Events of June 1996
Anne D. Baylon
Czech Republic
June 2 In parliamentary elections, the Civic Democratic Party of Prime Minister Václav Klaus (a center-right coalition) narrowly loses its parliamentary majority, winning 99 of parliament’s 200 seats while the opposition center-left Social Democrats increase their seats from 24 to 61. The vote reflects a desire to slow the quick pace of reforms introduced by Mr. Klaus, who has successfully moved towards a market economy by introducing privatization programs, cutting inflation, and keeping unemployment low.
EASTERN EUROPE
Russia
June 4 Aware that his poll ratings for the upcoming presidential elections are sinking, Communist Party candidate Gennadi Zyuganov seeks alliances with other presidential candidates, such as liberal economist Grigory Yavlinsky, whose perspectives sharply differ from his own.
June 5 Using lures such as promises to end the draft and lower education costs, President Yeltsin campaigns to win the votes of young Russians in the 18-30 age group.
June 6 President Yeltsin orders the Central Bank of Russia to transfer $1 billion to the federal budget. The move, which bank officials criticize as “undermining the bank’s independence” and economists qualify as “potentially inflationary,” will permit Mr. Yeltsin to deliver on his campaign promises to teachers, doctors and, the military.
June 8 The Central Bank agrees to give Mr. Yeltsin the funds he requested.
June 10 In order to offset the potential inflationary consequences of its recent transfer of $1 billion to President Yeltsin, the Central Bank takes steps to reduce the amount of money in circulation by increasing the amount of money commercial banks must keep in reserve at the Central Bank.
June 11 (reported in NY Times, June 13) An explosion destroys a Moscow subway car, killing four and severely wounding 12 others.
June 12 With the elections only four days away and with tighter security measures (due to the June 11 bombing), over 100,000 people celebrate Russia’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 with a festive rock concert for President Yeltsin.
June 14 Determined to gain the support of the military, President Yeltsin promotes the top five military chiefs to the elite four-star level.
June 16 In the first presidential election of an independent Russia, President Yeltsin leads with 35% of the votes, followed closely by his Communist rival Gennadi Zyuganov (32%) while Gen. Aleksandr Lebed receives an unexpectedly strong 15%. Since no candidate obtained the necessary 50% of the votes to win, Mr. Yeltsin and Mr. Zyuganov will face each other in a runoff election to be held within 30 days.
June 17 Back on the campaign trail, President Yeltsin seeks the support of the losing candidates, in particular that of his former rival Aleksandr Lebed. Eager to maintain the momentum that resulted in a high turnout of voters for the first round of the elections, Mr. Yeltsin also to move up the runoff election to July 3.
June 18 President Yeltsin replaces his unpopular Defense Minister Gen. Pavel Grachev with Gen. Aleksandr Lebed as his top national security adviser. The move bolsters Mr. Yeltsin’s political position since he can now claim the 15% of the electorate who supported Gen. Lebed.
June 20 Claiming that “they began assuming too much authority, and producing too few results,” President Yeltsin dismisses three of his senior advisers—Chief of Presidential Security Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Korzhakov; the head of the agency that replaced the K.G.B., Gen. Mikhail Barsukov; and a Deputy Prime Minister in charge of overseeing Russia’s military-industrial complex, Oleg Soskovets.
June 24 As he faces the prospect of defeat, Communist leader Gennadi Zyuganov positions himself in the role of leader of the opposition, proposing the establishment of a national peace accord among opposing parties and the creation of a coalition government.
June 25 President Yeltsin continues his “political purge” by dismissing seven top generals who had associations with ousted Defense Minister Gen. Pavel Grachev.
June 28 For the third time in less than a week, President Yeltsin cancels a public meeting, causing the public to worry about his failing health and stock prices to fall. Mr. Yeltsin’s aides videotape the President in the Kremlin to prove that he is fine.
Russia/Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia
June 3 President Yeltsin holds a summit meeting with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, reaffirming his support for the cease-fire in Chechnya despite recent attacks on Russian soldiers that breached the cease-fire. Mr. Yeltsin’s goal is to reassure Russian voters that he is the best candidate to bring peace to the Caucasus and to promote closer ties with the other former Soviet republics.
Russia/Chechnya
June 1 Although the May 27 treaty to end the war in Chechnya is to take effect on June 1, clashes are reported in the southeast near the town of Shali.
June 9 A Chechen spokesman at the Russia/Chechnya peace talks (a part of the May 27 cease-fire) reveals that the two sides have tentatively agreed on a withdrawal of Russian troops by Aug. 30.
June 10 Russian officials and Chechen separatists sign two accords covering the issues of Russian military withdrawal, Chechen rebel disarmament, war prisoner release, and Chechen election postponement.
June 11 Despite the less than a day old accords and the beginning withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, two explosions rock a convoy of Chechen rebel leaders who were returning from the peace talks with Russian officials.
Ukraine
June 4 Ukraine ships to Russia the last of 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads, completing a three-year process to give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union. The defense ministers of Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. (Pavel Grachev, Valery Shmarov, and William Perry, respectively) symbolically plant sunflower seeds at the site of a former Soviet missile silo.
June 29 Ukraine adopts its first post-Soviet constitution. Parliament’s approval comes after months of resistance by the Communists—the largest faction in parliament—who had opposed the constitution’s provisions that allow private ownership of land and factories.
THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
Bosnia
June 1 Although national elections to build joint federal institutions in Bosnia are scheduled for Sept. 14, OSCE reports about human rights abuses in Bosnia call into question the country’s ability to hold free and fair elections in the fall.
June 4 At the urging of the U.S. and several European governments that want the elections to proceed as planned, Robert Frowick, the U.S. diplomat who heads the Bosnian mission of the OSCE that will decide on the feasibility of fair elections, instructs his staff to focus on reporting positive developments rather than on conditions that could impede free elections.
French troops rescue American NATO troops blocked by a crowd of angry Serbs in a Sarajevo police station. The Americans had attempted to confiscate weapons in a “zone of separation” (i.e., a zone dividing the former warring parties) since weapons are forbidden there.
June 5 Moderate Bosnian Serbs who hoped for reconciliation with Muslims and remained in Sarajevo suburbs returned to the control of the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government are being threatened, abused, and expelled by Muslim groups intent on preventing the ethnic unification of the country.
June 6 Antonio Cassese, the President of the international war crimes tribunal, announces that he will request U.N. sanctions against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and the Bosnian Serbs if the two indicted top Bosnian Serb leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, are not arrested.
June 7 Striving to ensure optimal election conditions, Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti—the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which must determine the fairness of the Bosnian elections- resists pressure from the U.S. to approve the elections, saying that, “If even minimal conditions are not met, then I believe it will be better to delay elections.”
June 8 The Bosnian Serb-controlled television station in Pale has been using propaganda to foster support for the two indicted leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, and convince viewers that the Bosnian Serbs have been abused by outside groups, including NATO and the Muslims.
June 12 Intent on preventing a disintegration of the fragile peace into civil war again, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry announces that American peacekeeping troops may remain in Bosnia far beyond the original deadline date of Dec. 19.
June 13 The Bosnian government extradites two indicted war criminals accused of multiple murders and rapes at the Celebici prison camp in southern Bosnia.
June 14 In an important step of the peace accord, Bosnian Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, along with the governments of Croatia and Yugoslavia, sign in Florence an arms control agreement that restricts the number and type of weapons that each party can possess. The five parties, which have 16 months to comply, will all be subjected to international inspections.
June 18 The U.N. Security Council votes to lift the embargo of heavy weapons it imposed in 1991 on the former Yugoslav republics.
June 25 Despite serious concerns about the possibility of holding free and fair national elections in Bosnia, Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti defers to the wishes of the U.S. and Europe and announces that the elections will occur in September as scheduled.
June 27 The war crimes tribunal in The Hague indicts eight Bosnian Serb officers for raping 14 Muslim women during the war in southeastern Bosnia. It is the first time that sexual assault is treated as a war crime.
June 28 (reported on June 30) Although the June 28 municipal elections in the divided city of Mostar are meant to culminate efforts by the European Community (which administers the city) to unify its Serb, Croat, and Muslim population, they appear to have intensified ethnic divisions and have left many skeptical of holding nationwide elections in September. According to an OSCE official, the municipal elections have turned out to be a “game manipulated by nationalists to solidify their power and their privilege.”
June 29 Efforts to oust Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic intensify as Carl Bildt, the senior civilian overseeing the peace accord, together with the leaders of the Group of Seven nations, threaten Serbia (which has power over the Bosnian Serbs) with renewed international economic sanctions if Mr. Karadzic is not removed from office before the elections.
June 30 Carl Bildt announces Radovan Karadzic’s resignation, but it is denied by the Bosnian Serbs.
Croatia
June 9 Croatian authorities arrest a Bosnian Croat charged with murder and mistreatment of Muslim prisoners. It is Croatia’s first arrest of someone charged with war crimes (Croatia was denied admission to the Council of Europe in early June on the grounds that “the arrest of people charged with war crimes is a requirement for membership that Zagreb must meet”).
NY Times, June 22 Eastern Slavonia, a region of Croatia that was seized by separatist Serbs when Croatia declared its independence five years ago, is the last of three Serbian-held enclaves in Croatia still held by rebel Serbs. Under an agreement backed by Serbia and Croatia in February, the region came under U.N. administration as a first phase toward transfer back to Croatia within two years. But the plan is facing resistance from both the 170,000 Serbs who currently live in the area and from the resentful 80,000 Croats who were expelled from the land.
WESTERN EUROPE / EASTERN EUROPE
NATO
June 3 In Berlin, NATO ministers approve a plan that would assign “separable but not separate” European units within NATO to accomplish regional goals, using American equipment and assets. The idea is to create a purely European component in NATO, which would give Europeans greater responsibilities, facilitate France’s reentry into NATO, and allow the U.S. to “opt out of smaller missions.”
NATO/France
June 8 President Jacques Chirac agrees that France will rejoin all the NATO military structures from which it withdrew in 1966 provided that NATO complies with its decision to give stronger leadership roles to European countries.
Turkey
June 6 Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz announces his resignation, ending a three-month-old conservative coalition government with former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, after Mrs. Ciller—Yilmaz’s personal enemy—decides to take her True Path Party out of the coalition. The decision is hailed by pro-Islamic Welfare Party leader Necmettin Erbakan, whose party narrowly won parliamentary elections in December but was blocked from entering government by Turkey’s secular establishment (for fear that Mr. Erbakan would take the country away from the West).
June 7 President Suleyman Demirel offers Mr. Erbakan and his Islamic Welfare Party a chance to form a government, saying that he will give the mandate to “any leader who proves able to come up with a solid majority coalition in the fractured Parliament.”
June 8 Warning that any coalitions established in the hopes of preventing him from holding power are “doomed to failure,” Mr. Erbakan announces his intention of forming a government within a month.
June 28 Having formed a coalition government with former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, the True Path Party leader, Necmettin Erbakan, the Islamic Welfare Party leader, becomes Turkey’s new Prime Minister. Mrs. Ciller will serve as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.
June 30 The new Prime Minister strives to gain the support of parliament and gives assurances that his government will maintain Turkey as a “democratic, secular and social state based in law and the principles of Ataturk.”
U.S.A./United Nations
June 19 Viewing U.N. Secretary General Boutros Ghali as “an obstacle” to reform within the U.N., Washington announces that it will use its veto power to prevent Mr. Boutros Ghali from being reelected for a second term.
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