Turkey to unveil embassy in East Jerusalem

President of Turkey Recep Erdogan declared the forthcoming unveiling of an embassy in East Jerusalem, where the Turkish consulate general had already been represented by an ambassador. Thus Erdogan continued with his fierce attacks against the US decision for the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Reuters comments. TASS reports that after the statement of the Turkish head of state, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on for reviewing of Israel’s economic relations with Turkey and in particular of the construction of a gas pipeline from Israel across Turkey to Europe.

Greece arrests Turkish citizens for assault intentions aimed at Erdogan

A group of 9 has been arrested in Athens due to an assault planned during the official visit of Turkish President Recep Erdogan, the Anadolu Agency reports. Recordings and drawings with a detailed plan of the assault have been found during searches at three addresses in the capital city. Erdogan’s convoy had to be attacked with grenade launchers from two different angles, while a part of the group had to shoot directly at the presidential vehicle. Hassan Biber is among the arrested – the man carried out attacks against the HQ of the ruling Justice and Development Party and the Ministry of Justice back in 2013.

Ongoing Sunday protests in Romania

Despite the cold and wet snow in Bucharest, over 1,500 gathered in the Freedom Square, where the building of the Romanian government is situated, in order to protest against the changes in the legal system legislation, affecting the independence of the system of justice. The Sunday protests have become a tradition ever since the governing Romanian central-leftist coalition kicked off proposals for changes within the justice systems’ legislation, said to be aimed at the fight with corruption and also at weakening the independence of the system of justice. The cities of Iaşi, Cluj,Bacău, Brașov and Galați also saw protests.

Macedonia, Albania expect start of EU accession negotiations as of next year

After the joint sitting of the Albanian and Macedonian governments in the city of Pogradeci at the Ohrid Lake, PMs Edi Rama and Zoran Zaev expressed their expectation that the EU accession negotiations would start in 2018. Zaev underlined that the governments of the two countries worked in a sincere and open manner for a better life of both states’ citizens and for guaranteeing the safety of the Euro-Atlantic family. Rama outlined the contribution of the power line, the railroad connection and the enhanced cultural cooperation projects to the activation of the goods and capitals movement between Macedonia and Albania.

70,000 Macedonians have received Bulgarian citizenship since 2001

At a Skopje-held meeting with Bulgarians, living in Macedonia, Vice President Iliana Yotova reported that since the January-started term of President Rumen Radev, a total of 1,184 Macedonians had received Bulgarian citizenship. Thus the overall number of the Macedonians with such status received since 2001 has come up to a total of 71,524 people. During her talks with PM Zoran Zaev and Speaker of the Parliament Talat Xhaferi Yotova asked for permission for the broadcasting of a Bulgarian TV channel in Macedonia.

Compiled by: Stoimen Pavlov

English version: Zhivko Stanchev