Former countries

Borisav Jovic, one of last presidents of the presidency of socialist Yugoslavia prior to its break-up, a key ally of Slobodan Milosevic and a leading figure in his ruling Socialist Party, died on Monday as a consequence of contracting COVID-19.

An archaeological excavation that will last for five years has been initiated in the northern province of Trabzon. The aim of the work is to unearth the structures and finds belonging to the Roman, Byzantine, Komnenos and Ottoman Empires that ruled in the region throughout history.

According to him, the main task of the CIA stationed in the Croatian town was to protect the then and current president of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovi, if the then president of the FRY, Slobodan Miloevi, attacked him.

Nearly 200-year-old newspaper copies in Istanbul's Atatürk Library, a complex known as one of the first libraries of the Republican era, have been damaged by visitors and researchers.

The Beyazıt Public Library in Istanbul is working on a project worth 3.5 million Turkish Liras ($419,470) to digitalize its vast body of resources, the library's deputy director said March 30.

The Beyazıt Library is the oldest public library in Turkey which opened on June 24, 1884, by a decree of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II.

Both then and now, Tudjman and Plenkovic, the 20th century nationalist and the moderate conservative, suffered from the same ailment - selective, deliberate amnesia.

Neither of them can remember - or bear to remember - Yugoslavia.

Erased: The die-hard Yugoslav behind the library

Alexander Alexakis, professor of Byzantine philology at the University of Ioannina, will be speaking in the Byzantine Dialogues online lecture series organized by the American School of Classical Studies on February 2, starting at 7 p.m. Greek time.

Cumalıkızık, an Ottoman village which is famous for its historical buildings that include frame houses, mosques and inns, mesmerize visitors with beautiful views, while offering them an escape from the chaos of urban life.

Serbia's Justice Ministry told BIRN it has no obligation to reveal information about the requested extradition of former Montenegrin official Svetozar Marovic, or about its activities on this matter.

The last surviving head of the House of Osman, the royal dynasty that once ruled the Ottoman Empire- which ruled vast territories for six centuries, before it was replaced by the Turkish Republic- has died at age 88 in Syria.

Prince Dündar Abdulkerim Osmanoğlu lost his life at a hospital on Jan. 18 in the Syrian capital Damascus, where he had been receiving treatment.