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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 68, Part I, 13 April 2004

AZERBAIJANI SCHOOLS IN GEORGIA THREATENED WITH CLOSURE? Alibala
Askerov, chairman of Heyrat, an organization that represents
Georgia's estimated 500,000-strong Azerbaijani minority, told
Caucasus Press on 6 April that the Georgian authorities are planning
to deprive Azerbaijani schools of state funding in the wake of an
allegation by regional Governor Soso Mazmishvili that they provide
instruction in Islamic fundamentalism. Askerov said Azerbaijanis in
Georgia are "profoundly insulted" by Mazmishvili's "populist"
statement, which, Askerov continued, was intended to deflect
attention from his incompetence, but only reflects his ignorance of
the region and the psychology of the Azerbaijani population. LF


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 68, Part II, 13 April 2004

HUNGARIAN OPPOSITION OFFICIAL SAYS BUDAPEST MUST BACK AUTONOMY IN
ROMANIA. Zsolt Nemeth, deputy chairman of Hungary's main opposition
FIDESZ party, said on 12 April in Sfantu-Gheorghe, Romania, that
Hungary must back the efforts of Transylvanian Hungarians to achieve
autonomy, Mediafax reported. Nemeth, on a private visit to the
Transylvanian town, said the national state "typical of the 19th
century" had been entrenched in "enclosure and poverty," whereas the
21st-century state would be based on autonomy, which "ensures the
free association of different communities." Nemeth said that in three
weeks, Hungary will become a EU member, whereas Romania "has yet to
make important steps toward integration in the EU." He said that
while Hungary should support Romania's integration, the Romanian
state that would join the EU should be one that has granted its
Hungarian minority in Transylvania "territorial and cultural
autonomy." MS