Last month an estimated 2,000 people gathered in Zagreb demanding that the central Marshall Tito Square be renamed "Theatre Square", as it was still called some 60 years ago. According to the protest's organisers, a renaming be necessitated by that Tito was responsible for "mass killings, tortures, prosecutions and forbidding of pluralism." Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic meanwhile sees "no historical reasons to change the square's name", and also President Mesic criticized the initiative, blaming "some circles that are nostalgic for the times of the pro-Nazi Croatian regime". (1, 2)
 

New conferences waiting to be applied for: Urban Boundaries and Margins (Nottingham, 3/2008; deadline: 9/2007), The Right to the City: New Challenges, New Issues (Vadstena/SWE, 10/2008; deadline: 6/2008), an international student conference Rethinking Balkan identities: The dynamics of space and time (Korca/ALB, 5/2008; deadline: 3/2008), and finally the 5th InASEA Conference, this year on Migration to, from, and in Southeastern Europe: Intercultural Communication, Social Change and Transnational Ties (Ankara, 5/2009; deadline: 7/2008).
 

SEtimes reports that "a chink" (a crack?) has appeared on Mostar's Stari Most (Old Bridge). Previously, UNESCO had forced Bosnian authorities to stop the construction of a hotel near the structure by threatening the country with the removal of the bridge from the World Heritage List. More positive from another World Heritage location in SEE: Greece has returned to Albania two antique statues that were stolen from the museum at Butrint in 1991.(*)
 

The initiative aktivistanbul is soliciting signatures to protest a construction project in Istanbul's historical peninsula. The Four Seasons hotel chain is building a 60-room extension to its Sultanahmet location, on top of a prime archaeological site (e.g. location of the Roman-Byzantine Great Palace). The initiative is now calling for independent excavations to be conducted, and the irreversible destruction to be immediately stopped. More than 2,500 people have already signed here. For those not reading Turkish, the form reads: "Name, Surname"; "Occupation"; "Date of Birth"; "city" (Yurtdisi refers to anything outside Turkey), and email. "Imzala" means "sign". Your name, profession, and place will be visible to other visitors. The petition will be sent to the presidency of the parliament.

A new book just published by the Council of Europe: Analysis and reform of cultural heritage policies in South East Europe (2008, 281p.; 19EU). Including the usual SEE countries plus Romania and Croatia and minus Greece, it is "concerned with current heritage policies and legislation" and aims "to take stock of the current position in the countries of South-East Europe", highlighting "the need to undertake an in-depth analysis of certain key areas where difficulties still arise with regard to implementation". A table of contents and ordering information can be found here.