I. JPOST - European Jews demand EU ban on IHH
The European Jewish Congress, the umbrella body for Jewish communities in Europe has formally requested that the "Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief" (Insani Yardim Vakfi), otherwise known as the IHH be placed on the EU list of proscribed terrorist organizations and its assets seized and frozen. The request, which is signed by Dr. Moshe Kantor, states that the IHH is "an organization with known and recognized ties to terrorist groups and activities" operating "under the guise of a humanitarian organization." According to the EJC, the IHH’s ties to terrorist activities clearly fit the European Union’s own criteria for immediate proscription. In particular they point to the IHH's affiliation with Hamas, "which is on the EU list of terror organizations, and its membership in The Union of the Good, an Islamic umbrella affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood." The Union of Good was designated as a terrorist entity by the United States in 2008. The organization's letter points out that "according to EU guidelines the definition of terrorism means individuals, groups and entities on which there is accurate information proving that they have committed, are attempting to commit or are facilitating the commission of terrorist acts. Terrorist activities include 'directing or participating in the activities of a terrorist group, including by funding its activities or supplying material resources.'" The letter cites a 2006, a report by the Danish Institute for International Studies. This it says, stated that during the 1990s the IHH maintained links with al-Qaida and a number of global jihad networks and that the Turkish government launched an investigation into the IHH in 1997 after receiving intelligence that the IHH had bought automatic weapons from Islamist terrorists. According to the EJC, the Turkish government raided the organization’s Istanbul offices, where they found weapons, explosives, and instructions for bomb-making and documents linking the IHH to terrorist activities in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Bosnia. It add that in 1996, the CIA identified the IHH as an extreme radical organization with ties to terror. According to the report, French intelligence found that in the mid-1990s IHH leader B’ulent Yildirim recruited soldiers for jihad activities in a number of Muslim countries and that the IHH transferred money, firearms, and explosives to jihadists in said countries.
Serbian President Boris Tadić said in Banja Luka, RS [Republika Srpska], this Tuesday that Serbia “stands behind” the Dayton agreement. The peace deal signed in Dayton, Ohio in 1995 ended the war in Bosnia and divided that country into two entities: the Serb republic, RS, and the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia. Tadić, who was attending a session of the Serbia-RS Council for Cooperation, stated that Belgrade backed both the integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the two entities. “Any imposing of decisions within Bosnia-Herzegovina by any side is not acceptable to Serbia,” Tadić told reporters. The president added that Belgrade strongly supported the Dayton agreement, and was not bringing into question the territorial integrity of any UN-member state. “Any political changes, if agreed upon by the two entities and three peoples in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are acceptable to Serbia as well,” he noted, adding that Serbia was turned toward regional cooperation and stability. RS President Rajko Kuzmanović, who also attended the meeting along with other top RS and Serbian officials, said that the session was more successful than was expected, and that its 24 participants “almost amount to two whole governments”.
III. AFP - New Iraqi parliament to convene June 14
Iraq's new parliament will finally convene next week, an official said Tuesday, paving the way for the formation of a new government more than three months after nationwide polls. The June 14 opening of the Council of Representatives comes after Iraq's supreme court ratified the results of the March 7 general election which put ex-premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc in the lead, followed closely by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law alliance. "The president (Jalal Talabani) decided that the parliament will meet on Monday, June 14," Nasir al-Ani, head of the Iraqi presidency's office, told AFP. Once parliament is convened, Iraq's constitution states that MPs must first select a speaker, and then choose a new president. The president will then call on the leader of the biggest parliamentary bloc to form a government, giving him 30 days to do so. Iraq's supreme court on June 1 ratified the results of the election, confirming initial figures which showed Iraqiya won 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, followed by State of Law's 89. The Iraqi National Alliance (INA), led by Shiite religious groups, came third with 70, while a bloc of Kurdish parties hold 59 seats. The fact that no clear winner emerged from the election has meant that protracted coalition negotiations have ensued as blocs jockey to form a parliamentary majority. Full results from the election were initially expected to be ratified in early April, but counting delays, multiple complaints and appeals from political groups have caused setbacks. The impasse over the formation of a government comes as the US military pulls its troops out of Iraq, in line with the terms of a bilateral security agreement between Baghdad and Washington. All American combat troops are set to leave Iraq by the end of August, leaving about 50,000 to advise and train their Iraqi counterparts. A complete withdrawal is due by the end of 2011.
IV. BALKANINSIGHT - FYRoMacedonia: Name Support Concert to Be Held
A concert dubbed “Our Name Is Macedonia” will be staged on Tuesday afternoon in Skopje’s main “Macedonia” square in support of the country’s official name. The event will be held just over one week before the start of the European Council summit in Brussels, at which Skopje hopes to get the much desired start date for its EU accession talks. This move has been so far delayed because of Greece's refusal to let its neighbor begin accession negotiations under Skopje's official name, Republic of Macedonia. Local observers say without a name deal between Athens and Skopje it is uncertain that anything will change at the coming summit. Thus far no local politician has openly supported or denounced the event. Athens and Skopje are locked in an 18 year long row over the use of the name Macedonia. Greece insists that Macedonia's official name implies territorial claims against Greece's own northern province, which is also called Macedonia. In 2008 Athens blocked Skopje from getting an invitation to join NATO over the spat, and Skopje didn't receive a start date for its EU accession talks in 2009 despite a recommendation for the European Commission because of the name dispute. The long lasting UN led bilateral negotiations aimed at finding a compromise name have so far failed to produce visible results.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom announced a joint venture with a Greek company that would oversee construction of the regional leg of the South Stream pipeline. Moscow is pressing for the South Stream gas pipeline to avoid political sensitive territory in Ukraine. The pipeline would travel offshore covering about 560 miles through southern Europe and carry roughly 2.2 trillion cubic feet of gas per year. South Stream would divide into two pipelines -- one to Greece and the other through the Balkans -- once it reaches the Bulgarian coast. Gazprom delegates welcomed their Greek partners at Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator S.A. to sign a charter for a joint venture to manage the Greek section of South Stream. "The scope of the company will include engineering, funding, construction and operation of the pipeline on the territory of Greece," the Russian energy company said. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, during a summit last week with European leaders, said South Stream would contribute to European energy security. "We hope that the South Stream project can get the status of the trans-European energy network in the future," he said. South Stream could be completed by 2015.
VI. SOFIAECHO - Cyprus leaders meet over renewal of UN peacekeeping force
Cyprus president Demetris Christofias has called a meeting of political party leaders amid moves by the United Nations Security Council to extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force on the divided island to December 2010, local media said. Negotiations are proceeding under the auspices of the UN about the future of Cyprus, which has been divided since a Turkish invasion in response to an attempted coup on the island in 1974, which has left in place a "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" recognised solely by Ankara. Talks aiming to reunify the Mediterranean island of Cyprus are continuing along the parameters agreed between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders and the United Nations, an adviser to Secretary-General Ban K-Moon said on June 4 2010. "All chapters are being negotiated with the aim of increasing the points of convergence on the understanding that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," Alexander Downer, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, told reporters in the city of Larnaca, the UN News Service reported. He said he would travel to New York in the week starting June 7 to brief the Security Council on the status of the talks. On June 2, Ban announced the appointment of Lisa Buttenheim of the United States as his Special Representative and top UN official in Cyprus. "Ms. Buttenheim brings to the position extensive experience with the United Nations in the political and peacekeeping areas," Ban’s spokesperson Marie Okabe told journalists in New York, the UN News Service said. Since January 2009, Buttenheim has served as Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) in the world body’s Secretariat in New York. Buttenheim will now serve as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN peacekeeping mission known as UNFICYP, which has been stationed in Cyprus since 1964 after an outbreak of inter-communal violence. During a June 5 visit to Cyprus, Pope Benedict XVI urged the diverse groups on Cyprus and the surrounding region to strive for peace and reconciliation. Christofias denounced the 1974 Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus, echoing the words of Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos. The leader of the island's Orthodox Christian community spoke with the pope shortly after his arrival in Cyprus on June 4.
A symposium titled "Hellenism and Orthodoxy" will open at Saint Vladimir's Seminary here on Thursday, June 10, 2010. His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, will deliver the public keynote lecture on Friday evening, June 11, at 7:30 p.m. The Very Rev Dr. Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, chief secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, will deliver a keynote for a panel discussion, open to registered participants, on Saturday, June 12. Orthodox clerics and scholars from Turkey, Greece, and North America will round out the program. Symposium speakers will analyze the role of Hellenistic culture in the spread of the early Christianity, as well as explore its lasting and profound effects on the cultural, linguistic, and canonical history of the Orthodox Church. For more information, visit the seminary web site.