Balkans

Greece and Turkey have started a new round of exploratory talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul to settle a long-running dispute over energy exploration and territorial rights in the eastern Mediterranean. The dialog was held following a five-year hiatus on Monday, after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu invited Greece …

Greece has restarted an agreement to send any refugees who arrive on Greek lands back to Turkey reports North Press. Greece recently re-activated the EU-Turkey statement of Mar, 18, 2016, which provides for the deportation of any illegal migrant or refugee from its lands to Turkey.

Bosnia lags behind the rest of the Western Balkans in terms of its strategy on countering terrorism, particularly how to handle fighters returning from foreign wars. Trailing its Western Balkan peers, Bosnia has yet to prepare a report on the implementation of its five-year counter-terrorism strategy, which expired in late …

The United States under Joe Biden must resist turning a blind eye to Russia’s provocations in Kosovo and across in the Balkans in exchange for deals elsewhere.

Turkey has agreed to resume long-stalled talks with Greece on complex territorial disputes, but its calculus appears focused on short-term gains in its relations with the United States and the European Union.

Greece and Turkey will hold explanatory talks for the first time in years following the tensions that peaked last year between the regional rivals, although the two parties have yet to agree on the issues to be discussed. Greece and Turkey will sit down for exploratory talks on Jan. 25 …

Reliable sources have informed thee Syrian Observatory that unknown gunmen attacked, last night, a checkpoint of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham at the southern entrance of Idlib city, on the road to Areha. Clashes erupted between the attackers and HTS members stationed at the checkpoint, then HTS brought in military reinforcement to …

Greek lawmakers have approved a government plan to purchase advanced fighter jets from France in a three-billion-dollar deal that is expected to infuriate Turkey, amid a dispute with Athens over energy resources in the Mediterranean.

Hostility to Jews has never been a state ideology in Montenegro, and so has never taken root among citizens, Luciano Mose Prelevic tells BIRN. Montenegro is one of few countries in the world where anti-Semitism does not manifest itself in public at all, the Chief Rabbi of Montenegro and Croatia, …

Christmas comments by outspoken Serbian Orthodox bishop Grigorije have fuelled talk of a potential political challenge to Serbia’s ruling Progressives. On January 7, when Orthodox Christians mark Christmas, a Serbian Orthodox bishop in Germany gave an interview to Balkan news outlet NewsMax Adria. His remarks, however, were more political than …