Balkans

A Neglected Crisis in Bosnia Threatens to Boil Over

Bosnia-Herzegovina could be on the brink of a political collapse that triggers a new conflagration in the Balkans. There is a growing consensus among experts that this is the country’s most dangerous moment since the 1995 Dayton Accords, which ended a war that cost 100,000 lives and displaced more than 2 million people. Analysts also say stability in the Balkans has been eroded recently by the disengagement of the European Union and United States.

“The prospects for further division and conflict are very real,” the international community’s chief representative in Bosnia, Christian Schmidt, wrote in a report to the United Nations that was leaked earlier this month.

Bulgaria accuses Turkey of election interference

Turkey has rejected accusations that it is helping Bulgarian politicians representing the country’s Turkish minority.

The Turkish government has denied allegations that it interfered in neighboring Bulgaria’s election.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Bulgaria’s ambassador to Turkey, Hristov Tcholakov, and told him that Turkey rejects all accusations that it interfered in the Nov. 14 vote. The move followed Bulgaria summoning Turkey’s ambassador over the alleged interference, the official Anadolu Agency reported.

North Macedonia’s Opposition Gamble Plays Into Zaev’s Hand

A badly thought-out bid to topple Zoran Zaev’s administration has left the embattled PM stronger than he was before – though the benefits for him may be short-lived.

Amember of parliament gone missing, deputies with COVID in full protective suits stuck for hours in glass cubicles, no quorum for a plenary session to resume, numerous press conferences by the opposition – threats, appeals and frustration.

Polish Nationalists Burn German Flags in State-Sanctioned March

Poland’s Independence Day march goes ahead despite a court ban on what has become an annual event for far-right sympathisers.

Thousands of Polish nationalists marched through the streets of Warsaw on November 11, in an annual Independence Day march that has become something of a far-right fest over the last few years and only went ahead this year with the help of a veterans’ institution under the control of Poland’s right-wing government.

Migrants on Polish Border Face Dire Consequences as Belarus and EU Harden Stances

With the EU slapping new sanctions on Minsk and claims the Belarusians are trying to force the migrants they are herding over the Polish border to provoke violent incidents, the plight of those stuck on the border promises to get worse before it gets better.

It’s almost midnight in a forest near the village of Narewka, located about 10 kilometres away from Poland’s eastern border with Belarus, and a family of Iraqi Kurds are squatting, holding their breath, as footsteps approach.

The Fall of Vukovar: Oral History of a Croatian Town’s Destruction

On the 30th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar to the Yugoslav People’s Army and Serbian paramilitaries, local residents and Croats who fought to defend the town look back on the devastating three-month siege and its brutal aftermath.

The Yugoslav People’s Army, aided by Serb Territorial Defence forces and paramilitaries from Serbia, launched a full-blown attack on Vukovar in eastern Croatia on August 25, 1991, beginning a siege that would last for 86 days and leave around 3,000 soldiers and civilians dead before the town’s defenders had to surrender.

Turkey’s Pragmatic Policy In The Balkans Has Its Limits – OpEd

The recent crisis in Bosnia has highlighted the adaptability – and limitations – of Turkish policy in the Balkans.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently hosted in Ankara Milorad Dodik, the Serbian member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, to discuss the political crisis in Bosnia triggered by Dodik’s threat to abandon state institutions. At the beginning of November, Bosnia’s Bosniak leader, Bakir Izetbegovic, visited Erdogan in Istanbul to address the same issue.

Why is Bosnia on the Brink Again?

Bosnia and Herzegovina is once again making headlines. There is talk of renewed violence, with the blessing of Belgrade and Moscow. But the entire region is in a precarious situation.

Back in September 2021, tensions ran high in Montenegro following the decision to anoint Bishop Joanikije II as the new Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Montenegro. Since Serbia heavily backs the Serbian Orthodox Church and utilises it to expand its soft power influence throughout the Balkans, its meddling in Montenegro did much to aggravate relations between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Montenegrins, who are a majority. There were explosions, teargas being fired by law enforcement agencies and barricades blocking roads.

Belgium terrorism convict arrested in Bulgaria

A man convicted of terrorism in Belgium has been detained as he entered Bulgaria through its south-eastern border with Turkey, prosecutors announced on Thursday.

Border police and state security agents intercepted the man on Wednesday in a special operation, the prosecution said.

He is “sought in relation to a 20-year jail sentence for terrorism handed to him by a court in an EU country” and a terrorism sentence of nine years and five months in Turkey, it said.