Balkans

Bulgaria’s Parliament Speaker Georgi Pirinski is visiting Ankara Thursday amidst a growing scandal regarding some Bulgarian cities recognizing the 1915 Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire. Three Turkish cities have broken their twin cities agreements with Bulgarian ones and nine more are about to do so due to …

Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivaylo Kalfin, has underlined the need for more energy security in the Baltic region and across Europe during a meeting late Wednesday with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza. Their meeting was attended by the US Department of …

Before the incoming census in both Kosovo and Albania, the Bulgarian Government has mobilized and is on a quest to find Bulgarians among the Gorans (Macedonian muslims) in Kosovo. For this purpose offices have been opened in both Kosovo and Albania where Bulgarian citizenship is offered to anyone who walks …

The European Parliament in Strasbourg, Thursday expressed its support for Macedonia’s EU candidacy and urged the EU to grant the country a date for the start of accession talks by the year end, local media report. In the progress report for the country that was adopted, MPs expressed regrets that …

The Serbian government plans to debate the controversial anti-discrimination bill on Friday, and says it will consider some of the changes that religious communities have requested. Branko Ruzic from the Socialist Party of Serbia told B92 he did not expect any problems at today’s cabinet meeting and believed the bill …

A joint breakfast for the candidates for president in Macedonia’s up coming elections that was supposed to add a positive tone to the campaign was somewhat undermined after one of the contestants verbally attacked his opponent. As three of the candidates were waiting for the other four to arrive, Georgi …

Twelve Turkish municipalities have severed ties with their Bulgarian sister cities, because the latter have classified the deaths of hundred of thousands of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 as genocide, Bulgarian National Radio said, citing Turkish-language newspaper Hürriyet.

The recognition of Kosovo’s independence by the Maldives has created a furore in this small chain of Indian Ocean islands. After a good of lobbying by Kosovo politicians, the Maldives recognised the country on February 19. But just two weeks on, President Mohamed Nasheed has ordered police to investigate allegations …

Imer Selmani, the head of the freshly formed New Democracy party has a serious chance of becoming the first ethnic Albanian to ever enter the second round of Macedonia presidential election, the latest opinion poll shows. The presidential candidate of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, Georgi Ivanov leads the …

The voting process in Macedonia’s presidential and local election to be held on March 22 – with a likely second round on April 5 – will be the most complex ever staged in Macedonia’s democratic history, the head of the State’s Election Commission said on Thursday. The situation will be …