Recep Erdoğan wins elections in first round

Turkey’s Supreme Election Board has announced that this country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has received over 50% of the votes, thus winning a new mandate in the first round of voting. The announcement was made in a moment when 97.7% of the votes were registered in the information system of the Supreme Election Board. The election completes Turkey’s transformation from parliamentary to presidential system of government that grants sweeping powers to the president. The change was approved in a national referendum in April 2017. According to the amendments, Turkeys’ President will be able to appoint vice-presidents, a cabinet without a prime minister and magistrates. He will now be able to issue decrees, declare state of emergency and dissolve the national assembly.
Talks between Serbia and Kosovo - difficult and tense

The talks on normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo held under the auspices of the European Union in Brussels are difficult and tense, Serbia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić commented. Minister Dačić voiced expectations that Pristina would “realize that the international circumstances and understanding of this problem have changed globally”. We talked about the framework of an agreement for full normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, about reconciliation between the two nations, but not about any specific topics, Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaçi announced after the meeting with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić. The two countries will lose a lot, if they do not reach an agreement, because they will remain isolated, Kosovo’s head of state Hashim Thaçi commented.
Zoran Zaev launches construction of Rankovce - Kriva Palanka motorway near border with Bulgaria

PM Zoran Zaev gave the start of the construction of the motorway connecting Rankovce and Kriva Palanka near the border with Bulgaria. It will be 21 kilometers long and should be completed by 2021. In the beginning of 2019 the extension of the road connecting Kriva Palanka and the border checkpoint Deve Bair will begin. The infrastructure projects will be built with credit lines from the World Bank to the tune of EUR 58 million.
Greece and Albania negotiate their maritime border

The agreement between Greece and Albania on their sea border continues to be one of the most-important topics in their bilateral relations. The efforts in this direction were continued by Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and Albania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ditmir Bushati in Rhodes, Greece. The final step should be made by the Premiers of the two countries Alexis Tsipras and Edi Rama. If the two countries reach an agreement Albania would give away 19 kilometers of its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to Greece, which abounds with oil and gas deposits. However, the opposition in Albania contends that this would be equal to a treason and that “if this is a precondition for this country to receive a date to start EU accession talks, then such membership is not necessary”.