WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW
The White House announced on May 13 that president George Bush intended nominating John Beyrle, of Michigan, currently US ambassador to Bulgaria, to be US ambassador to Russia. Beyrle, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, previously was deputy chief of mission in Moscow.  Earlier, Beyrle was counsellor for political and economic affairs in Prague.  Beyrle received his bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University and his master’s degree from the National War College.

ATHENS, ANKARA AND SKOPJE
Greece complained on May 13 to Turkey about statements on Turkey’s foreign ministry website which raised issues of sovereignty in the Aegean and a “Turkish minority” in Thrace, the online version of Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported. Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis condemned the “unfounded allegations”, saying: “We expect a correction.” She asked Turkey’s ambassador in Athens to provide a clarification. The new material on the site deals in some detail with the thorny issues of territorial rights and minority groups that Athens and Ankara have sought to play down over the past few years. Athens was on the receiving end of a complaint from another neighbour. The Macedonian foreign ministry summoned Greece’s ambassador in Skopje for an explanation following reports that Macedonian citizens trying to enter Greece were being harassed and that three Macedonian nationals had been attacked in separate incidents in Greece over the weekend.

PRISTINA AND BUCHAREST
Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci said on May 13 that Romania would soon follow the example of most European Union member states in acknowledging Kosovo’s independence, Radio Romania Actualitati reported. Thaci said that he hoped that Bucharest authorities would take the right decision. He denied, however, that the European Union or Nato would pressure states to accept Kosovo’s independence. Romanian president Traian Basescu declared a few days earlier that Romania would not acknowledge Kosovo.

LONDON AND ANKARA
England’s Queen Elizabeth II described Turkey as “a bridge between East and West at a crucial time” during an official visit to the country, the BBC reported. She was speaking at a state banquet on May 13 in Ankara, hosted by president Abdullah Gul and his wife Hayrunnisa. Turkey had a “key role in promoting peace, political stability and economic development in some of the world’s most unsettled areas”, she said. It is the Queen and Prince Philip’s first visit to Turkey since 1971.