Balkans

Bosnia is a country “irreversibly divided” along ethnic lines, Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik told a Serbian paper on Monday, 15 years after a peace deal ended the country’s inter-ethnic war in the 1990s. “Bosnia is divided in an irreversible way” and “they (the international community) will

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey is ready to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels and aircraft if the European Union takes steps to end the economic isolation of Turkish Cyprus. Erdoğan, speaking to reporters on Monday, said Turkey would not change its position on Cyprus …

Marking the 15th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreements on Sunday (November 21st), US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Bosnian leaders to address remaining constitutional and other issues that are essential to progress. She described the accord that ended the 1992-1995 conflict as a cornerstone of peace and …

Macedonia is ready and the doors for its NATO accession are open but the membership will be a fact after the name dispute with Greece is solved. This is the conclusion drawn at the NATO summit in Lisbon about Macedonia. Macedonia President Gjorge Ivanov, who attended the forum in Lisbon, …

European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule is to arrive on a visit to Serbia on Tuesday. Fule is expected to hand the European Commission’s ‘questionnaire’ to Serbian authorities. Serbia’s answers to the questions will determine its readiness for the EU accession. Fule’s cabinet said that the document consists of around …

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 …