Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said Turkey and the US have an alternative option, a Plan B, if the upcoming Geneva meeting fails to provide a viable political solution to the two-year-old Syrian conflict. Speaking to a group of Turkish reporters on Friday, Davutoğlu

France is set to begin the first major stage of its military withdrawal from Mali, four months after sending troops to push Islamist rebels out the north. A convoy of 80 lorries will leave a French

“Their personal engagement will continue to be essential in view of a swift implementation of the plan,” said European Union’s (EU) High Representative Catherine Ashton, while commending prime ministers of Serbia and

The president of Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat federation has been freed from jail following his arrest last month on corruption charges. The Constitutional Court ruled on May 24 that Zivko Budimir and

Bulgarian candidate for Prime Minister, Plamen Oresharski, will present the line-up of his cabinet to President Rosen Plevneliev on Tuesday, May 28. The meeting will

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that his country has not changed its stance on Kosovo and that it “supports Serbian friends” in talks with Priština. He told a press conference after a meeting with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić in Sochi

Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Nikolić this Friday in Sochi, on the Black Sea. The two presidents will sign a

Members of the European Parliament have urged member states to start EU accession negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia before July in a resolution on the country’s 2012 progress report. In a debate on 22 May, MEP Richard Howitt, who

Police have detained the mayor of Skenderaj/Srbice, Sami Lushtaku, and four other suspects for alleged war crimes against civilian prisoners during the 1999 conflict. Officers from the EU rule-of-law mission EULEX and Kosovo police arrested the five men on Thursday on suspicion

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay an official visit to Russia on September 5. The purpose of Erdogan’s visit is participation in the G-20 summit, which will be held on September 5-6 in St. Petersburg.  

Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan will arrive in Azerbaijan on Friday to attend Azerbaijan-Turkey-Georgia business forum, which will be held in Gabala on May 25.

Representatives of the Governments of Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia signed a memorandum of understanding, support and cooperation in the construction of two new pipelines – the Trans-Adriatic (Trans Adriatic Pipeline, TAP) and the

Serbian PM Ivica Dačić said after a meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart Milo Đukanović on Thursday that two countries’ relations were constantly improving. He said that they had discussed a possibility of joint sessions of the two governments.

Syria’s main opposition National Coalition opened a fresh round of talks in Istanbul Thursday, where dissidents will discuss a US-Russian proposal to bring rebels and regime officials to the negotiating table.

Serbia’s First Deputy PM and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vučić met with Russian Defense Minister Segei Shoigu in Moscow on Thursday morning. Vučić and Shoigu discussed the implementation of the agreement on cooperation in the defense sector.

Turkey is not simply a candidate for European Union membership, but is a candidate for the union’s leadership, EU Minister Egemen Bağış said today during his opening speech at the Town

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday discussed with visiting Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev the need for a negotiated settlement of the protracted conflict in Syria.

China has offered to send more than 500 soldiers to the UN force seeking to contain Islamist militants in Mali in what would be its biggest contribution to the UN peacekeeping, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have agreed on a harmonized plan to implement the recent Brussels-led agreement, the EU foreign police chief announced. The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said the prime ministers

The European Parliament will vote on the Resolution on the progress of Macedonia in 2012, proposed by British MEP Richard Howitt. “People in the country and the region should realise that the number of the amendments is really small and that there

Serbia’s First Deputy PM and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vucic met with Russian Defense Minister Segey Shoygu in Moscow on Thursday morning. The main topic of the meeting will be preparation of the agreement

The “Friends of Syria” meeting kicked off here on Wednesday, with the foreign ministers of 11 countries, together with Syrian opposition, coming together as part of preparations for Geneva II Conference on Syria due in June.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Tuesday briefed President Karolos Papoulias on his recent visits to China and Azerbaijan, describing the trips as positive.

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy will visit on Wednesday the Turkish capital, Ankara. Rompuy will meet with to Turkish

Aleksandar Vučić is convinced Serbia will get the start date for the EU accession talks, and “not only because of the agreement with Priština. It will also happen “because EU institutions had commended the government for achieving progress in almost all areas,” the deputy PM said.

Turkey’s Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı announced today in a written statement that Hatay’s Yayladağı Customs gate is closed for a month. “We’re closely observing and controlling the border gates between Syria and Turkey. We’ve closed Yayladağı border gate after the sad event in

Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi met with United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi at the presidential palace on Monday. According to his spokesperson, Brahimi is pleased that Egypt is restarting its quartet initiative.

Political consultations between the foreign ministries of Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina focusing on bilateral ties and cooperation between the two with regard to regional issues are starting in İstanbul on Wednesday.

After more than 12 hours of talks the 8th circle of the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo ended this morning. Despite the positive expectations and the long talk in Brussels a progress in the relations between

Filip Vujanovic, from the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, started his third presidential term amid protests by people who still contest the legality of his election win.

France on Tuesday welcomed the appointment of Dutchman Albert Koenders as UN Special Representative for Mali. Koenders will be working closely with France, in particular, because the French

Britain has ratified Croatia’s accession treaty to the European Union, paving the way for Croatia to join the union after six years of tough negotiations.

The governments of Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey adopted Tuesday a joint declaration stressing the potential of Nabucco to supply the energy markets of the Western Balkans and the Visegrad group countries (Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary) at the fifth Nabucco Committee meeting in Bucharest.

Serbian War Crimes Prosecution announced on Tuesday in Belgrade that two suspects have been arrested on suspicion that they committed war crimes against civilians in 1999.

Ivica Dačić and Hashim Thaci, who head the governments in Belgrade and Priština, are once again meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. They are discussing the concrete steps to implement the Brussels agreement, which they initialed on April 19.