All News from Balkans

And now, the end is near?

When two global superpowers decide to end a war, it happens. It looks like this will be the outcome in Syria after Russia?s latest overture. It may seem like a brutal blow to Ankara?s ?Death to Assad? policies but in the long run, Russia and the United States have agreed on keeping Turkey in one piece. And that means more than words.

A photograph?

What is a journalist or who is a journalist? This is an explosive question in Turkey, as not only the government but a large section of the Turkish media as well make such a description of journalists that only monkeys could perhaps appreciate it. It is as if being a journalist necessitates licking boots, particularly those of the president and the prime minister.

The unbearable heaviness of being 'principled'

It makes you win. And it makes you lose. It is the same ?principled? stance on foreign policy.

Unsurprisingly, the unimportant news went largely unnoticed, although it had messages at many wavelengths. A group of 67 top Turkish defense companies that come under the corporate identity of High-Tech Port will display their war toys at a private exhibition in Qatar on Oct. 6-8.

The investigation against Hürriyet: Leaping 15 years backward

Turkey has been conducting a ?resolution process? since the end of 2012 with the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, to end PKK terror.

The economics of Syrian refugees

Every few weeks, a journalist calls me up to talk about the economics of Syrian refugees. They all ask about their burden on Turkey?s budget, and I always refer them to Finance Minister Mehmet ?Nominal? ?im?ek?s remarks from last November that the financial cost of Syrian refugees on Turkey had reached $4.5 billion, including $2.3 billion from the central government.

Turkish business community's choice is a coalition after election

?We miss you,? said Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUS?AD) head Cansen Ba?aran-Symes, addressing board member Memduh Boydak as they were about to start TÜS?AD?s Higher Consultative Board meetings in Istanbul on Sept. 17.

Which were the operation-banned regions?

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said in a televised interviewed in one of the "pool" channels about 10 days ago, "Here, in this process, our security forces, of course said, 'Let us not be involved in any clash, this way or that way' but later on we understood that all through this process they have done this."

Dueling rallies again on Thurs. by front-runners SYRIZA, ND

The front-runners in Sunday’s election, SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras and New Democracy’s Vangelis Meimarakis addressed supporters on Thursday, the first in Irakleio, Crete and the second in central Athens.

Meimarakis pointed to the need for political consensus after the snap election to exit the crisis.

Three more opinion polls results show cliff-hanger…

Three more opinion polls by … well-known polling companies were released on Thursday, with the first (by Metron Analysis) giving conservative New Democracy a razor-slim 0.3 percentage point lead over leftist SYRIZA, while another (by Alco) had the exact same difference, but with SYRIZA ahead – 25.3 to 25 percent for ND.

The third opinion poll (Pulse) shows a tie, at 28 percent.

Serbia Saying Ready to Face Potential Rise in Migrant Inflow from Bulgaria

Serbia's Labour Minister Aleksandar Vulin said on Thursday the government is getting ready to receive "a potentially larger inflow of migrants from Bulgaria" at Dimitrovgrad border crossing but doesn't intend to keep anyone inside the country by force.