All the news

Azerbaijan in the shadow of the hijab

26/01/2011 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Azerbaijani authorities recently instituted an outright ban on headscarves which, according to officials, was already part of existing law. The leader of the unregistered Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, who vocally opposed the ban, has been arrested

Albanian crisis: after the storm

26/01/2011 -  Marjola Rukaj Tirana

After the violent riots on January 21st, fear reigns in the streets of Tirana. Many fear a new 1997 and the return to a past that seemed gone. Meanwhile, premier Berisha and Edi Rama, leader of the main opposition party, do not seem intent upon negotiating a solution to the crisis. An article by our correspondent

Mussa Khan. Greece, poor Greece

21/01/2011 -  Paolo Martino Thessaloniki

Victims of conflicts that do not concern them, like the hoary one between Greece and Turkey, which has left a mortal trail of mines along the border of the Evros. Even when they get to the long desired Hellenic land, however, the muhajirins find a country in the midst of an economic crisis, less and less willing to offer them protection and grant them asylum

Romania, good news from a lost decade

19/01/2011 -  Cornel Ban

In the last decade, Romania has been a reliable source for seekers of bad news for the international media. Nevertheless, through the thicket of bad news, the country has also seen some brighter developments in the economy, in politics and in human development

Mussa Khan. A tale of rivers and borders

14/01/2011 -  Paolo Martino Edirne

Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece. Three separate nations united by the Evros-Meriç-Maritsa, today the last door for the muhajirins attempting to land in Europe. Maybe Mussa Khan has already passed here, but more and more of his traveling companions are losing their lives in the dark meanders of the river

Skopje, the čaršija of the Albanians

12/01/2011 -  Marjola Rukaj Skopje

A real social and cultural barometer in the heart of Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, this is an ancient Ottoman market which, in the last 20 years, has changed from being a disreputable quarter to a trendy one. Another article in our dossier on Ottoman markets in the Balkans

Kosovo, blocked by visa requirements

11/01/2011 -  V.Kasapolli Pristina

After the European Commission recently included Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the so-called “white list” of Schengen, Kosovo remains the last territory in the Balkans whose citizens must get a visa to travel to countries in the Schengen Area

Mussa Khan. Downtown

10/01/2011 -  Paolo Martino Istanbul

Istanbul: connection between two continents, Asia and Europe. Where refugees like Mussa Khan are obliged to pass, especially now that the routes of the muhajirins have shifted towards North. Here, their destiny crosses with the contradictions hovering between economic development and denied rights

The old man and the tulips

07/01/2011 -  Majnat Kurbanova

In Duba-Yurt, a Chechen village hard hit by the war that devastated the region in the 1990s, there lived an old man who grew tulips. A spark of colour and hope in dark times. A true story that almost seems like a fable

Islam in Bulgaria, competing generations

05/01/2011 -  Tanya Mangalakova Sofia

For the last 13 years, Bulgaria's Islamic community has been split by competing leaderships. However, the fight for control of the General Council of the Muftis – the representative body of Islam in Bulgaria – is not only a clash between factions but also between old and new generations

Mussa Khan. Dead end

30/12/2010 -  Paolo Martino Izmir

The Silk Road of the Third Millennium carries human flesh. Its terminal on Turkish soil is Izmir: here, muhajirins arrive. Muhajirins, like Mussa Khan, who try the Aegean route to end up, too often, at the bottom of the sea. To look for him, I need to enter Basmane, Europe’s door of the last

IWPR: Calls for War Memorials Divide Bosnia

29/12/2010 -  Rachel IrwinVelma Saric

All over Bosnia, the sites of atrocities often lack any kind of formal memorial to commemorate them. Observers say that this reflects an ongoing reluctance by the ethnic group whose members committed the crimes to acknowledge that they occurred at all. From IWPR

Bosnia-Herzegovina: the Krivaja life

27/12/2010 -  Andrea Rossini Zavidovići, Sarajevo

From socialism to war, from war to market economy. The transition of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the history of a giant industrial kombinat, Zavidovići's Krivaja. The winners and the losers of privatisations, 15 years later

Azerbaijan: Italian newspaper provokes rage in Baku

24/12/2010 -  EurasiaNet

Azerbaijan is grappling to come to terms with a fresh Internet news scandal. This one doesn’t concern pesky domestic bloggers who tweak government sensitivities. And it is not about media rights. Rather, it covers a topic generally given a wide berth in Baku, even by Azerbaijan’s political opposition -- First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva

Mussa Khan. The Jirga of Gaziantep

23/12/2010 -  Paolo Martino Gaziantep

The distance, journey and precariousness are not enough to deprive the Afghan refugees of their roots. The “Jirga” meets also in Gaziantep. The assembly of elders sits to face the painful topic of exile, but also day-to-day problems of those who hover between a bitter present and an uncertain future

Kruja, the Bazaar saved by the regime

23/12/2010 -  Marjola Rukaj Kruja, Albania

Having survived for thousands of years, nearly disappeared at the beginning of the 20th Century and been brought back to life during the regime, the Bazaar of Derexhik in Kruja, Albania, is today a boutique for tourists. Despite the loss of traditions, unregulated urban growth and rampant globalisation, it continues to survive in its true spirit

High level political changes in Yerevan as New Year approaches

23/12/2010 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

Gagik Beglaryan, the first elected Mayor of Yerevan, has resigned after reportedly assaulting a member of the presidential administration’s protocol department. At the same time, a number of other high level officials have been changed in a rare cabinet reshuffle

Kosovo Serbs, divisions getting deeper after the elections

22/12/2010 -  Tatjana Lazarević Mitrovica

While Serbs living north of Mitrovica boycotted Kosovo elections, Serbs in the rest of Kosovo had significant participation; heavy accusations among Serbian parties marred the election results

Mussa Khan: A meeting with the devil

17/12/2010 -  Paolo Martino Van

The kaçakçılar, human traffickers, have neither business cards nor sales offices. They mingle with the people in the alleys, in the cafés, in the square in front of the mosque. Shifty, invisible, always on the migrants’ route, they could be the only way to find Mussa Khan’s tracks again

Kosovo, PDK and AAK joined to govern?

16/12/2010 -  Francesco Martino Pristina

After the polls and despite many fraud allegations, Kosovo is already looking for a new government. According to analyst Genc Krasniqi, the most likely coalition will involve long-time foes Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj getting together. Our interview