Eurasia

The Bulgarian nationalist party VMRO and its partner cable TV channel SKAT have collected 200 000 signatures in support of their demand for a nation-wide referendum on Turkey’s EU accession. The VMRO press center announced Tuesday that the signatures were collected in one month, and that the initiative of the …

Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina have arrested two individuals, including one police officer, on suspicion of war crimes. Milan Peric (1961) and Slavko Lalovic (1959) are suspected of crimes committed in 1992 in the area of Kalinovik, in eastern Herzegovina.

The OSCE office in Tirana announced on Monday (May 17th) that it has a compromise that would end the longstanding political crisis. Last week, OSCE Ambassador Robert Bosch said that a proposal had been presented to both the government and opposition Socialist Party (SP). While Prime Minister Sali Berisha has …

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said on Monday (May 17th) that he is “very happy” with the ongoing co-operation between the government and the EULEX mission. Thaci met with EULEX chief Yves de Kermabon and the outgoing head of the mission’s justice component, Alberto Perduca, who praised the government’s commitment …

Labour unions on Monday (May 17th) rejected a government plan that envisions cutting salaries in the public sector by 25%, and pensions by 15%. During a meeting with government officials and business representatives, unions called for a compromise, warning that without one, about 40,000 workers will stage a general strike …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Azerbaijan on Monday and discussed bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijani leaders, Xinhua informed. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who had a meeting with Erdogan in Baku, expressed satisfaction with the current state of cooperation between the two countries.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday signed a series of important accords with Ukraine’s new leadership as he paid his first official visit to Kiev. The accords, including one on using a Russian satellite navigation system in Ukraine, were signed after the third meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian interstate commission in …

The European Union must assume its role in the process of resolution of name dispute between Macedonia and Greece to ensure an accelerated EU integration of the entire region, Slovenian MEP Jelko Kacin said.

The Congress of Georgian Azerbaijanis will hold activities to celebrate May 28 – 92-nd anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and May 26 – Independence Day of Georgia, the Congress said. Before the event, wreaths will be laid to the bust of national leader Heydar Aliyev and the monument to …

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski met his Greek counterpart George Papandreou last evening in Madrid during the EU-LAC summit, the government informed. During the meeting, the two prime ministers discussed name issue and Greece’s financial crisis.