southeastern europe

I have been meaning to post a few thoughts on the results of the parliamentary elections in Northern Cyprus since the eve of the vote (just as I was hoping to do in the case of the Turkish local elections) but, as this is a volatile time, events seem to be overtaking any attempt to keep track of developments in Southeastern Europe. The outcome of the North Cyprus elections confirms the fears of people like me, who had supported - wit h some reservations - the yes vote on the Annan Plan back in 2004 that a Greek-Cypriot 'no' vote might make a rapprochement between the two communities very difficult. 2004 had presented a unique opportunity for an agreement - however imperfect that might have been. I have always maintained that provisions that sanctioned ethnic segregation were unworkable as they did not take into account the dynamics of closer contact: how can you classi fy mixed families, children of mixed backgrounds through a constitution that is blind to these complexitie

Skopje 28.03.2009 On 28 March 2009, protesters gathered on Skopje’s central square in order to make publicly known their objection to a government sponsored plan to construct a new church in one of the most used everyday public spaces of the city. The protesters wanted the space to remain open and had reservations to erecting an orthodox church there with the us e of public funds. Their peaceful demonstration was met with violence as an orchestrated counter-protest which, with slogans such as " who is against the building of the Church, is against God", c hallenged their right to demonstrate. To add insult to injury, the leaders of the protest were accused of acting in defiance of the law that allegedly required them to give notice to the authorities prior to the demonstration. Leaving the legal technicalities aside - the constitution enshrines the right to peaceful protest - there is a lot at stake in the recent demonstrations and violence that ensued as well as the verbal e

Yesterday, air raid sirens could be heard all over Serbia to commemorate the NATO bombing of the country that led to the de facto end of Serbian rule in Kosovo ten years ago. The anniversary was a tense occasion that confirms the volatility of Serbian politics but also the fragility of the country's current European orientation. Politicians of almost all hues invariably denounced the raids, and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic branded them "an illegal act" and added that "Serbia cannot forget those tragic days." Public rituals that reproduce a sense of collective trauma such as a special cabinet session, visits and "pilgrimages" to bombing sites, remembrance activities at schools were held countrywide for yet one more year but only a heavily policed rally in central Belgrade was organized by hard-line nationalists and the hardliners were largely contained. And although Serbian President Boris Tadic called the bombing a "tragic" event that acc