Turkey expects normalization of relations with Berlin after elections in Germany

Turkish President Recep Erdogan has suggested that relations between Berlin and Ankara would be normalized after the elections in Germany. At a rally in İsparta, southwestern Turkey, the president pointed out that criticism and attacks by some European countries against Turkey were a feature of election tactics. Expectations that relations between Ankara and Berlin will normalize were also expressed by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who said that a step in this direction was the agreement reached for a delegation of the Bundestag to visit the NATO base in the Turkish province of Konya. From the point of view of Turkey, however, it was not acceptable for German MPs to inspect the NATO Air Force Base near Incirlik, mainly used by the Turkish and US Air Force.

West worried about political situation in Kosovo

The Embassies of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the US in Pristina have expressed concerns over the political stalemate in Kosovo, where two months after the early elections, a government has not yet been formed. The reason for the statement has become a new failure of the new parliament to elect a speaker and give the President the opportunity to appoint a prime minister after the elections from June11. In the statement, the embassies say that MPs in the Kosovo Parliament should attend its sessions andallow it to do its work, so that the country can cope with the problems of economic development, strengthen the rule of law, as well as strengthening the European perspective of Kosovo and settlement of disputes with Serbia.

Serbia expects deliveries of Russian tanks and armored vehicles in 2018

Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin announced Belgrade expected the delivery of 30 Russian T-72S and 30 BRDM-2 armored vehicles in 2018. Previously, the minister had announced that by the end of the year Belgrade would receive from Moscow six MiG- 29. In 2016, the country already received new Mi-17 helicopters, and another H145M helicopter would be soon delivered. Vulin assured his Russian counterpart, Gen. Sergey Shoyguthat during the presidency of Alexander Vulin, Serbia would not enter NATO and would continue to pursue a policy of military neutrality, TASS reported.

16 years since signing of the Ohrid Agreement

On August 13, sixteen years ago the Ohrid Framework Agreement was signed, ending the armed conflict in Macedonia in 2001. The agreement was signed on 13 August in Skopje by Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, President Boris Trajkovski, SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski and the leaders of the Albanian Democratic Party Arben Xhaferi and the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Imer Imeri. The agreement was achieved through the mediation of the EU and US special envoys François Leotard and James Pardew. The signing was also attended by then EU High Representative Javier Solana.

According to "Kathimerini" Sofia and Skopje joined forces against Athens

Under the heading "Sofia, Skopje and Name", Greek paper Kathimerini has commented that Macedonia has not made any significant steps to solve the name dispute, but for the first time in several years there have been new circumstances that could jump start the process. One of them is warming of relations between Sofia and Skopje on the issue, the newspaper writes, and points out that Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva has recently disagreed with the hypothesis that the name of Macedonia should contain a geographical definition, such as Northern or Upper Macedonia, as this may show aspirations towards Bulgaria’s Pirin Macedonia region. According to Kathimerini, given the fact that Skopje has already rejected the idea of ​​a geographical definition, it could be said that the latest statements of the Bulgarian Foreign Minister unofficially meant joining forces between Sofia and Skopje against Athens in the dispute.

English: Alexander Markov