Balkans

In November 2001, the Special Operations Unit, a Serbian State Security special forces unit, staged an armed mutiny and blocked highways, saying that they wanted the government to stop extraditing Serbs to the UN war crimes court in The Hague. Looking back almost 20 years later, veteran journalist Milos Vasic …

Balkans states might be prepared on paper, but in practice they are struggling to confront the growing threat from cyber-attacks. Bosnia doesn’t have a state-level strategy. It wasn’t voting irregularities or the counting of postal ballots that delayed the results of last year’s parliamentary election in North Macedonia, but an …

There’s no love lost between Edi Rama and Albin Kurti. But if Rama wins a third term as Albanian prime minister, their relationship may shape relations between Albania and Kosovo for years to come, with ramifications for the region.

The big powers have long understood the need to unite scientific know-how with diplomacy both to deal with common problems and raise their international profiles – when will the Balkan states do likewise? “To remain relevant and competitive, we need to engage more in science diplomacy and global scientific collaboration,” …

Kosovo Albanians from the villages of Qirez/Cirez and Likoshan/Likosane recall how their relatives were murdered 23 years ago in attacks by Serbian forces that galvanised support for armed resistance to the Yugoslav regime. At Sheremet Sejdiu’s home in the village of Qirez/Cirez, there is a black marble plaque commemorating his …

Media ethics is the weakest part of the professional journalism today anywhere in the world. Instead of writing in civilized way, very often agencies, and especially Reuters, writes about Balkan people if they were tribes from the 11th century or so. Case in Point? Read no further than the headline: …

From education to investment, erased addresses and negative stereotypes, ethnic Albanians still face widespread discrimination in Serbia, says MP Shaip Kamberi. From education to investment, erased addresses and negative stereotypes, ethnic Albanians still face widespread discrimination in Serbia, says MP Shaip Kamberi.

Since the fall of the Islamic State ‘caliphate’, piecemeal efforts by Balkan states to repatriate their nationals from refugee camps in Syria means more than 100 children are still living in squalid, unsafe conditions. With her three children, Floresha Rasha has a new home – a three-storey beachfront building ringed …

The fresh crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West is having a ripple effect in many countries and regions – including in the Balkans and Central Europe – where Russian and Western interests collide. In his first foreign policy speech, new US President Joe Biden summarized his international agenda in …

The two countries are set for renewed talks over Aegean maritime zones in early March. Turkey accused Greece’s air force of harassing a Turkish research ship in the Aegean Sea this week ahead of renewed talks over the two countries’ ongoing maritime dispute. Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Greek F-16s approached …