Monday Briefing from the Balkans: December 16, 2024
Source: Balkan Insight
Erdogan bans strike, citing Turkish national security
On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan banned a strike by workers who belong to the United Union of Metal Workers, citing national security.
Workers in several key metal factories have been on strike since last week seeking better rights and pay. Following Erdogan’s ban, the workers said that they will continue their strike. “You cannot overpower steel-willed metalworkers.” union leader Ozkan Akat wrote on his X account.
Turkish authorities meanwhile detained journalist Nevsin Mengu for interviewing Salih Muslim, a Syrian Kurdish leader, on her YouTube channel about developments in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad. The Prosecutor’s Office claimed that the interview contained statements “praising a terrorist organization”.
After the authorities detained Mengu on Saturday, she was later released under judicial control measures with an international travel ban.
Muslim is the former co-chair of the Democratic Union Party, PYD, in Syria, which Turkey says is the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, and therefore a “terror organisation”.
Croatian president holds first re-election rally
The President of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, in his race for re-election, held his first campaign rally on Sunday at the Culture Factory in Zagreb, where he again questioned whether Croatia should aid Ukraine.
“I am in favour of helping, of solidarity, but also of coldly assessing what is in the Croatian national interest, what can and cannot be done and what should be avoided,” Milanovic said, adding that Croatian soldiers should not participate in helping Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine, he added, is not Croatia’s business, which was greeted with thunderous applause by the crowd. “We need to help our allies, Poland, Lithuania, but we owe nothing to those who are not formally our allies,” he said.
He also accused Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic of pursuing a policy of subservience to the EU. “It is clear who we are and where we belong, but we will not be anyone’s poodles and puppets. This policy of Andrej Plenkovic is not only bad for Croatia but is bad, unimaginative, and subservient,” he said.
Read BIRN’s analysis of the repeated clashes between Milanovic and Plenkovic over Ukraine.
Serbia concerned by possible US sanctions on oil company
President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia is trying to find a way to deal with possible upcoming US sanctions against the Oil Industry of Serbia, NIS, an energy company majority-owned by two Russian energy companies.
Vucic said on Friday evening that Serbia has received information but not official confirmation about likely sanctions on NIS. A change in the ownership of NIS has been mooted as a possible solution. US ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill told Beta news agency that a change “would certainly bring more peace and prosperity, both here and in the region”.
BIRN reported in 2022 how NIS became a headache for Serbia after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Montenegro’s president concerned about new security chief
The president of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, announced that he will take steps to address Prime Minister Milojko Spajic’s decision to appoint Ivica Janovic, an entrepreneur with no experience in the security field, as acting director of the National Security Agency.
Greece’s parliament adopts 2025 budget
Greek MPs on Sunday adopted the country’s budget for 2025, which envisages higher defence spending. A total of 310,000 low-income pensioners will also get free access to medicines.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
