European Union and NATO officials pledged Monday to work more closely together despite the obstacle posed to formal cooperation by long-standing tensions between Cyprus and Turkey. Cyprus, an EU member, opposes Turkey's entry into the club as long as the country maintains troops to defend Turkish Cypriots' separate entity in the north of the island. In return, NATO-member Turkey blocks any formal agreement between the military alliance and the EU, complicating relations in places like Afghanistan and Kosovo, where both organizations are present. Following a meeting with the EU's foreign and defence ministers in Luxembourg, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said "pragmatic and practical steps" had to be taken immediately while waiting for "a general solution to the well-known political problems." Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said the two organizations pledged "not to duplicate efforts, especially at a time when budget constraints are severe."
II. B92 - EU ministers on Kosovo, Bosnia
EU foreign ministers are set to meet in Luxembourg this Monday, said reports. The ministers are expected to voice their support for the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, and its fight against organized crime and corruption. Although a discussion on the Western Balkans has not been scheduled, the Council of Ministers is expected to “welcome efforts to increase the presence and activities of EULEX in northern Kosovo”. They will also welcome the establishment of the “EU House” in the northern, predominately Serb part of the ethically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica. Bosnia-Herzegovina will also be on the agenda of the meeting today, according to reports.
Two Jerusalem officials were quoted as saying on Monday that Israel had frozen plans for new construction in the city's disputed eastern sector, despite Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's declarations to the contrary. They say the decision was taken after Israel infuriated Washington last month by announcing a major new east Jerusalem construction project during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden. Citing top Jerusalem city hall officials, one city councilman told The Associated Press that Netanyahu's office had verbally ordered a construction freeze. Another councilman said two committees that review construction plans on weekly basis have barely met since Biden visited.
The prime ministers of bitter rivals India and Pakistan plan to meet this week during a summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Bhutan, the Pakistani premier's office said in a statement. The nuclear rivals also have a long-standing dispute over the mountainous Kashmir region which separates the two countries, with India accusing Pakistan of fueling an insurgency. The countries have fought three wars over the territory since their independence in 1947 and routinely exchanged fire along the border, known as the Line of Control, until a 2003 cease-fire agreement was struck.
The Ukrainian parliament committee for international affairs on Monday recommended against ratifying a new deal extending Russia's use of a naval base in Crimea. The deal, signed by the Russian and Ukrainian presidents on April 21, extends the lease on the Russian base in the port of Sevastopol for 25 years after the current lease was to expire in 2017, and may be further extended by another five years.
VI. REUTERS - Armenian, Azeri faith leaders make Karabakh pledge
The head of the Armenian church and the senior Muslim cleric in Azerbaijan pledged on Monday to help to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, with talks between Yerevan and Baku on the enclave deadlocked. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Christian Armenia, threw off Azeri rule in a war that killed 30,000 people before a ceasefire in 1994. A peace deal has never been reached, and Azerbaijan frequently threatens to take the region back by force. Karekin II, the Catholicos (chief bishop) of All Armenians, joined in making the pledge during a trip to Baku. It marked the first visit by the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church to Muslim Azerbaijan since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated towards all-out war. Karekin II met Allahshukur Pashazade, who heads the Muslim Board of the Caucasus, for talks in Baku which Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill also attended. After the talks, they issued a joint statement promising support for a 15-year-old mediation process between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia that has yet to produce a deal. "... we intend to contribute to their aspirations and believe it important to continue the dialogue between religious leaders to help resolve the conflict", they said. Patriarch Kirill said he hoped the meeting would "help ease tensions, and create the conditions for political leaders to take responsibility and come to an agreement". Tensions have risen since Armenia and Azerbaijan's ally Turkey announced a deal last year to mend ties and open their common border, which Ankara closed in solidarity with Azerbaijan during the war. That deal has now been suspended. Azerbaijan sees the deal as a betrayal of its efforts to win back territory seized by ethnic Armenian forces during the war. Armenia suspended ratification of the accord last week over Turkish demands that it reach terms with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, but some analysts say the collapse has come too late to soothe Azeri suspicions.
At the end of a Sunday church that lasts more then three hours, the frail spiritual leader of Georgia's Orthodox Christians emerges through the doors of Holy Trinity Cathedral's ornate wall of icons, and steps towards the waiting congregation. The crowd surges forward. Hundreds of men, women and adolescents, reach for Patriarch Ilia II. Guided by bodyguards, the bearded cleric works his way through the sea of arms, touching and blessing his admirers' hands as he slowly walks out the cathedral to an armored limousine. Teenagers chase after the vehicle, as the patriarch drives away. Ilia II has led one of the world's oldest Christian communities for more than 30 years. In a country that has suffered four wars in the past two decades, and experienced harrowing political and economic transformation, the patriarch is seen by many as a respected source of stability. According to a 2008 poll published by the Tbilisi-based International Centre on Conflicts and Negotiation, 94.2 percent of Georgians surveyed ranked Ilia II the most trusted man in the country. Born Irakli Shiolashvili, Ilia II was crowned "His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia" in 1977, when Georgia was part of the Soviet Union. He assumed leadership of a church that Soviet authorities had targeted and repressed for decades. "Many spiritual figures were persecuted and shot. Many churches were closed and some were destroyed," Ilia II said. He spoke to CNN at the patriarchate's residence in downtown Tbilisi, a three-story building full of icons and church artifacts that had been seized and used as a police headquarters during Soviet times. "After the liberation of Georgia from the Soviet Union, of course conditions improved. The people go to church, especially the youth," Ilia II explained. In the last 20 years, the church in Georgia - and its leader - have become some of the most powerful institutions in the country. In December of 2007, the patriarch announced he would personally baptize newborns in an effort to battle Georgia's declining birthrate. Thousands of people turned up to mass baptisms, during which smiling parents watched as robed priests plunged screaming babies into ornate vats full of holy water. Official statistics show that in 2008, Georgia had its highest number of births in nine years. Ilia II claims partial credit for the surge in births. "I have already baptized about 5,000 children," he said. "Parents decided to give birth to these children because they had a chance to be the patriarch's godchildren." In person, Ilia II is visibly frail. His voice is at times barely audible and he keeps his eyes averted from bright lights. But the patriarch speaks unapologetically about his position of authority in a country where 84 percent of the population identifies itself as Orthodox Christian. "The patriarch is not a person who needs a government office," Ilia II said. "That is why the most objective ideas can be expressed by the patriarch and the church." In his sermons and speeches, Ilia II periodically veers from spiritual advice to outspoken commentary about political events. Addressing thousands of worshippers at a Sunday service last month, Ilia II denounced a hoax news report on Georgian TV about a fake Russian military invasion. He called the controversial program, which spread panic throughout the population, a "crime against humanity." After Georgia lost a brief-but-bloody 2008 war with Russia, Ilia II was the highest ranking Georgian dignitary to meet face-to-face with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow. In March 2008, Ilia II helped negotiate an end to a hunger strike led by opposition parties against the Georgian government. Ilia II says his greatest accomplishment has been to help unify Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Society was divided into separate pieces," he said. "My aim was to unify the people, to make them one nation. And I knew that would happen." At 77, the patriarch is not a young man. Many Georgians now worry about the health of the elderly priest who has helped guide his country through 19 stormy years of independence. During Sunday prayer services, the choir in Holy Trinity Cathedral performs a choral piece called "Kyrie Eleison." It features a female soloist, backed by an all-male choir. Their full-throated harmonies echo off the stone walls of the huge church, triggering goose bumps among listeners.