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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 49, Part II, 15 March 2004

LITHUANIA INVESTIGATES ALLEGED ANTI-SEMITIC CONTENT IN 'RESPUBLIKA.'
Prosecutor-General Antanas Klimavicius announced on 12 March that his
office has launched an in investigation into a series of articles
published in February by the daily "Respublika," BNS reported. The
Journalists and Publishers Ethics Commission is also currently
reviewing the articles, written by Editor in Chief Vitas Tomkus, to
determine if it they are anti-Semitic. Lithuanian Ambassador to
Israel Alfonsas Eidintas was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Ministry
on 1 March to offer an explanation for the articles, which have also
been criticized by U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania Stephen Mull and the
head of the European Commission Delegation to Lithuania, Ambassador
Michael Graham. Lithuanian parliament Chairman Arturas Paulauskas and
Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas requested that the
Prosecutor-General's Office determine whether criminal charges can be
filed in connection with the articles. SG

POLISH PARLIAMENT PREEMPTS POTENTIAL GERMAN PROPERTY CLAIMS. The Sejm
voted 375 to one with four abstentions on 12 March to adopt a
resolution stating that all matters related to property claims by
postwar German expellees from Poland's western and northern
territories are "irrevocably" closed, PAP reported. The resolution
addresses common fears in Poland that after the country joins the
European Union on 1 May, Germans exiled from Poland after World War
II and/or their heirs might bring a flood of compensation claims
against the Polish government for estates lost to postwar
nationalization. The resolution states that Poland's takeover of
German property after the war is not subject to the jurisdiction of
the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg or the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The resolution also
calls on the government to include reservations to this effect in the
EU constitutional treaty and to make declarations to this effect to
EU governments. JM

U.S. DIPLOMAT SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ETHNIC TURKISH PARTY IN BULGARIA.
U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria James Pardew said in Kardzhali, southeast
Bulgaria, on 12 March that he believes the Balkans should not have
parties formed on the basis of ethnicity, mediapool.bg reported. He
said Bulgaria's large ethnic Turkish minority, which accounts for
about 10 percent of the country's population, should be free to
choose leaders who support various interests. Pardew said Bulgaria's
Turks should adhere to more than just one party and leader, an
apparent allusion to the fact that the minority is almost exclusively
represented by the governing Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS)
headed by Ahmed Dogan. In response, Dogan said the DPS is not a party
formed on the basis of ethnicity (such parties are banned by the
Bulgarian Constitution). Dogan's deputy, Emel Etem, noted that there
are more than four parties in the country that have ethnic Turkish
leaders. Etem said that "apparently, Ambassador Pardew does not have
[up-to-date] information and reports." According to Etem, over the
past two years, the share of ethnic Bulgarians in the DPS has risen
to 10 percent. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Pasi said on 12 March that
he does not consider the DPS a party based on ethnicity, "Sega"
reported. Pasi underscored the DPS's role in curbing the interethnic
tension that resulted from the communist regime's policy of forceful
assimilation and expulsion of the Turkish minority. UB


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 50, Part II, 16 March 2004

ROMANIA'S ETHNIC HUNGARIANS COMMEMORATE 1848-49 REVOLUTION. Thousands
of Romania's ethnic Hungarians on 15 March assembled throughout
Transylvania to commemorate the 1848-49 Hungarian revolution and war
of independence, Romanian media reported. In Cluj, Romanian
nationalist Mayor Funar's annual counterdemonstration to honor the
Romanian victims of the revolution went off without incident.
Meanwhile, the Romanian Legislative Council on 15 March rejected a
proposed bill on granting autonomy to the lands occupied by Szeklers,
Transylvania's Hungarian minority, Mediafax reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 27 February and 12 March 2004). The Legislative Council
argued that the proposed bill is unconstitutional and contravenes EU
and international law. The proposal was recently submitted by six
Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) deputies, although
the UDMR has distanced itself from the initiative. ZsM


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 51, Part II, 17 March 2004

LATVIAN LEFT-WING ALLIANCE WANTS RUSSIAN TO BE OFFICIAL EU LANGUAGE.
Three high-ranking members of the alliance For Human Rights in a
United Latvia (PCTVL) announced on 16 March that an important aspect
of their European Parliament election campaign will be to urge the EU
to grant official status to minority languages, including Russian,
BNS reported. PCTVL head Tatyana Zdanoka, current parliament deputy
Jurijs Sokolovskis, and former parliament deputy Miroslavs
Mitrofanovs hold the top three positions on the PCTVL's candidates
list for the June elections. Mitrofanovs said the EU's current
language policies are discriminatory toward minorities, and proposed
that languages such as Catalonian, Basque, and Russian be given the
status of official EU languages. Zdanoka, who is banned from running
in Latvian parliamentary and local elections because of her
post-January 1991 Communist Party membership (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
8 August 2002), said the PCTVL wants to establish and is willing to
head a party representing ethnic Russians living in the European
Union. However, she expressed doubt that it could be formed before
the Europarliament elections. SG