Despite mounting pressure from the European Union to open its ports and airports to the Greek half of Cyprus, Turkey will not be doing so until a settlement on the divided island is reached, a senior state official has said, the online edition of Turkish Zaman daily writes. Turkey strongly …

European Union high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, is visiting Turkey today to hold talks with Turkish authorities in the 15th anniversary of Dayton Peace Accords that ended war in Bosnia and established today’s federal Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Democratic values, regional co-operation and good neighbourly relations are important for lasting peace and stability in the Western Balkans, NATO members said in a joint declaration in the end of their two-day summit in Lisbon on Saturday (November 20th). “We continue to actively support Euro-Atlantic aspirations in this region,” the …

All Balkan countries should become members of the EU, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov said on Friday (November 19th) during a roundtable organised by the London School of Economics. According to him, the EU membership would help prevent new wars in the region and would strengthen the position of those …

Slovakia has ended its participation in KFOR, the NATO mission said in a statement Friday (November 19th). According to the announcement, the country’s last troops were withdrawn from Kosovo last week. The move comes after Slovakia’s parliament decided in October to withdraw all of the country’s 140 troops operating in …

Serbian President Boris Tadić will pay a working visit to Montenegro today. Together with President of Montenegro Filip Vujanović, he will open a business forum which will be attended by businessmen from both countries. The two presidents will afterwards visit the new Serbian Chamber of Commerce Representative Offices in Podgorica, …

Georgia welcomes also any dialogue that European Union has with Russia, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said at the joint news conference with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.

The Security Council on Thursday extended for another year the European Union stabilization force entrusted with ensuring the continued compliance of all sides with the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The force, known as EUFOR, assumed peacekeeping responsibilities in 2004 from a stabilization force …

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosts a meeting between Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu on Thursday (November 18th) in a fresh effort to boost ongoing reunification talks. UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said Ban hopes the two would demonstrate “the courage required to break the stalemate on …

Kosovo’s outgoing Minister of Public Administration Edita Tahiri is calling on Kosovo Serbs to take part in the census scheduled for April 2011. At an informal meeting with NGOs and civil society representatives to discuss