Abkhazia, will
be the subject of his meeting with President Yeltsin; Shevardnadze
added: "My task is to save these relations," ITAR-TASS reported on
27 September. The meeting is scheduled to take place on 28
September. (Suzanne Crow, RFE/RL, Inc.)

STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA.  At least 20
people were injured in a confrontation between police and
thousands of demonstrators in the Kabardino-Balkar republic in the
North Caucasus on 27 September, Interfax reported.  The
demonstrations followed the detention on 23 September of Musa
Shanibov, the chairman of the Confederation of the Mountain
Peoples of the North Caucasus, by investigators of the Russian
procurator's office. Russia had earlier declared unlawful the
activities of the confederation, which has sent volunteers to
Abkhazia to support the Abkhaz against Georgia. Following the
violent protests a state of emergency for two months was declared
in the republic, ITAR-TASS reported.  (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL, Inc.)

WITHDRAWAL OF CONFEDERATION'S VOLUNTEERS FROM ABKHAZIA SUSPENDED.
Abkhazia's separatist leaders said on 27 September that the
pullout of the volunteers sent by the Confederation of Mountain
Peoples of the North Caucasus would be delayed indefinitely
because of Georgia's violations of the ceasefire in Abkhazia,
Interfax reported. Georgia had threatened to remove them by force
if they were not withdrawn by 25 September. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL,
Inc.)

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CEASEFIRE APPARENTLY BROKEN. ITAR-TASS reported
on 26 September that Azerbaijani Defense Minister Rakhim Gaziev
ordered his troops to lay down their arms in compliance with a
ceasefire arranged the previous weekend, but there were no
confirmed reports that the ceasefire was actually being observed
by Azerbaijani or Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh. The
agreement, mediated by Russia, called for a ceasefire in
Nagorno-Karabakh for two months, and a truce along the
Azerbaijani-Armenian border for an undetermined period. Also on 26
September, Interfax quoted an Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman
as saying that his country would observe the agreement if the
Azerbaijani side did the same. On 27 September, however, ITAR-TASS
reported that Armenian troops were continuing to attack
Azerbaijani positions along the entire front in Nagorno-Karabakh.
(Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.)

VOLSKY PROPOSES NEW UNION. The leader of the Civic Union, Arkadii
Volsky, has proposed the creation of a "Euro-Asiatic" union of six
or seven of the members of the CIS, The Financial Times reported
on 28 September. He obviously meant those of the CIS members
states who signed the agreement on the formation of the
Interparliamentary Assembly.  Volsky also visited Kazakhstan in
September and assisted Kazakh entrepreneurs in the organization of
their own industrialists' union.  That was a significant step
toward the reestablishment of ties between the Russian and Kazakh
industrial complexes. (Alexander Rahr, RFE/RL, Inc.)

NAZARBAYEV CRITICIZES UKRAINE OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Kazakh
President Nursultan Nazarbayev criticized Ukraine on 26 September
for vacillating on the elimination of its nuclear arms, Western
news agencies reported.  According to Nazarbayev, "Ukraine cannot
say one thing today and do another thing tomorrow." While Ukraine
has reiterated its willingness to eliminate all nuclear weapons on
its territory by the end of the decade, some Ukrainian
parliamentarians have been criticizing the commitment and raising
doubts about it.  (John Lepingwell, RFE/RL, Inc.)

YELTSIN, NAZARBAEV, ELCHIBEI ON CIS. Yeltsin's press secretary
said on 25 September that Yeltsin had sent a personal message to
the leaders of the CIS states in advance of the summit meeting in
Bishkek on 9 October in which he proposed that individual CIS
states should move towards integration insofar as they were ready,
ITAR-TASS reported. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev said
he shared Yeltsin's view, ITAR-TASS reported.  Nazarbaev said no
one should be dragged into the CIS, and some states could be
associated members and others observers.  Azerbaijan's president
Abulfaz Elchibei said on CIS TV on 22 September that he personally
was against Azerbaijan being a member, because it still lacked the
hallmarks of genuine independence, namely a national currency,
army, and gold reserve.  Elchibei had said three days earlier,
however, that it was a matter for the parliament to decide. (Ann
Sheehy, RFE/RL, Inc.)

TURKMENISTAN PLACES HOPES ON GAS. The gas pipeline that is to be
built from Turkmenistan to Europe via Turkey will enable
Turkmenistan to break into the world market, Turkmen President
Saparmurad Niyazov said in an interview with the Moscow journal
Svobodnaya mysl, ITAR-TASS reported on 27 September. Niyazov
believes that Turkmenistan can cushion the shock of introducing a
market economy through selling its gas, oil, and cotton.  Western
economists have been inclined to agree with him. In the interview
Niyazov also praised his country's stability. (Bess Brown, RFE/RL,
Inc.)