Balkan Developments

published on 6/2/23 1:35 PM

Erdogan is the outgoing-incoming president of Turkey

The chairman of the Supreme Election Council of Turkey Ahmet Yener made ‎public the definitive results from the second round of the presidential elections ‎in the country. Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins 52.18% of the votes, his rival ‎Kemal Kilicdaroglu – 47.82%.

“The election showed a deeply divided society, ‎as evidenced by the slim margin in the results. Some analysts say the upcoming ‎term will be much harder for Recep Erdogan than the previous one. He is ‎going to be hard pressed by the inflation, the collapse of the Turkish lira, the ‎high unemployment rate,” journalist Nahide Deniz comments for the BNR, ‎and adds that Erdogan’s first goal from now on will be the local election in the ‎autumn, and especially winning back Istanbul from the opposition. ‎

Escalation of tension in Kosovo

NATO has sent an extra 700 troops to its peacekeeping mission in Kosovo following unrest in the ethnically divided north. The president of Serbia also put the Serbian army on the highest level of combat readiness.

Tensions escalated after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in four predominantly Serb districts following April elections in which Serbs refused to participate. In one of the municipalities - Zvechan, dozens of NATO soldiers and Serbian demonstrators were injured in clashes. After a meeting of NATO's foreign ministers in Oslo, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the created situation hinders the European integration processes of Kosovo and Serbia.‎

According to the Serbian constitution, Kosovo is part of Serbia as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, and according to the Kosovo constitution - the Republic of Kosovo. Today, Kosovo is recognized as a republic by more than 90 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, reminds BGNES. Among the countries that do not recognize Kosovo's independence are Russia, China, India and five EU member states - Spain, Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia and Greece. ‎

Greek border police officers detained for migrant smuggling

Greek border police officers have been detained on charges of participating in a large migrant smuggling network, BTA reports. The law enforcement officers assisted the other members of the network living in Turkey by not stopping the crossing of migrants from the neighboring country across the river Maritza (Evros) in at least twelve cases. Large sums of cash were seized from the homes of border policemen.‎

Official figures show that in 2022, Greek border police prevented more than 260,000 illegal crossings at the EU's external border near the Evros River along the border between Greece and Turkey.

Migrants fleeing war and poverty trying to reach the EU often cross from Turkey to Greece, with some trying to avoid official registration to apply for asylum in other European countries.‎

Frida Krifca: Small farms are being replaced by larger farms in Albania ‎

Farming in Albania is going through an important process of restructuring, ‎with small farms with 1-2 cows giving way to bigger farms with more than 10 ‎heads of cattle, while support for this sector has been growing with grants and ‎training, stated Frida Krifca, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, ‎as quoted by the Bulgarian news agency BTA.

On World Milk Day, 1 June, ‎Frida Krifca pointed out that milk is an important source of income in villages, ‎and in agriculture as a whole. Out of four products, certified recently as “Made ‎in Albania”, three are dairy products – Mishavine cheese (cow, goat and sheep ‎milk) from Kelmendi mountain, the cheese from Malësi e Madhe, and goat ‎cheese from Dibër, with a protected geographical indication, designation of ‎origin and a traditional speciality guarantee.

According to Frida Krifca, these ‎are traditional products popular in rural tourism. ‎

Compiled by Miglena Ivanova