The South Africa based Sylt Foundation and Myanmar online journal, Be Untexed, collaborated to lead the event which included an art exhibition, workshop and poetry reading. Han Lynn, the curator of the art festival and member of Be Untexed online journal said, “‘Violent Memories’ is the long-term project of the ‘Transformation and Identity, Trauma and Reconciliation’ which includes eight different countries.”

As Skopje 2014 nears completion, it continues to divide Macedonia over its cultural legacy and role in society. “The new area is just about making money – it isn’t anything about culture,” says one older merchant in the Old Bazaar, the heart of the former Ottoman city, dismissing the new development. “That is one thing, this is another.” Mr. Nikoleski disagrees. “Skopje 2014 will be great for Macedonia," he says. "With cheap flights and this new development more and more people will visit here and see our own culture.”

Slovenia’s International Centre for Promotion of Enterprises and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s Finance Think have been appointed by their Governments to join the Virtual Institute’s global network of 82 academic institutions, expanding Virtual Institute think tank membership to 11 research centres from seven countries.

While an October exhibition of Macedonian medieval manuscripts in Brussels incited protests from the government in Sofia over historical issues, there is another collection of texts in the country about which relatively little is known- that is, Macedonia’s Islamic manuscript collection, a legacy from Ottoman times. In this intriguing new interview, Balkanalysis.com Director Chris Deliso gets the insights of Prof. Dr. Mesut Idriz, an expert on the subject who has done considerable research on the history, identity and preservation possibilities of Islamic manuscripts from Macedonia.

Citizens also appreciate the principles on which his foreign policy agenda is founded - openness to all, excluding so called diplomatic tourism, turning deeds into actions, public diplomacy, economic segment of his foreign policy and most importantly, credibility of his diplomatic engagement.