Southern Balkans

Turkey’s election authority has confirmed Turkey’s strongman for 16 years, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections, with 99.7 per cent of the votes counted. Democracy was the winner of Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary...

As Hungary adopts bills penalising organisations that help migrants and refugees, the Hungarian Foreign Minister from the ruling Fidesz party, told BIRN that Hungary is an “anti-migration” country. Szijjarto, 39, says the issue of migrants and...

On the sidelines of a rancorous EU meeting in Brussels on the migration crisis, politicians’ talk of opening processing centres in Albania continues to fuel political tensions there. The European Union faces a fresh crisis over...

Opponents of Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party are preparing for more street protests after its leader received a second corruption sentence last week. Romanian anti-corruption activists and opposition supporters prepared for more protests on Monday after...

LGBT community and activists gathered on Saturday to march for their rights in the Croatian city of Split and the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The event in Split was organised by a union of local LGBT associations...

Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, is bracing for renewed protests this weekend, after several opposition parties called on supporters to take to the streets and demonstrate against the court ruling invalidating the result of the June 3 mayoral...

Turks are voting on Sunday in parliamentary and presidential elections which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes will boost his strength and that of his ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP. More than 56.3 million Turkish citizens...

From tolerance during Ottoman times to criminalisation, throughout the 20th century, homosexuality has remained a highly sensitive issue in this Balkan society, a leading activist explains. As June is globally marked as Pride month, the lawyer, author...

Switzerland’s Football Federation has denied that Russia asked it to ban fans from flying Greater Albanian or Kosovo flags during Friday’s match with Serbia in Kaliningrad, as some Serbian media reported. The governing body for Swiss...

A new survey by the International Republican Institute shows that the vast majority of Bosnians are gloomy about the future – though most still back the country’s European integration. About 86 per cent of Bosnians believe...