Ethnic groups in the Balkans

Thessaloniki is flying the flag for great Macedonian wines

Turkey said on Thursday that it supports the legitimate demands of the Turks in North Macedonia for a just and transparent census, following claims by a local ethnic Turkish association that the number of Turks recorded in the recent census is unrealistically low.

The official results of the September 2021 national headcount, published on Wednesday, show the country's population has shrunk by 9.2 per cent over two decades since the last census.

The population now stands at 1,836,713, which is 185,834 people less than the number recorded in the previous census conducted in 2002.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing its most serious crisis since the end of the armed conflict in 1995. Bosnian Croat parties are threatening to boycott the country's institutions due to the Bosniak parties' refusal to implement a 2016 Constitutional Court ruling.

After mostly condemning Russia's all-out attack on Ukraine, Balkan governments on Thursday said they are working on evacuating their remaining citizens from the embattled country, assessing the security situation and even boosting reserves of food and fuel.

In the last three years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of North Macedonians who have become Bulgarian citizens. This is according to an official report of the Ministry of Justice, prepared and submitted specifically to the BGNES Agency.

Bulgarians in the United States are collecting signatures in a special petition to Congress against the so-called "Month of the Macedonian Minority" there.

Turks are deeply meticulous in house cleaning compared to other nations, a global study that investigates cleaning habits and behaviors of people has shown.

Dyson, a British technology company, conducted a "global dust study" with 12,309 participants from 11 countries around the world, and Turkey was included in the research for the first time this year.

Representatives of the governments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia laid wreaths at the grave of Gotse Delchev in the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Savior in Skopje, as part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of his birth.

150 Years Since the Birth of Gotse Delchev: Bulgarian President and PM together in Blagoevgrad

The Appeals Court in Belgrade on Tuesday upheld Dalibor Krstovic's appeal and quashed the first-instance verdict convicting him of raping a female Bosniak prisoner while she was being detained at an elementary school in the Bosnian town of Kalinovik during the war in August 1992.