Serbia's media stage blackout over pressure on free pressBelgrade, 28 September 2017 (MIA) - Serbia's embattled independent media have staged a blackout to warn against what they say is Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic's muzzling of free press by intimidation, threats, and financial pressure, AP reported.
Dozens of Serbian media outlets and non-government organizations darkened their web pages for several minutes at noon on Thursday, with a white inscription warning: "This is what it looks like when there is no free press!" Some newspapers appeared on newsstands with a black ribbon printed on front pages as part of the action dubbed "STOP media darkness in Serbia."
Protest organizers say the campaign aimed to alert the public "to the fact that the media freedom in our country is dying and that we all must fight to preserve it." ba/15:22
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Turkey's Erdogan links fate of detained U.S. pastor to wanted cleric Gulen
Ankara, 28 September 2017 (MIA) - President Tayyip Erdogan suggested on Thursday that Turkey could free a detained U.S. pastor if the United States hands over a Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania whom Ankara blames for a failed military coup last year, Reuters reports.
Turkey has been seeking the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan whose supporters are blamed for trying to overthrow Erdogan’s government in July 2016. Gulen has denied any role in the coup attempt, in which 250 people were killed.
Thousands of people have been detained in a crackdown since the failed coup, including American Christian missionary Andrew Brunson, who ran a small church in Izmir on Turkey’s western coast.
Brunson has been held since October. Turkish media say the charges against him include membership of Gulen’s network, considered a terrorist organization by the Turkish government. The United States says Brunson has been wrongfully imprisoned and has called for him to be released.
In a speech to police officers at the presidential palace in Ankara, Erdogan appeared to link the fate of the two men.
“‘Give us the pastor back’, they say. You have one pastor as well. Give him (Gulen) to us,” Erdogan said. “Then we will try him (Brunson) and give him to you.”
“The (pastor) we have is on trial. Yours is not - he is living in Pennsylvania. You can give him easily. You can give him right away.”
A decree issued in August gave Erdogan authority to approve the exchange of foreigners detained or convicted in Turkey with people held in other countries “in situations required by national security or national interests”. lk/17:42
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Report: Euro-Atlantic integration - driving power of Western Balkan resilience
Brussels, 28 September 2017 (MIA) - As long as political, legal and economic conditions in Southeast Europe show no signs of converging with the rest of the continent, the region will remain unstable, according to a report of the European Union Institute for Security Studies.
Challenges of the region, such as weak economy and democracy, paired with Jean-Claude Juncker Juncker's 2014 statement that there will be no enlargement, have made a fertile ground for external influences, the report says.
'By nurturing state and societal resilience in the Western Balkans, the EU is not only directly addressing the region's capacity to cope with multiple challenges, but also making a long-term investment in the interest of its own citizens,' it notifies further.
Rosa Balfour, a senior fellow based at the Germany Marshall Fund's Brussels office, believes the Western Balkan has shown a remarkable resilience over the past two decades.
When it comes to fragility, she considers that the lack of EU and US involvement in the region made other external factors, such as Turkey, Russia and the Gulf States, main contributors to the region's destabilization. lk/20:30
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Erdogan, Putin agree joint push to end Syria war
Ankara, 29 September 2017 (MIA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed to step up efforts to bring peace to Syria, with Mr Putin declaring the right conditions now existed to end the civil war.
After late night talks at Mr Erdogan's presidential palace in Ankara, both leaders agreed to push for the creation of a "de-escalation" zone in Syria's key northern province of Idlib, currently controlled by jihadists.
Despite being on opposite sides of the conflict, Russia and Turkey have been working together intensely since a 2016 reconciliation deal ended a crisis caused by the shooting down of a Russian war plane over Syria.
Moscow and Ankara have proposed at peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria to be patrolled by military observers, but the one in Idlib is by far the most significant.
Mr Erdogan said the pair agreed to "pursue more intensely" the implementation of a de-escalation zone in Idlib, in comments echoed by Mr Putin.
Mr Putin said the work to implement the agreements made at the Astana peace talks has "not been easy" but the sides had already "succeeded in having a positive result".
"De-facto, the necessary conditions have been created for the end of the fratricidal war in Syria, the final defeat of terrorists and the return of Syrians to a peaceful life and their homes," said Mr Putin.
While parts of Syria, notably Aleppo province, have calmed considerably in the last months, Idlib remains the scene of heavy fighting.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 135 civilians have been killed since 19 September in Russian and regime strikes in Idlib and Hama province, as well as 168 jihadists and rebels.
Russia and Turkey would work "with the aim of deepening the coordination of our joint activity to solve the Syria crisis," Mr Putin added.
Russia, along with Iran, is the key backer of President Bashar al-Assad and Moscow's military intervention inside Syria is widely seen as tipping the balance in the conflict.
Turkey, however, has backed the rebels seeking Mr Assad's ouster.
Although Turkey's policy is officially unchanged, Ankara has notably cooled its rhetoric against the Damascus regime since its cooperation with Russia began to heat up.
Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan also hailed improving economic bilateral cooperation, with Russian tourists returning to Turkey and the two countries working on a Black Sea gas pipeline.
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