Conflicts

Greece looks to the US for security and investments

09/12/2021 -  Mary Drosopoulos Thessaloniki

Relations between Greece and the US – historically strong, but not always rosy – are strengthening at an economic and strategic level, as testified by the renewal of a mutual defense pact, with eyes on the threatening role of Erdogan's Turkey

Armenia and Azerbaijan: the waltz of (missed) meetings

25/11/2021 -  Onnik James Krikorian

A trilateral meeting between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia should take place tomorrow, November 26, in the Russian tourist resort of Sochi. At the center of the diplomatic initiative the possible agreements between the two warring countries. However, the information is still scarce

One Year After the 2020 Karabakh War

11/11/2021 -  Onnik James Krikorian Tbilisi

Though the future remains unpredictable, last year’s war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh changed the geographical and geopolitical landscape in the South Caucasus after three decades of bitterness, conflict, and division. Now, some analysts hope, there is an opportunity to turn a new page in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

Remembering Georgi Vanyan

28/10/2021 -  Onnik James Krikorian Tblisi

Peacebuilder and true activist, anti-nationalist Georgi Vanyan died at the age of 58 on October 15th. He is especially remembered for the enormous effort to bring Azerbaijani and Armenians to dialogue

Sea of Azov: Mariupol's iron dust

27/07/2021 -  Claudia Bettiol Mariupol

Despite the proximity to the Donbass conflict, there is an air of normalcy in Mariupol, Ukraine. But that very air is heavily polluted by the historic Metinvest metallurgical complex

The Switzerland of the Balkans

25/06/2021 -  Stefano Lusa Koper

Thirty years ago Slovenia proclaimed its independence. Now the pendulum that carried Ljubljana towards the West seems to be swinging backwards fast, and the models are no longer Paris or Berlin but rather Budapest and Warsaw, with their illiberal democracies

Armenia: the war in Nagorno Karabakh and assisted reproductive technology

05/05/2021 -  Armine Avetysian

In Armenia, mothers who lost a child in the recent war in Nagorno Karabakh will have access to a special assisted reproductive technology programme

Nagorno Karabakh: school, victim of war

27/04/2021 -  Armine Avetysian

The outbreak of the war in Nagorno Karabakh caused 100,000 displaced persons and 30,000 schoolchildren and students could no longer attend their schools

When libraries burn

13/04/2021 -  Božidar Stanišić

The National Library of Belgrade, the oldest cultural institution in Serbia, was destroyed on April 6, 1941 by the Axis forces on Hitler’s explicit orders. Thus Serbia lost an inestimable cultural heritage in a single day

Armenia and Azerbaijan: women peacebuilders on the post-conflict scenario

08/03/2021 -  Claudia Ditel

Women are not only victims of conflict, but also of gender discrimination, exacerbated by war. We talked about it with peace activists from Armenia and Azerbaijan

What about the survivors? The importance of a victim-centred approach to transitional justice in the Western Balkans

22/02/2021 -  Giulia Levi

The path of transitional justice has proven difficult and discontinuous, yet it has had a real impact on the lives of ordinary citizens. Survivors’ families and associations, who invested the most emotional labour in the process, however, have often felt left out of the official transitional justice processes

Bosnia and Herzegovina, from ethnocracy to feasible reforms

14/01/2021 -  Alfredo Sasso

25 years after Dayton, Bosnia and Herzegovina discusses the discriminatory nature of its constitution and its possible reform, but also possible alternatives for a change in the country's institutional system. We talked about it with Nenad Stojanović

North Macedonia: census yes, census no

23/12/2020 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

2021 for North Macedonia should be the year of the new general census, after the failure of 2011. However, many issues remain unresolved: the inclusion of emigrants and the delicate topic of ethnic balance are of particular concern

Mostar's divers

07/01/2021 -  Veronica Tosetti

Starting from those moments of precipitous flight towards the Neretva, the first long feature directed by Daniele Babbo shows both the love for a city and how hard it is to live in it. An interview

The 1425 days of Sarajevo

The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed at the military base in Dayton, Ohio, on 21 November and then formalised in Paris on 14 December 1995, decreed the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The capital, Sarajevo, was held under siege for 1452 days, from 6 April 1992 to 29 February 1996. The story of those years in photographs, courtesy of photographer and journalist Mario Boccia to OBCT

The face of a traitor

23/11/2020 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Hatred, bullying, threats and insults. Our correspondent Arzu Geybullayeva has been exposed to a repeated series of social media attacks in recent weeks. The reason is simple, she decided to take side for peace during the recent war in Nagorno Karabakh

Azerbaijan, the Internet in times of war

04/11/2020 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Since the fighting with Armenia began in late September, Azerbaijan's government has severely restricted, when not completely blocked, Internet access. Pro-government media outlets have been spared from the restrictions

Nagorno Karabakh: information in danger

03/11/2020

The partner organisations of the Council of Europe Platform for the promotion of journalism and the safety of journalists express their urgent and deep concern about the ongoing risks of injury and harm to media workers reporting on the armed conflict inside Nagorno Karabakh, and condemn any arbitrary restrictions imposed by state authorities engaged in the conflict because they represent undue interference in the ability of journalists to perform their important role of informing the public through free and independent reporting

Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the risks for Georgia

27/10/2020 -  Onnik James Krikorian Tbilisi

Two sizeable communities of Armenians and Azeris live - mostly separate - in Georgia. The current conflict has exacerbated the spirits of the two minorities, particularly on social media, arousing the concern of analysts

Nagorno Karabakh: the reasons for a war

07/10/2020 -  Giorgio Comai

The long-term reasons for the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh are well known. But what caused such an extensive military intervention as the one we are seeing these days, over 25 years after the ceasefire? And what can and should be done now? An analysis

To stand for peace, in spite of everything

05/10/2020 -  Bahruz Samadov

In Azerbaijan, trauma is a part of national identity. Today, it feeds the war and silences voices for peace. But would-be peacemakers, no matter how hard it is, must have compassion for and engage with this trauma while remaining true to their principles

We are a generation of war

01/10/2020 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Does loving one's homeland mean to support war? To shut up about the violation of human rights? To be silent on the sacrifice of dozens of human lives? A comment

Washington agreement, high expectations in Kosovo

01/10/2020 -  Arta Berisha Prishtina

Almost a month after the agreement signed by Kosovo and Serbia in the U.S., expectations are high on Kosovo's side. Prishtina's goal remains mutual, legally binding recognition

Greece and Turkey: machismo in the eastern Mediterranean

09/09/2020 -  Filippo Cicciù Istanbul

A clash with ancient roots, reactivated by the discovery of huge energy resources on the seabed: throughout the summer Turkey and Greece showed their muscles in the eastern Mediterranean. But is there an actual risk of an open conflict? An analysis

Ukraine: life in a minefield

01/09/2020 -  Claudia Bettiol Kiev

In Donbas, along the line of contact between the Ukrainian army and the separatists, there are hectares of mined territory. Securing it – once the conflict is over – will take more than half a century. A tragedy within a tragedy

On (not) knowing the future: prediction, legitimation, and the Yugoslav crisis

19/08/2020 -  Jana Baćević

Why have social scientists failed to understand in advance the violent end of Yugoslavia? And what can all this teach us to interpret our present?

Cybersecurity dictionary

30/07/2020 -  Niccolò Caranti

A cybersecurity glossary made in the framework of project ESVEI

Violent clashes erupt on the front line between Armenia and Azerbaijan

21/07/2020 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

18 months since both sides agreed to prepare populations for peace, Azerbaijan and Armenia may have sent that peace process a few years back amid renewed fighting on the front line as of Sunday, July 12

Struggle of identities in Northern Cyprus

21/07/2020 -  Xavier Palacios

The parliamentary elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), initially scheduled for late April, were postponed until further notice because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, the Turkish Cypriot community struggles to find a solution to the perennial ethnic and nationalist conflict in the island

25 years in search of Selma

09/07/2020 -  Nicole Corritore

Selma Musić disappeared in 1995 during the capture of Srebrenica. She was 7. In 2019, her parents discovered in a photo that she had arrived safely on the territory of the Federation. A glimpse of hope to continue their search