Nationalities People Power, Soviet Style

By Paul Hofheinz/Moscow

For the third time since ethnic tension first erupted into violence nine months ago, armored vehicles clattered through the southern Caucasus last week. In the central square of Baku, the capital of the Azerbaijan Republic, a handful of people looked on curiously as tanks took up positions blocking entrances to the plaza. Curfews were imposed in several Azerbaijani cities, including Baku, and Soviet soldiers and police stopped groups of youngsters and ordered them to return home.

Moscow's crackdown, the latest chapter in a tug-of-war between the republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, came a day after some 400,000 demonstrators gathered in Baku's main square to wave purple-and-red Azerbaijani flags, hear speeches and denounce Armenian leaders. The Armenians are demanding that Nagorno-Karabakh be fully incorporated into Armenia. Simultaneously, in the industrial city of Kirovabad and in the Nakhichevan region, Azerbaijani toughs went on anti-Armenian rampages. They even attacked troops deployed to protect Armenian property; four soldiers were killed and three civilians shot for violating curfew. At least 126 Azerbaijanis and Armenians were injured, and more than 150 people were arrested.

The spasm was yet another manifestation of ethnic tensions that confront General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev with a formidable challenge. The Nagorno- Karabakh dispute has revived the historic hostility between Armenians, who are largely Christians, and Azerbaijanis, who are mainly Muslims. Armenia's call for restoration of the enclave and its 160,000 people to Armenian control has been rebuffed by the central government, which fears that any such adjustment might trigger territorial demands elsewhere.

The unrest in Azerbaijan was reportedly set off by Armenian plans to build a factory in Nagorno-Karabakh. "It's not their territory," said an Azerbaijani official. "Why should they be allowed to build a factory there? Who gave them permission?" Armenian officials said they were simply acting on Moscow's plans to discourage ethnic unrest by strengthening the economy of the impoverished region.

As news of trouble spread, hundreds of Armenians living in Azerbaijan fled Kirovabad, Baku and other areas. In Yerevan, the Armenian capital, huge crowds gathered day after day to hear the latest news from Azerbaijan. Toward week's end, amid reports that ethnic clashes in some villages in Armenia had left two people dead, Moscow dispatched troops to Yerevan and ordered a nighttime curfew in the city.

Disorder in the south was not all Gorbachev had to contend with last week. Fearing that suggested amendments to the Soviet constitution will once again concentrate power in Moscow, legislators in Estonia, one of the three Baltic republics, rejected the proposals two weeks ago and called for parity in the relationship between Estonia and the central government. Though stopping short of Estonia's provocative claim to legal sovereignty, Lithuania, Latvia and Georgia announced that they too would fight some of the proposed constitutional amendments.

Faced with mounting restiveness, Gorbachev tried to promote compromise, at least in the Baltics. At a hastily summoned session of the Supreme Soviet's Presidium on Saturday, he denounced Estonia's actions as "erroneous." But the Soviet leader admitted a need to "improve considerably" the disputed constitutional amendments before they become law. Said he: "We cannot count on success if our transforming work does not take into account the interests of all nations living in our vast country."