Eurasia

The current NATO secretary general steps down on July 31 and his successor is expected to be named at a NATO summit on April 3 and 4. Turkey has not decided whether to back Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next NATO chief, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said …

Walter Boltz told it was in everyone`s interest for European consumers to find a solution to the problem that has cut supplies to Europe. Russia should let Europe upgrade Ukraine’s gas grid and transport fuel across it, so political tensions between Kiev and Moscow do not lead to regular supply …

Turkey accuses the KRG of not doing enough to crack down on rebels from the Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK). Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul urged the prime minister of Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdistan region on Tuesday to take a clear position against Kurdish separatist rebels using Iraq as a base to …

SOFIA, Bulgaria — In an interview with Reuters on Monday (March 23rd), Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev said his Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) must win the parliamentary elections this summer to prevent the opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria

BELGRADE, Serbia — The government on Monday (March 23rd) asked the European Commission (EC) to advance it 120m euros from the pre-accession funds already earmarked for Serbia. Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn in an attempt to reach agreement on the issue.

NICOSIA, Cyprus – President Demetris Christofias expressed concern on Monday (March 23rd) that election results in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) may harm ongoing reunification talks between the two Cypriot communities.

ANKARA, Turkey – Police arrested a senior military officer Monday (March 23rd) as part of an investigation of alleged killings of Kurds by Turkish security forces in the 1990s. They detained Colonel Cemal Temizoz in the central city of Kayseri, where he commands the local paramilitary gendarmerie.

MOSCOW – The first film about last August’s war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia is to be broadcast on Russian television at primetime on Sunday. The made-for-TV movie, directed by Igor Voloshin, is called “Olympus Inferno” and tells the story of a Michael, a young Russian-American entomologist who …

Sofia is in talks with Moscow for securing temporary financing for the planned EUR 4.0 B nuclear power plant at Belene, for which Bulgaria contracted Russia’s Atomstroyexport. The statement was made by Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio and confirmed earlier reports. Speaking …

Bulgarian and the United States mark Tuesday the fiftieth anniversary of unbroken diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and the US were established back in 1901 with an exchange of legacies. On September 19, 1903, the accreditation letters of the first American diplomat, John Jackson, were accepted. For the first …