Highlight

Women and children

Since 2011, Turkey has given asylum to over 3.5 million Syrians. Half of them are women: according to a recent UN report, their situation is plagued by sexual violence and patriarchal norms. The majority of them do not know where to turn for assistance. The challenges for women refugees in Turkey, reported by our Fazila Mat.

Most of the 46 children who left the Bjelave orphanage in Sarajevo in 1992, when the city was under siege, never returned to Bosnia: they were given up for adoption and most of them are still looking for their biological parents. Nicole Corritore tells the story of one of them and sets the context in an interview with human rights activist Jagoda Savić.

More news: Just a few months after its foundation, the civic movement Zagreb je naš (Zagreb is ours) entered the city council of Zagreb and now leads the opposition to Milan Bandić's decade-long rule. An interview with Tomislav Tomašević

Leaving

A couple of weeks ago Greece exited the bailout programmes that kept it under close control of the Troika for nearly a decade. Yet the country has not left austerity behind, as the economy and society are still heavily affected by it – Elvira Krithari reports.

Every year, about 100,000 Balkan and Eastern European citizens seek to move out from their countries by applying for asylum to the EU. In rational terms, leaving might be the right thing to do, the mayor of Prishtina admits in an interview by Giovanni Vale, “but sentimentally everyone wants to stay.”

At the end of the Diciotti ship crisis, both the Italian and Albanian governments announced that 20 asylum seekers would be transferred from one country to the other. In fact, they will probably not leave Italy: so what was this all about? Nicola Pedrazzi has a few answers.

Smile

More than just a smile: humor and laughter were almost a national sport in Yugoslavia. Azra Nuhefendić recalls how this habit marked the feeling of belonging to an emotionally healthy and safe environment.

Despite the country exiting, this week, from eight years of financial crisis and austerity, there is no room for optimism nor smiling in Greece. A data-driven analysis of the economic challenges facing Athens.

More news: ten years after the war in South Ossetia, an agreement is still far away; the challenge of unemployment in rural Armenia. Traveling between Greece and Albania this summer? You may want to explore the setting of the legendary tale of Osman Taka.

Dark side

The dark side of football takes centre stage in Macedonia. The death of young Vardar Football Club supporter Nikola Sazdovski, following the severe beating by three supporters of rival club Shkupi, revives old rivalries between supporters' groups and their opaque ties with politics.

Dark and opaque are also the relations between organized crime, drug trafficking and politics in Albania, where the fight against cannabis plantations has lead to shaky results – the power of traffickers is left untouched.

More in the news: the employment of Romanians in the agro-pastoral sector of Sardinia explored in an interview with anthropologist Sergio Contu; the development of journalism in Transnistria since the conflict of the 1990s.

OBCT is entering summer mode: we’ll be back with our newsletter on August, 24th. Keep following us on Twitter and Facebook !

Reconciliation

23 years have passed since the Srebrenica genocide, but much work remains to be done in order to achieve reconciliation in the region. In particular, the victims deserve recognition, while memories and education systems should become more inclusive, Dunja Mijatović argues.

Reconciliation is still a long way to go between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well. In the border village of Berkaber, there is not a single day without shots being heard – but a “Garden of Peace” was built there two years ago, as a sign of hope in a more serene future.

Erdoğan's victory in last month's elections in Turkey points at a further exacerbation of tensions and repression. The society is more and more deeply divided, and no reconciliation seems to be in sight. Ödül Celep and Ece Temelkuran discuss the prospects for the country.

Five years later

Croatia became part of the EU on July 1^st, 2013. It was a historical achievement for a country deeply affected by the conflicts of the 1990s. What did these first five years of membership mean for the country? We've prepared a special dossier about it.

We've published analyses, reportages and interviews, as well as videos and infographics. Whether one looks at the economy or at nationalism, at tourism or at migrants, a multifaceted picture comes out, with many lights and shadows.

More news: the elections in Turkey and the role of young voters, economy, and constitutional changes; the agreement on the name of "Northern Macedonia"; a focus on what's going on in the media scene of Montenegro, Serbia, and Transnistria.

Wikipedia Contest! There is still time until July 15 to take part in the OBCT competition to improve articles on freedom of the press on Wikipedia!

Women workers

Job opportunities in the digital sectors are growing, but the gender gap affects this field, too. Among countries in the European Union, Bulgaria is against the current: in fact, it stands out for the high rate of female employment in the sector. We looked at data and spoke to Sasha Bezuhanova to find out why.

A video depicting elderly women shoveling snow in the streets of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, triggered debate. But many Azerbaijani pensioners have no alternative: their poor pensions force them to continue working. An article by Kamran Mahmudov.

More in this newsletter: the red apple in Armenia symbolizes virginity, a tradition still imposed on girls until their wedding; the collapse of Agrokor and its several consequences reviewed by Giovanni Vale; the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Azerbaijan, celebrated amid a wave of prosecution against civil society and the opposition.

Short news: a global campaign has been launched to support secular daily Cumhuriyet; meanwhile, in Montenegro, the dismissal of public broadcaster director-general Andrijana Kadija, last week, looks like a new attempt of political interference over public service media in the country.

Wikipedia Contest! There is still time until July 15 to take part in the OBCT competition to improve articles on freedom of the press on Wikipedia!

Divergencies

Real divergence or the usual two-voice game? Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin are voicing very different positions towards the EU. The bone of contention is, as always, Kosovo.

As new as it may sound, is the label “Western Balkans” really different from those previously used to define the region? Or does it perpetuate a process of “othering” and distancing away from the rest of Europe? An opinion piece by Kristijan Fidanovski, diverging from the mainstream.

With the appointment of Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister, Armenia took a first step to embrace a truly new path. Yet it remains to be seen how much this will diverge from the past – in this challenge, Armenia may build on the lessons learned through the failure of the “coloured revolutions”.

Save the date!

EDJNet's founding member OBC Transeuropa has organised a panel on data journalism issues at the Economics Festival in Trento (Italy) on June 3. Guillaume Duval from Alternatives Economiques will be there as well, along with Jacopo Ottaviani, Francesca De Chiara and Giuseppe Lauricella. They'll discuss the impact of open data availability on the profession of journalists, and their own experiences with data-driven journalism in Europe and Africa.

Streets

Journalist Olivera Lakić has been shot and wounded in one of the main streets of Podgorica, in an attack that testifies once more how risky it is to be a journalist today in Montenegro.

Every day, the streets of Banja Luka are filled by citizens protesting and demanding the truth about the death of David Dragičević, a young man whose body was found at the end of March in a river not far from the city centre.

The development of infrastructures is a key element in the Connectivity Agenda for the Western Balkans, meant to develop economic and social ties between the countries of the region.

Wikipedia Contest! On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, OBCT has launched an online contest to translate and improve articles on media freedom on Wikipedia. You can contribute until June 3rd!

Media freedom in Bulgaria

In the annual rankings on media freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, Bulgaria dropped 76 positions from 2006 to 2018. Our special dossier looks at the dangerous entanglements between media, politics and business in the country currently in charge of the EU Presidency.

In Albania, too, media freedom and pluralism are undermined as a few owners control the lion’s share of revenues.

In Yerevan, Freedom Square is the stage where Armenians gather to commemorate events, voice discontent and call for change. This was the case also for the recent protests against the appointment of Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister.

Wikipedia Contest! On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, OBCT has launched an online contest to translate and improve articles on media freedom on Wikipedia. You can contribute until June 3rd!

OPEN CALL

International Summer School on Contemporary Art from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo, June 25th-30th 2018

Kuma International in partnership with the WARM Foundation and Brodac Gallery presents one-week intensive course on contemporary art from Bosnia and Herzegovina, focusing on visual art, design, photography, film and theatre from a post-conflict society. Participation is open to graduates and postgraduates from the relevant disciplines, as well as art historians, curators, artists and museum professionals.
Application deadline: May 28th 2018 | For further information please contact info@kumainternational.org