Balkan News

Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, and First Lady, Hayrunnisa Gul, have arrived in Sofia for their official two-day visit. The visit of the Turkish Head of State is on the invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov and is his first one the since he stepped in office in 2007.

Tens of thousands people gathered for a commemoration on Monday in Potočari to mark 16 years since the Srebrenica genocide. The commemoration was attended by Bosniak and Croat members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency

The Sixth Croatia Summit, which is hosting European prime ministers and top EU officials, got underway in Dubrovnik on Friday. The summit is being held just one week after Croatia completed its accession negotiations with the EU. The main topics on this year’s agenda are regional development and EU enlargement. …

Macedonia and Croatia initialed an agreement on extradition of nationals. Macedonian Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski said it will immediately be delivered to the governments of both countries and will enter into force after ratification by the national parliaments.

The OSCE PA Committee for Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions has approved a draft resolution on Kosovo human organ trafficking. The document submitted by Serbia calls for an independent international investigation into the allegations of human organ trade in Kosovo.

Greek Defense Minister Panos Beglitis has expressed pleasure over Turkey’s recent approach regarding the Aegean Sea, but cautioned that it is too early to say that a breakthrough is

EU will not close doors after Croatia for membership. Macedonia is in a position to initiate talks with the EU, but the name issue is still pending. That is what EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule said.

Germany backs the European perspective on Serbia. That is what German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle after a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic in Berlin. According to Guido Westerwelle Serbia has achieved significant progress on its way to the EU. He assessed the arrest of General Ratko Mladic as …

U.N. mediated talks on reunifying the divided island of Cyprus have ended without agreement in Geneva. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu for the third session of Cyprus talks since November.

The opposition Serb Progressive Party (SNS) would “halt the European road”, if the final condition for Serbia to join the EU would be to recognize Kosovo. This is according to party leader Tomislav Nikolić.