Patriarch Neophyte: The Bulgarian Orthodox Church shall perform its duty to the Macedonian Orthodox Church

In a statement for BGNES news agency Patriatch Neophye welcomed the visit to Macedonia by President Rumen Radev describing it as “joyful news”. During the visit, President Radev, the bishop of Plovdiv Nikolay and of Stara Zagora Kiprian were received by the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church Archbishop Stefan and were welcomed to the St. Jovan of Bigor monastery to the sound of church bells. With regard to the recent request by the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Archbishopric of Ohrid which asked for the assistance of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church so it may be recognized as autocephalous, Patriarch Neophyte stated that when the need arises, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church shall perform this duty.

Macedonia’s President visits Bulgarian iron church in Istanbul

During his visit to Turkey, the President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov paid a visit to the unique Bulgarian iron church St. Stephen on the shore of the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Gjorge Ivanov is the first president of a foreign country to have visited the church since its restoration. Before his visit to Turkey, the Macedonian president held talks in Skopje with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev. During their meeting Ivanov stated that he would like to see Bulgarian-Macedonian relations as a model of relations between Balkan countries.

Zoran Zaev should have been assassinated during storming of parliament in Skopje

The Macedonian Focus magazine writes that during the storming of Macedonia’s parliament on 27 April 2017, the leader of the Social Democratic Union, now prime minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev was supposed to have been assassinated. According to the magazine the investigation into what has become known as “Bloody Thursday” in the parliament in Skopje has revealed the existence of recordings of telephone conversations between the man who ordered and the man who was supposed to carry out the assassination. The would-be assassin says over the telephone that he was unable to execute the assignment because he did not have a clear shot and the target was not “clean”.

Vucic: Compromise with the Albanians is vital to Serbia

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has confirmed the news that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina will be continued on 26 February in Brussels, and that at the end of this or the beginning of next month he will be meeting with the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci. In President Vucic’s words compromise with the Albanians is vital to Serbia and anyone who is against it does not understand that this is a position everyone stands to lose by.

Hashim Thaci expects a historic agreement between Kosovo and Serbia this year

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary since Kosovo declared its independence unilaterally, its President Hashim Thaci stated that the independence of Kosovo was an irreversible process and Serbia was only wasting its time in trying to block it. At the same time Thaci stressed that he expected 2018 to be the year of a historic agreement between Pristina and Belgrade that would normalize relations and guarantee the Western Balkans peace and conditions for its Europeanization.

Edi Rama: In 10 years’ time Kosovo and Albania could have one president

At a session of the parliament in Tirana marking 10 years since the independence of Kosovo, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said he wished that in 10 years’ time Kosovo and Albania could have one president and share a national security policy instead of sharing the same diplomatic missions. Commenting on his statement, Agence France Presse says that it will not be to the liking of Serbia, whose leaders routinely accuse Tirana of planning to create a Grater Albania, which Tirana denies.

Compiled by Stoimen Pavlov

English version: Milena Daynova