TURKEY Deputy PM Bülent Arınç lashes opposition claims of ‘treason’ due to his government’s Kurdish initiative and praises the so-called democratic move, using the Kurdish expression ‘Xwede şi te razi,’ which means ‘thank you’ in Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç censured opposition claims of ‘treason’ and praised the so-called …

TURKEY Turkey-skeptic European leaders should change their stance while Turkish government leaders should recommit themselves to the reform process, a group of experts recommended Monday for putting Turkish-European relations back on track. The latest report by the Independent Commission on Turkey, which is chaired by Finland’s 2008 Nobel Peace Prize …

ALBANIA Albanian parliament is set to hold a constitutive session Monday following the June 28 parliamentary elections. The election-winning Democrats secured 70 seats in the 140-seat parliament, the Republican Party and one of the exiled Albanians from Greece secured one seat each. The opposition Socialists won 66 seats, with 4 …

RUSSIA President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday instructed the head of the energy giant Gazprom to not change an already signed contract with Ukraine on transit fees for delivery of Russian gas crossing Ukrainian territory. Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, told Medvedev that Kiev proposed changing the contract signed in January, …

GEORGIA Council of Europe calls on entry of the international observers in Georgian occupied territories because human rights are often violated in these regions. This requirement was announced at the meeting of the CE Parliamentary Assembly on September 7, TV company “Imedi” said. Several PACE members are critical towards Russia. …

GEORGIA The Georgian Foreign Ministry called Georgian diplomats accredited abroad to Tbilisi. Such a meeting is held for the first time after Georgia-Russia war in 2008. It was opened by Georgian foreign minister Grigol Vashadze in the hotel ‘Courtyard Marriott’. “We will also discuss the situation in the region. Our …

BULGARIA Newly appointed Serbian ambassador to Bulgaria Alexander Crkvenjakov declared Monday that the priorities of his new post will be focused on strengthening the political and economic relations with Bulgaria. “Relations between the two countries are perfect but the fact that Sofia recognized the one-sided declaration of independence of Kosovo …

BULGARIA “The allegations that we have been spending some BGN 200 million a day are complete nonsense”, former prime minister and chairperson of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Sergey Stanishev said at a news conference in the town of Dobrich. “What have we spent the money for? Do you really …

BULGARIA The Bulgarian government has announced it will allocate 30 million leva for infrastructure project development in Plovdiv as compensation for Plovdiv’s assistance in helping relieve Sofia’s refuse debacle, Stroitelstvo Gradut has reported on September 7. . Bulgaria is faced with being slapped with serious sanctions from the European Union, …

BELGIUM The European Commission announced Monday that it was to unblock millions of euros in agriculture funds for Bulgaria which had been frozen over concerns about fraud, AFP reports. The move to open up the so-called SAPARD funds came after EU member Bulgaria implemented an action plan to address concerns …