Blic daily reported that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan completely changed his stance on the Balkans, after saying the project of “Greater Albania” is not only bad but also dangerous. He made these remarks in an interview to the Albanian TV station only three days before holding parliamentary elections in Albania.
Turkey's president says "the ideas of some about the unification of Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo into a Greater Albania" are "bad, and unacceptable to Turkey."
According to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey is loudly advocating "respecting sovereignty and integrity of countries in the Balkans."
Analysts say the US announcement of sending an additional 130 troops to Kosovo to support KFOR and NATO is a message to warmongering politicians in the region.
The troops in question are members of US special units of the Tupelo-based 1st Battalion, "highly trained for emergency response," the daily Blic is reporting.
Former Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle told an audience today (7 December) that if the EU distances itself from the Western Balkans, other geopolitical players will immediately seize the opportunity to assert their influence over the region.
The ex-Commissioner, who now works as a special envoy to the Balkans for the Czech ministry of foreign affairs, spoke to the BALKANS – boosting connections on the road to the EU conference, organised by the Friends of Europe, a Brussels think tank.
The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi said that normalization of the relations between Serbs and Albanians does not pass from Belgrade to Tirana, but through Pristina to the other territories.
If the situation deteriorates in Syria, Afghanistan, and if Turkey decides, depending on the outcome of negotiations with the European Union, to direct refugees to Europe, which are stationed in this country, in late October, Serbia could face a new big wave of migrants that would arrive through so far little used route - through Kosovo.
From the refugee crisis to security threats, Europe’s biggest challenges pass through the Western Balkans. But officials worry that Brexit will see the EU turn inwards just as Russia’s influence in the region is on the rise.
UN chief 'underscored his deep concern about the scope of continuing widespread arrests, detentions and suspensions'
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday expressed deep concern about the ongoing wave of arrests in Turkey since the attempted coup.
Ban told Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during a telephone conversation that "credible evidence" must be presented swiftly so that the detainees' legal status can be determined by a court of law.
Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, said that the Turkish Embassy’s note calling on the government of Kosovo to take necessary legal steps against the Gazeta Express journalist Berat Buzhala for his Facebook comments over the coup attempt in Turkey is out of the ordinary, unacceptable and an overreaction. Hoxhaj said Buzhala’s comments were sarcastic and had no political motives. “In my view, the Turkish Embassy in Pristina overreacted,” said Hoxhaj adding that Kosovo respects freedom of expression and of the press.
By Fatos Bytyci
PRISTINA (Reuters) - Turkey's embassy in Kosovo has urged the government to take action against a journalist over tongue-in-cheek Facebook comments he made about the failed military coup in Turkey, a document seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday.
As the failed coup unfolded on July 15, Berat Buzhala, a leading Kosovo journalist known for his satirical comments, wrote on Facebook: