The Muslim Experience in the Balkan States, 1919–19911

2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Poulton
Keyword(s):  
Minority Populations ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Muslim Minority ◽  
New States ◽  
The One ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Balkan States

During the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire retreated from the Balkans, and underwent a steady decline culminating in its final demise in the early part of the twentieth century. Sizeable communities of Muslims, derived both from those who had arrived with the Ottomans and from indigenous inhabitants who had converted to Islam, remained in the new successor states of southeast Europe. With the exception of Albania, where the Muslims formed the majority of the population, these communities became established as minorities within the new states. Upheld as ethno-national states each based on one dominant nation, the new states suffered from irredentism on the one hand, and internal tension between majority and minority populations on the other. Tension was particularly evident in the relations between the new Orthodox Christian rulers and their Muslim minority populations, which were seen as undesirable relics from the Ottoman past. In spite of such attitudes and the continuing waves of emigration, however, these Muslim communities remain an integral part of the present-day Balkans.

scholarly journals The new international legal order and new states in the Balkans

2006 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dusko Dimitrijevic
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
State Behavior ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
New States ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
The One ◽  
Further Development

In this study the author attaches a great importance to the theoretical examination of the concept of the New International Legal Order that was embodied in the last decades of the 20th century. The starting point for that reflection is the dissolution of the SFR Yugoslavia that illustrates one of the fundamental legal precedents. Reminding that the basic principle for the post-modern State behavior must be the one that includes minimal disturbance of the existing international legal relations, the author stresses that "the Yugoslav case" was customized in the way to respond to the new reality where the principle of effectiveness played an essential role in valuation of the statehood. It could also be one of the greatest catalysts for all further 'development rules' of international law.

Southeast Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 712-729
Author(s):  
Vasilios N. Makrides
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Modernization Process ◽  
Religious Landscape ◽  
Geographical Context

This chapter charts the religious landscape of Southeast Europe and considers its religious specificities in their historical and geographical context. To this purpose, it discusses the significance of the Orthodox Christian heritage of Byzantium; the cleavage between Eastern and Western Christianity (both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) and inter-confessional dynamics; the presence of Islam and the long period of Ottoman rule; the existence of other religions in the region; the role of Russia in Southeast European affairs; ethno-religious identities and the rise of nationalism; the communist and the post-communist periods; and finally, the negative discourse about the Balkans in the context of Southeast European distinctiveness, the modernization process, and the potential for religion in this.

scholarly journals National and international political mechanisms of suppression of separatism in the Balkan states

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-77
Author(s):  
O. V. Sharan
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Territorial Integrity ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
New States ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
Mechanism Of Recognition

The article firstly identifies and reveales the essence of national and international political mechanisms of suppression of separatism that have been applied in the Balkan states, in particular, in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The national mechanisms of suppression of separatism include legal, financial, administrative, information mechanisms, and among the international political mechanisms are international legal mechanisms, the mechanism of recognition or non-recognition of the independence of new states, international financial and economic instruments. The study showed the dynamics of the most important events that took place in the Balkans after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in particular during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991-1995, the Bosnian War in 1992–1995, and during Kosovo’s struggle for independence from Serbia. The revival of separatist movements in the Balkan Peninsula began as a result of the overthrow of the communist regimes and the strengthening of centrifugal tendencies in Central and Eastern Europe in the 90’s of the twentieth century. The interethnic distrust and constant tension became one of the reasons for the beginning of the civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Moreover, the article characterized the concept of «Great Albania», which involves the reunification of all the territories where the Albanian ethnic group lives. Several regions of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Epirus region in Greece and Kosovo should be part of the «Greater Albania». Furthermore, the study considers the experience of suppression of separatism of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the possibility of its use in Ukraine and other countries where separatist tendencies dominate, in order to avoid human victims, preserve territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. Consequently, separatism is a dangerous phenomenon that contains an enormous threat to the national security and territorial integrity, since it is related to the change of borders of the existing states and creation of the new countries on the political map of the world.

The meaning of Independence Day for the new Balkan states

2019 ◽  
pp. 110-123
Author(s):  
Irina Rudneva
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
External Relations ◽  
New States ◽  
Internal Relations ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
Independent Existence

The article discusses the question of how Independence Day is celebrated in the new Balkan states, what semantic content these countries invest in it and how events of the past are reflected in the process of creating modern state and national traditions. The new states in the Balkans are rebuilding both internal relations within the country and the system of external relations. The celebration of Independence Day becomes a link between the promises of political leaders and the expectations and reactions of the citizens of a particular state to the annual evaluation of their independent existence. At the regional and international level, this celebration is a kind of demonstration of the validity of the chosen path of development. However, there are regions in the Balkans whose independence is controversial from the viewpoint of international law. Nevertheless, this does not prevent them from staging magnificent celebrations and receiving salutations from all over the world. This holiday, which should seemingly play a consolidating role, can in fact cause serious disagreements that call into question the country’s independence. Thus, even through legal proceedings, it is not possible to work out a clear criterion for celebrating this day.

Global Diyanet and Multiple Networks: Turkey’s New Presence in the Balkans

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerem Öktem
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Development Agency ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Multiple Networks ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Turkish State ◽  
Muslim Communities

Abstract Turkey’s relations with the Muslim communities of Southeast Europe have changed significantly since the early 2000s, when Turkish actors largely replaced Wahhabi and Salafi missionaries. This paper discusses four domains of the new Turkish presence: The intellectual and political networks in the Balkans around Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu; non-conventional foreign policy actors of the Turkish state such as the Turkish Development Agency (TIKA) and the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet); and finally Islamic grassroots organisations, such as the Gülen movement. United by a common imaginary of neo-Ottomanism’, these actors have contributed to the strengthening of the established Islamic communities and to the visibility of the Ottoman tradition of Hanafi Islam in the Balkans.

scholarly journals Challenges of Western Balkan Countries on Their Road to EU Integration

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Mirvan Xhemaili
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
New States ◽  
The Cold War

Western Balkans is one of the regions that has experienced the worst and the longest transition after the Cold War. The dissolution of Yugoslavia at the beginning of 1990s was associated by destructive interethnic conflicts, by local and regional wars, and also by political and ethnic accidents. Western Balkans is also closely related to Europe politically and economically. The historical period to be considered in this research is the post-Cold War period, after the immense changes in central Europe, and the southeast Europe, i.e. the Balkans. The international factor has actively intervened in the Balkans. The international presence is both military and civil. Various international mechanisms have played a determining factor through direct activities in the region. The process of dissolution of former Yugoslavia has fragmentized the Western Balkans in many spheres, starting from the border changes to demographic changes. This process also resulted in creation of new states that changed the geopolitics of the region. The fragmentation was caused by many factors: historical, political, economic, military, geopolitical, and strategic. Also, this development was determined by the political concepts that are leading the region in respect to EU integration. The development of the regional political process has now conditioned and oriented the Western Balkans towards integration in Euro Atlantic structures. Knowing that these countries have as a strategic aim the full membership in the EU, I can say that this makes the process more dynamic and faster, because we are dealing with a process that entails the same principles and same values that are closely related to regional interests. Regardless of the same orientation on values and geopolitical interest, the Western Balkans is currently in a fragmentized level in regards to EU integration

6600–6000 cal BC Abrupt Climate Change and Neolithic Dispersal from West Asia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Weninger ◽  
Lee Clare
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Anatolian Plateau ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
New Hypothesis

Recent advances in palaeoclimatological and meteorological research, combined with new radiocarbon data from western Anatolia and southeast Europe, lead us to formulate a new hypothesis for the temporal and spatial dispersal of Neolithic lifeways from their core areas of genesis. The new hypothesis, which we term the Abrupt Climate Change (ACC) Neolithization Model, incorporates a number of insights from modern vulnerability theory. We focus here on the Late Neolithic (Anatolian terminology), which is followed in the Balkans by the Early Neolithic (European terminology). From high-resolution 14C-case studies, we infer an initial (very rapid) west-directed movement of early farming communities out of the Central Anatolian Plateau towards the Turkish Aegean littoral. This move is exactly in phase (decadal scale) with the onset of ACC conditions (~6600 cal BC). Upon reaching the Aegean coastline, Neolithic dispersal comes to a halt. It is not until some 500 years later—that is, at the close of cumulative ACC and 8.2 ka cal BP Hudson Bay cold conditions—that there occurs a second abrupt movement of farming communities into Southeast Europe, as far as the Pannonian Basin. The spread of early farming from Anatolia into eastern Central Europe is best explained as Neolithic communities’ mitigation of biophysical and social vulnerability to natural (climate-induced) hazards.

Historical Writing in the Balkans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf Brunnbauer
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The Other ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

This chapter analyzes historiography in several Balkan countries, paying particular attention to the communist era on the one hand, and the post-1989–91 period on the other. When communists took power in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia in 1944–5, the discipline of history in these countries—with the exception of Albania—had already been institutionalized. The communists initially set about radically changing the way history was written in order to construct a more ideologically suitable past. In 1989–91, communist dictatorships came to an end in Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Years of war and ethnic cleansing would ensue in the former Yugoslavia. These upheavals impacted on historiography in different ways: on the one hand, the end of communist dictatorship brought freedom of expression; on the other hand, the region faced economic displacement.

scholarly journals Russia’s Foreign Policy Evolution in the New Balkan Landscape

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 179-199
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Entina ◽  
Alexander Pivovarenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Difference

The article reflects on the issue of the foreign policy strategy of modern Russia in the Balkans region. One of the most significant aspects of this problem is the difference in views between Russia and the West. Authors show how different interpretations of the events in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s predetermined the sense of mutual suspicion and mistrust which spread to other regions such as the post-Soviet space. Exploring differences between the Russian and the Western (Euro-Atlantic) views on the current matters, authors draw attention to fundamental differences in terminology: while the Western narrative promotes more narrow geographical and political definitions (such as the Western Balkan Six), traditional Russian experts are more inclined to wider or integral definitions such as “the Balkans” and “Central and Southeast Europe”. Meanwhile none of these terms are applicable for analysis of the current trends such as the growing transit role of the Balkans region and its embedding in the European regional security architecture. Therefore, a new definition is needed to overcome the differences in vision and better understand significant recent developments in the region. Conceptualizing major foreign policy events in Central and Southeast Europe during the last three decades (the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s), authors demonstrate the significance of differences in tools and methods between the Soviet Union and the modern Russia. Permanent need for adaptation to changing political and security context led to inconsistence in Russian Balkan policy in the 1990s. Nevertheless, Russia was able to preserve an integral vision of the region and even to elaborate new transregional constructive projects, which in right political circumstances may promote stability and become beneficial for both Russia and the Euro-Atlantic community.

scholarly journals Regional diversity in subsistence among early farmers in Southeast Europe revealed by archaeological organic residues

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1894) ◽  
pp. 20182347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy J. E. Cramp ◽  
Jonathan Ethier ◽  
Dushka Urem-Kotsou ◽  
Clive Bonsall ◽  
Dušan Borić ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Residues ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Transformative Process ◽  
Climatic Range ◽  
Early Farmers ◽  
Early Pottery ◽  
Neolithic Pottery

The spread of early farming across Europe from its origins in Southwest Asia was a culturally transformative process which took place over millennia. Within regions, the pace of the transition was probably related to the particular climatic and environmental conditions encountered, as well as the nature of localized hunter–gatherer and farmer interactions. The establishment of farming in the interior of the Balkans represents the first movement of Southwest Asian livestock beyond their natural climatic range, and widespread evidence now exists for early pottery being used extensively for dairying. However, pottery lipid residues from sites in the Iron Gates region of the Danube in the northern Balkans show that here, Neolithic pottery was being used predominantly for processing aquatic resources. This stands out not only within the surrounding region but also contrasts markedly with Neolithic pottery use across wider Europe. These findings provide evidence for the strategic diversity within the wider cultural and economic practices during the Neolithic, with this exceptional environmental and cultural setting offering alternative opportunities despite the dominance of farming in the wider region.

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