European Union foreign ministers voted Monday to recognize Montenegro as a sovereign, independent state, acting in the wake of the former Yugoslav republic's referendum on separation from Serbia.
The ministers issued a joint statement pledging to develop relations with Montenegro on that basis, with each member state directed to follow through under international law and standard practice.
Montenegro declared independence on 3 June 2006, after 55.5 percent of voters in a 21 May referendum backed a break from Serbia. The two countries had been linked in a loose federation since 2003.
The move brought the long, violent dissolution of the former Yugoslavia close to completion. Yugoslavia was torn apart by a series of wars in the early 1990s. Serbia completed the process by proclaiming its own independence the previous Monday, lowering the Serbia-Montenegro federation flag and raising the Serbian national flag in its place.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in June 2006, in its own words.