Strikes Hamper Disputed Soviet Enclave : Ethnic Armenians Protest Kremlin Refusal to Alter Boundaries

Strikes in protest against the Kremlin’s refusal to concede demands by ethnic Armenians for boundary changes brought all but essential industries to a halt in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Soviet newspapers said on Sunday.

The official media also acknowledged that inadequate reporting of disturbances connected with a campaign to return control of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia contributed to violence in which more than 30 people have died.

The territory, populated mainly by ethnic Christian Armenians, has been under control of predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan since 1923.

The Communist Party newspaper Pravda and Izvestia, the Soviet government daily, said the stoppage has closed down most factories in the regional capital, Stepanakert.

“Enterprises in the town are not working, apart from essential sectors, such as bakeries, dairies, water supply plants and transport,” Izvestia said in a report from Stepanakert. Pravda said a majority of factories are idle.

Izvestia denied dissident reports that demonstrations were taking place in the city. It said the atmosphere was calm, although police units were patrolling the streets, checking documents and maintaining order.

Stoppages Hurting Solution

“More and more people are realizing that work stoppages, demonstrations and other similar acts merely hamper the just and honest solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,” it said.

Stepanakert could not be reached by telephone from Moscow.

The trade union daily Trud said the first impression in Yerevan, capital of Armenia, was that nothing in particular was going on. “Only a noticeable strengthening of public order squads showed that extra vigilance was required,” it said.

But the trade union daily quoted a passer-by as complaining that meetings and demands were being suppressed by the authorities.

Officials in Yerevan said the city was calm one day after a “ghost town” operation staged by nationalists backing the Nagorno-Karabakh cause.

Organizers, responding to a ban on demonstrations ordered by local authorities, had called on people to remain indoors on Saturday instead of gathering at a planned mass rally.

Fewer People on Streets

A spokesman at the Armenian Interior Ministry denied that there were fewer people on the streets than usual.

“It’s just a normal Sunday,” he told Reuters news agency by telephone. He said troops and police, sent to Yerevan to maintain order, were patrolling the streets of the city.

Izvestia was among several Soviet newspapers to concede on Sunday that poor reporting of the early stages of the unrest had made matters worse.

Hundreds of thousands of people demanding the return of Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrated in Yerevan last month. The tense situation spawned high feelings in Azerbaijan, culminating in riots in the city of Sumgait, where at least 32 people died.

“There is no doubt that to some extent we are guilty for providing scant information in the early stages,” Izvestia said, adding: “The journalist’s profession is far from the most respected today in Stepanakert.”

Trud also criticized the media coverage.

‘Passions Boiled’

“Passions boiled--insufficient information, rumors, an absence of a principled assessment of what was going on, the tragic events in Sumgait--all this led to work stoppages,” it said.

Other newspapers offered similar criticism and published a mass of articles on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

In Moscow, the head of an independent human rights group said that one of a group of Armenians reported by dissidents to have been arrested last week had been charged with spreading false information and slandering the state.

Lev Timofeyev, chairman of the independent human rights monitoring group called Press Club Glasnost, told Reuters the charges have been filed against Paruir Airikyan, a member of the Nagorno-Karabakh committee leading the Armenian campaign.

“It’s the first time the statute has been used for months. They were planning to abolish it,” he said.

Police and KGB security officials blocked off the entrance to the Armenian cemetery in Moscow, where hundreds gathered on Saturday to press the Armenian claim to Nagorno-Karabakh.

A sign on the gates said entry was by special permit only “due to a high number of complaints.”