Balkan News

Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders vowed to seek agreement on ending the island’s four-decade division “as soon as possible,” relaunching peace talks Tuesday after nearly a two-year hiatus. Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Dervis Eroglu endorsed a road map for the relaunch of the U.N.-brokered talks at a meeting …

Bosnian PM Nermin Niksic has proposed the holding of snap elections as a result of massive anti-corruption protests that have gripped the country. At present, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitution does not allow for the holding of early elections. Wednesday the PM of the Bosnian-Croatian federation within the larger Bosnia and Herzegovina confederative entity tabled to parliament a motion for legislative …

As the Turkish and Greek leaders of a divided Cyprus met for talks on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama welcomed the effort and urged the two sides to avoid any actions that could “escalate tension.” In a statement released

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic on Monday called for a peaceful end to social unrest in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). He urged BiH to prevent the upheaval from turning into ethnic conflicts.

The European Union (EU) welcomed the agreement announced earlier Tuesday by the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on a Joint Declaration, which lays a solid foundation for resumption of negotiations for a fair and

The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the regular report of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the situation in Kosovo. Ivica Dačić, Serbia’s outgoing prime minister, will attend.

Protesters in Sarajevo have started throwing stones, garbage bins and road signs at police officers. An emergency situation has been declared around the building of the Sarajevo Canton government

An eventual escalation of tension in Bosnia might result in intervention of EU forces, a high official warned Sunday. Valentin Inzko, High Representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, told Austrian media that the situation in the country will be analyzed next Tuesday. “Austria will increase its troops there, but if it comes to escalation we would …

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu held phone talks on Saturday with his Greek counterpart, Evangelos Venizelos and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s three-membered presidency council’s Bosniak member, Bakir Izetbegovic. Venizelos and Davutoglu discussed the recent developments on the Cyprus dispute.

The U.N. hopes to relaunch talks next week on ending the four-decade division of Cyprus after the island’s Greek and Turkish communities agreed on a roadmap, a spokesman said Feb. 8. “We are hoping to hold a meeting at the beginning of next week… we are hoping for a meeting as soon …