Mladic’s Poor Health Is New Focus at The Hague

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By MARLISE SIMONS

Published: November 5, 2011
THE HAGUE — Each time Ratko Mladic has come to court, he has complained about his health — his fatigue, his stroke-weakened right arm, his kidney pains — emphasizing his ailments as if they were the central focus of his trial on war crimes and genocide charges.
But as the extent of health problems of Mr. Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general, has become more apparent after five months in custody, court officials worry that they may well shape the case against him, their most high-profile defendant....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/world/europe/ratko-mladics-poor-health-is-new-focus-of-his-war-crimes-trial.html?ref=bosniaandherzegovina

In Kosovo, Smuggling Fosters Unusual Ethnic Cooperation

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By DOREEN CARVAJAL

Published: October 24, 2011
MITROVICA, Kosovo — For three months, this gritty mining town has been a hot spot of Balkan ethnic tension ominous enough to prompt new deployments of armed NATO peacekeepers and action by the European Union to slow Serbia’s long-sought bid for membership.
In the long siege at makeshift gravel barricades, ethnic Serbs hurled rocks toward ethnic Albanians on the other side of the Ibar River, and this summer, hooded men in shorts and sneakers firebombed a border-control station, stoking fears among Western powers that ethnic clashes could spin out of control in northern Kosovo....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/europe/in-balkans-smuggling-forges-a-rare-unity.html?_r=1&ref=albania

Concerns Grow About Authoritarianism in Macedonia

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By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

Published: October 13, 2011
SKOPJE, MACEDONIA — The ambitious retooling of this small nation’s identity — a Balkan brand of hyper-patriotism accompanied by the trumpeting of Macedonia’s ancient roots — is raising concerns internationally about growing authoritarianism, the silencing of dissent and accusations of abuse of power by the governing party here....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/world/europe/concerns-grow-about-authoritarianism-in-macedonia.html?ref=macedonia

Kosovo’s Serbs Pressed to End Autonomy Push

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 MEMO FROM KOSOVO
By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

Published: September 29, 2011
MITROVICA, Kosovo — After years of impasse between the national government of Kosovo and ethnic Serbs demanding autonomy within their northern enclave in the new country, international pressure has intensified on the Serbs. And while the immediate result has been minor clashes, there is new hope for some movement toward a resolution for the last geopolitically unsettled chunk of the former Yugoslavia....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/world/europe/26iht-kosovo26.html?ref=serbia

Peacekeepers Take Serbia-Kosovo Border Posts

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By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

Published: September 16, 2011
RASKA, SERBIA — On the day Kosovo promised that it would take full control of its borders for the first time since its declaration of independence in 2008, an international force instead took over the final two border posts Friday morning, seeking to prevent violence and calm the highly tense atmosphere in the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/world/europe/17iht-kosovo17.html?_r=1&ref=europe

Import Helps Macedonia Find Unity

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By DAVE SEMINARA

Published: September 15, 2011
A look at the scoring leader board at the European championships reveals some familiar names — Deng, Bargnani, Parker and Gasol, to name a few. But sitting fourth, averaging 20.9 points a game, is a previously obscure player from New Orleans playing for Macedonia — population two million — which earned a highly improbable berth Wednesday in the tournament’s semifinals with a 67-65 win over host Lithuania....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/sports/basketball/american-mccalebb-helps-macedonia-surprise-at-european-championships.html?ref=macedonia

Kosovo Set to Take 2 Key Border Posts

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By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

Published: September 15, 2011
BELGRADE — The Republic of Kosovo is preparing to take control Friday over the last two posts along its border with Serbia that are beyond its authority, an event that threatens to reignite tensions between the two adversaries....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/world/europe/16iht-kosovo16.html?_r=3&ref=europe

Serbian Official Convicted of War Crimes

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By J. DAVID GOODMAN

Published: September 6, 2011
The former head of the armed forces in Serbia was convicted on Tuesday of crimes against humanity and war crimes by an international tribunal at The Hague.
The former official, Momcilo Perisic, was the army chief of staff of Yugoslavia in the 1990s when that crumbling nation was reduced to just Serbia and Montenegro, and he was a principal architect of the ethnic war in the breakaway republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. ...more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/world/europe/07hague.html?_r=1&ref=croatia

Kosovo: Premier Is Investigated

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WORLD BRIEFING / EUROPE

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: August 30, 2011

An American prosecutor will investigate accusations that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of Kosovo led a criminal network that sold organs taken from civilian captives during the Kosovo war for independence from Serbia in 1998-99, the European Union Mission in Kosovo said on Monday. The prosecutor, John Clint Williamson, was named as leader of a task force set up to investigate the accusations, which were raised in a report last year by the Council of Europe. Mr. Thaci has denied the accusations and has said he is ready to cooperate with any investigation....more...

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/world/europe/30briefs-Kosovo.html?ref=europe

Turkish Government to Return Seized Property to Religious Minorities

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By SEBNEM ARSU

Published: August 28, 2011
ANKARA, Turkey — The Turkish government said it would return hundreds of properties that were confiscated from religious minorities by the state or other parties over the years since 1936, and would pay compensation for properties that were seized and later sold.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the announcement on Sunday to representatives of more than 150 Christian and Jewish trusts gathered at a dinner he hosted in Istanbul to break the day’s Ramadan fast. The government decree to return the properties, bypassing nationalist opposition in Parliament, was issued late Saturday....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/world/europe/29turkey.html?_r=1&ref=europe

Turkey Exacts a Toll on Kurdish Separatists

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WORLD BRIEFING

EUROPE
By SEBNEM ARSU

Published: August 23, 2011
ISTANBUL — Hundreds of Turkish airstrikes and artillery assaults over the last week have killed at least 100 Kurdish separatists and injured more than 80, an army statement said Tuesday. ...more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/world/europe/24turkey.html?_r=1&ref=europe

A Sarajevo Bunker Takes on New Life as Art Museum

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 SCENE/SEEN

By GINANNE BROWNELL

Published: August 5, 2011
The latest on the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia extravaganzas and much more. Join the discussion.

Originally begun in the 1950s and completed in the late 1970s, the bunker — which cost over $4.6 billion — was intended to be used as a shelter for the Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito and 350 elites of the Yugoslav Army in case of a nuclear attack. Located an hour from Sarajevo, near the central Herzegovinian town of Konjic, the bunker is built into the green and lush hillside overlooking the tumbling Nevetra River and is surrounded by conifer peaks and valleys....more....

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/arts/06iht-scsarajevo06.html?ref=bosniaandherzegovina

Witness Feels Betrayed as U.S. Plans to Divide Family

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SIDEBAR
By ADAM LIPTAK

Published: August 8, 2011

WASHINGTON — About a decade ago, a federal prosecutor in Texas asked Edmond Demiraj to testify against an Albanian mobster charged with human smuggling.

Mr. Demiraj had information: He had worked with the mobster, Bill Bedini, in a construction business and had sent money abroad for him. The prosecutor had leverage: Mr. Demiraj, an Albanian citizen, was in the United States illegally.

The two sides made a deal, Mr. Demiraj said. In exchange for his testimony, he and his family would be kept safe....more...

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/us/09bar.html?_r=1&ref=albania

With 4 Names, Turkey Marks a New Era

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By SEBNEM ARSU

Published: August 4, 2011

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s civilian leadership appointed four new commanders on Thursday, decisively strengthening its control over its armed forces less than a week after the military leadership abruptly resigned in frustration over the continuing prosecution of officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
The new appointments of a chief of general staff and commanders of the army, navy and air force reflected the Islamic-leaning civilian government’s increased assertiveness in its struggle with the country’s military establishment, which has orchestrated three coups since 1960 and forced another government from power in 1997....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/world/europe/05turkey.html?ref=europe

Turks Question Power of Prime Minister

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SILIVRI JOURNAL

By ANTHONY SHADID

Published: August 1, 2011

SILIVRI, Turkey — The retired men in this town of rolling hills, red shingles and resentment of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan paused their card game to voice their fears over the protest resignations of most of Turkey’s military command, an event that underlined Mr. Erdogan’s stamp on an era he can call his own. 
“He finished the army,” said Rait Kurt, sitting at a table flanked by pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, whose principles the military has long said it upholds....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/world/europe/02turkey.html?_r=1&ref=europe

Top Generals Quit in Group, Stunning Turks

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By GUL TUYSUZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE

Published: July 29, 2011
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s top military commanders resigned en masse on Friday, a move without precedent in Turkish history that many analysts saw as a failed effort by a beleaguered institution to exert what is left of its dwindling political power.
In the surprising series of events, Turkey’s top commander, Gen. Isik Kosaner, together with the leaders of the navy, army and air force, simultaneously resigned in protest over the sweeping arrests of dozens of generals as suspects in conspiracy investigations that many people in Turkey have come to see as a witch hunt....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/world/europe/30turkey.html?ref=europe

NATO Takes Control at Kosovo Borders

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By JUDY DEMPSEY

Published: July 29, 2011
BERLIN — NATO and Serbian government officials sent emergency reinforcements to two border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo on Thursday, seeking to maintain calm after two days of violence that threatened the stability of a long simmering area of the Western Balkans.
Lt. Col. Ralph Adametz, a spokesman for the 5,000-strong NATO-led mission in Kosovo, called KFOR, said his force had sent in several hundred more troops....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/world/europe/29iht-serbia29.html?ref=europe

Kosovo Firebombing Underscores New Ethnic Tensions

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By JUDY DEMPSEY

Published: July 27, 2011

BERLIN — Two violent episodes this week along Kosovo’s northern border with Serbia — the latest being Wednesday’s firebombing of a customs post by a group of about 200 Serbs — have shed new light on the increase in tensions in the area between ethnic Serbs and Albanians.

No one was hurt in the firebombing, according to The Associated Press. It occurred hours after Kosovo’s special police withdrew from the area after seizing a border post on Monday night and trying to take control of a second one. A Kosovo police officer was killed in the police action....more...

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/world/europe/28kosovo.html?_r=1&ref=europe

Authenticity of Painting Questioned in Capture of Serbian

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By DAVID JOLLY

Published: July 21, 2011
PARIS — Questions arose on Thursday about the role of a stolen painting in the arrest of Goran Hadzic, the war crimes suspect who was apprehended near Belgrade, Serbia, this week after seven years in hiding.

Vladimir Vukcevic, the Serbian war crimes prosecutor, told reporters on Wednesday that the breakthrough in the case had come with a tip that a friend of Mr. Hadzic’s was trying to raise cash for him by selling a stolen painting, believed to be “Portrait of a Man” by the Italian modernist Amedeo Modigliani....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/world/europe/22iht-serbia22.html?ref=europe

E.U. Warns Bulgaria and Romania on Reforms

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By STEPHEN CASTLE

Published: July 20, 2011
BRUSSELS — Bulgaria on Wednesday was warned of serious deficiencies in its judicial system, urged to get more convictions from its fight against organized crime and told that its battle against corruption had yet to lead to convincing results.
The warning, in a formal assessment from the European Commission, highlighted continuing worries about law and order in Bulgaria andRomania, four years after they joined the bloc....more...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/world/europe/21iht-union21.html?ref=europe