Kosovo recognitions will very much depend on the authorities’ commitment to the process, says James Rubin, Diplomatic Advisor to the US Secretary of State. In an interview for Kosovo’s private television, RTV21, Rubin declared that “the long battle for recognition will depend on the policies Kosovo’s leadership is about to …

Caught between a worsening economic crisis and the tough reforms required for its management, the government of the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) -Croat Federation is increasingly losing the ground under its feet. In the middle of the ongoing negotiations for a new ‘Stand-by’ arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, representatives …

Turkish Cypriots held general elections on Sunday in a vote likely to boost hardliners and complicate efforts to resolve the long-running division of Cyprus, a threat to Turkey’s European Union accession bid. Just under 162,000 people are voting in parliamentary elections in breakaway northern Cyprus, a sliver of territory only …

Russia has taken a gamble in giving Chechnya’s independent-minded president responsibility for security as this may embolden him to attempt to wrest the province from Moscow’s control. Russia has fought Chechen rebels in two wars since 1994 to crush attempts at independence, but in recent years the Kremlin has preferred …

Serbia’s President Boris Tadic on Friday urged Serbs and Albanians to live in peace during a pre-Easter visit to an Orthodox monastery in the newly-independent state of Kosovo. “Today I have a message of peace for Serbs, Albanians and for all people who live in Kosovo in our Serbia,” Tadic …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands The case at The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality of Kosovo’s independence is “the trial of the century”, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said on Friday (April 17th), as the two sides in the trial presented their arguments.

BERLIN, Germany Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday (April 19th) that his country would strengthen the EU’s internal market if it joins the bloc. Erdogan was speaking in Hanover, a day after attending a birthday party for former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who turned 65 on April …

ANKARA, Turkey Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the Ankara mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the secular Turkish state, on Sunday (April 19th) to protest arrests stemming from an alleged plot to topple the country’s Islamic-rooted government.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) High Representative Valentin Inzko said on Sunday (April 19th) that constitutional changes in BiH are no condition for shutting down the office of the high representative or for the country’s EU accession.

TIRANA, Albania President Bamir Topi on Sunday (April 19th) again urged all citizens to participate in the June 28th general elections, given the importance of these elections to potential EU membership.