In another blow to Serbia and the "Yugoslav leftovers", Montenegrin president Milo Djukanovic accused Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic of trying to "destabilize" Montenegro. Montenegro is in the process of what Djukanovic describes as "redefining" its relationship with Serbia. Montenegro may seek separate membership in the OSCE, a move that would complete the disintegration of Yugoslavia. At the moment the potential for armed civil war remains small, but a political civil war is accelerating inside Montenegro. Montenegro refused to recognize the "state of war" Milosevic declared this spring. Montenegrin members of the pro-Milosevic Socialist People's Party (SNP) staged a walkout from the Montenegrin parliament when a Montenegrin government spokesman called their party a "terrorist organization." In Serbia, on September 17, Serb opposition leader Vuk Draskovic asserted that this past spring during NZATO's bombing campaign Serbia considered staging a "military coup" in Montenegro.


Turkish government officials said they would not respond to any "pressure" to resolve the situation on divided Cyprus. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that no group in the world "deserved independence as much as the Turkish Cypriots." Turkey insists that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (the splinter Turk state on Cyprus backed by Ankara) be given equal status in talks with the Cyprus Republic.