BAKU, March 23 (AFP)
Azerbaijan has detained a Russian cargo plane containing six fighter jets en route to Yugoslavia, a top presidential adviser here said Tuesday, but Moscow denied the allegation and said the load belonged to Kazakhstan.
Vafa Goulizade, senior foreign policy advisor to Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, told AFP six MiG-21 and MiG-26 fighter jets were stopped at Baku�s Bina airport on Thursday.
�A Russian Ruslan cargo jet was detained in Baku on March 18,� said Goulizade. �On board were six fighter jets, which were on their way to Yugoslavia.�
Moscow immediately denied the plane contained an arms shipment for Yugoslavia. �The load belongs to Kazakhstan,� Russian foreign ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin said.
He said the plane, belonging to the Russian company Polyot, was flying to the Slovak capital Bratislava and had made a scheduled refuelling stop in Baku.
Rakhmanin did not say what cargo the plane was carrying.
In Baku, Goulizade said: �Azerbaijan is currently taking measures to investigate the incident,� adding the jets were still on Azerbaijani territory.
Officials at the Russian embassy in Baku refused to comment on reports of the delivery, which would violate an arms embargo imposed on Belgrade by western governments.
Russia has criticised threats by western governments to launch NATO air strikes against Yugoslav military targets unless Belgrade accepts a peace plan for the troubled Serbian province of Kosovo, where the ethnic Albanian majority is seeking self-rule.
Askar DARIMBET
ALMATY, March 23 (THE GLOBE)
�At present there are 92 reformatory institutions in Kazakhstan, holding 85 000 persons�, a representative of the Department of Criminal-Reformatory System, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in Almaty on March 23.
According to Maksut Zhumanov, the Department receives only 70% of the required means. However the representative claimed that there are no problems concerning the provision of food in the colonies. According to Mr. Zhumanov, about one thousand persons died in the prisons in the last year, 20% of them from tuberculosis.
Mr. Zhumanov announced that an amnesty project is being prepared for later this year. Following the approval of the Mazhilis and the Senate, a large number of prisoners incarcerated for minor crimes will be released.
Gulbanu ABENOVA, March 23 (THE GLOBE)
� The economical rate of growth of Japan was as low as minus 2,8 percent. It is the lowest level since World War II,� stated Hidekata Mitsuhashi, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Japan to Kazakhstan while addressing journalists in Almaty on March 23. He said that the index minus 2,8 percent seemed insignificant, but regarding a free economy, the negative growth might lead to grave consequences. The Ambassador granted a detailed analysis of why the economy of Japan is in an impasse. In his opinion, one of the causes of the post war economic recession is the dramatic fall of the Japanese stock market.
by Shah Alam
ISLAMABAD, March 23 (AFP)
Pakistan showed off its nuclear weaponry for the first time Tuesday at a national day military parade, with President Muhammad Rafiq declaring unwavering support for the �freedom� movement in Indian Kashmir.
�Pakistan desires friendly relations with all neighbouring countries, but this should not be taken as a sign of weakness,� the president said in an address at the parade, also attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
He trumpeted Pakistan�s nuclear capability, and said the armed forces were fully prepared to head off any foreign aggression.
Tarar described the five-decade dispute with India over the future of the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is divided between the two, as an issue linked to the very survival of Pakistan. The people of Kashmir were steadfastly struggling to achieve the �right to self-determination� despite all the �atrocities,� he said of the decade-old Moslem separatist drive in the Indian-held zone.
�We are wholeheartedly with them in their freedom struggle. Our moral, political and diplomatic support for them will continue until they realize their great goal,� the president said.
The Ghauri missile put on display has a range of 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) and was first flight-tested last April before Pakistan carried out its nuclear tests in response to atomic detonations by India.
It can carry nuclear warheads and is capable of reaching targets in most of India, except its southern and eastern regions, officials said.
The missile is named after a Moslem ruler of the sub-continent, Shahabuddin Ghauri, who defeated Hindu warrior Prithvi Raj after whom India named its Prithvi missile.
MOSCOW, March 22 (AFP)
The prime minister of Uzbekistan, Otkir Sultonov, is to begin a five-day visit to Japan on Tuesday, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
The trip was chiefly intended to promote bilateral trade, the agency said.
PR Association of the Greek societies in the Republic of Kazakhstan (FILIA)
The Greek peninsula, covering an area of 131,944 square kilometers and containing a population of about 10,000,000, consists of mainland Greece (Attica, the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace) and the Islands. Geographically it belongs to Europe since it forms the most southerly extremity of the Balkan peninsula but it also has a special link with Europe through the small entity of the Ionian Islands (Zante, Ithaca, Corfu, Cephallonia, Lefkas and Paxi) which form a chain off Greece�s western shores in the Ionian Sea.
ALMATY, March 23 (THE GLOBE)
Till 1821 the Greeks were under yoke of the Osmanic empire. In February 1821 in Moldavia the national liberating revolution began. Its leader was Ispilanti, a general-mayor of the Russian army, a participator of the civil war in 1812.
In 1822 Ispilanti was appointed a chairman of the Legislation corpus. In January the first Greek constitution was approved by the National Assembly. At the same time Greece was announced an independent state.
During the Greek revolution in 1827 Ioannis Kapodistria was chosen a new president. He was a duke, worked for a long time in Russian diplomatic service.
During the revolution the peasants headed by the talented commanders Kolokotronis, Bocaris, Karaiskakis struggled in bloody battles for liberty of their country. Their motto was �Liberty or death�. It is known that a poet Byron lost his head for the sake of Greece liberty.
After Turkish defeat by Russia during the war in 1828 to 1829, Turkey acknowledged independence of Greece by Andrianopole peace treaty concluded in 1829. In 1830 the country became independent.
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