The Pomaks: A Religious Minority in the Balkans

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Apostolov
Keyword(s):  
Religious Minority ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Balkan History

A religious minority of Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, the Pomaks now live dispersed in five Balkan countries: Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Albania and Turkey. A living legacy of the complexities of Balkan history, the Pomaks represent a perfect case to study interstate political intricacies around the unsettled identity of small inter-communal groups. An examination of this community should enrich the knowledge about the nature of Balkan Islam that stands on the periphery of the Arab-Iranian-Turkic Islamic heartland, the three peoples who carried the major burden of Islamic history.

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 The Schemes of External Quality Control in Laboratory Medicine in the Balkans

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-247
Author(s):  
Petros Karkalousos
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Clinical Chemistry ◽  
Laboratory Medicine ◽  
External Quality Control ◽  
External Quality ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Control Schemes ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Balkan Region

The Schemes of External Quality Control in Laboratory Medicine in the Balkans There are many differences between the national External Quality Control Schemes all around Europe, but the most important ones are certainly those between the countries of the Balkan region. These differences are due to these countries' different political and financial development, as well as to their tradition and the development of clinical chemistry science in each one. Therefore, there are Balkan countries with very developed EQAS and others where there is no such a scheme. Undoubtedly, the scientific community in these countries wants to develop EQAS despite of the financial and other difficulties.

The Impact of Debt on Economic Development of the Western Balkan Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-379
Author(s):  
Mehdija Ćosović
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
External Debt ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Past ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract The degree of increased indebtedness in the Western Balkan countries is generated by increasing consumption in terms of increased economic growth and structural reforms. Although these countries have shown an increase in exports and foreign direct investment over the past few years, the current account deficit remains high, especially in the ratio between external debt and GDP, which is not only high but at the stage of growth. Also, as domestic financial markets are underdeveloped, these countries are to a large extent exposed to an increase in the price of foreign borrowing. The current borrowing policy continues with increasing investment in non-productive consumption, which requires renewed borrowing. The presentation of debt trends, analysis and comparison of external debt of these countries show relevant guidelines in the selection of an adequate economic policy that would enhance the competitiveness of this part of the Balkans. Also, a comparative analysis of the indebtedness ratio will especially assess the state of indebtedness in Serbia, the structure and the movement of external debt towards international financial institutions. The comparison in this paper is made using standard indices of indebtedness based on the data obtained from the national statistical institutes and international financial institutions.

ROMANIA AND THE BALKANS: POLITICAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS

2021 ◽  
pp. 233-252
Author(s):  
Tatiana Bitkova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Regional Leadership ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Common

The article analyzes some aspects of Romania’s foreign policy in the Balkan region. It is noted that the same fact that country belongs to the Balkans causes ambiguous interpretations on the part of Romanian politicians and experts, many of whom believe that Romania cannot be attributed to this region either geographically or politically. At the same time, culturally and historically, according to a certain part of historians and sociologists, Romania nevertheless carries the features of the so-called «Balkanism», due to the common Ottoman past with the Balkan Peninsula. These features are also relevant for the current socio-political situation, which is shown in the article with specific examples. In addition, criticism of the very term «Balkanism» from the side of Romanian analysts is presented. The author also examines Romania’s relations with the countries of the Western Balkans, primarily with Serbia. The points of contact of the positions of these countries are noted, which are largely due to the desire of Serbia to resolve the Kosovo problem in its favor, relying on the support of Romania - one of the five EU countries that did not recognize the independence of Kosovo. Romania, using this situation, is trying to strengthen its position, seeking regional leadership. The author comes to the conclusion that, although the Western Balkan countries directly or indirectly aspire to Euro-Atlantic structures, some of them (primarily Serbia) maintain and develop friendly relations with Russia, which complicates their interaction with Romania, orthodoxly adhering to the NATO and European Union policies and having a very difficult relationship with Russia.

The Myth of the Ottoman Caliphate

2019 ◽  
pp. 218-276
Author(s):  
Hüseyin Yılmaz
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Religious Wars ◽  
Sectarian Conflict ◽  
Imperial Ideology ◽  
Sufi Order

This chapter discusses the mystification of the Ottoman caliphate and the apocalyptic-messianic reconstruction of imperial ideology in the context of the long Ottoman–Safavid conflict of the sixteenth century. Current studies in the main treat the Ottoman–Safavid conflict as no more than a sectarian conflict between two expanding Muslim empires. The Ottomans, however, perceived it as an apocalyptic conflict between primordial forces of faith and disbelief, often expressed in manicheistic dichotomies. Being one of the most aggressively fought religious wars in Islamic history, it profoundly altered both Sunni and Shiite conceptions of history and rulership. The Safavids, being at once a Turkoman chieftainship, a Shiite dynasty, and a Sufi order, were better endowed with esoteric image-making skills than the Ottomans, whose juristic and theological arguments against heresy were, simply, by definition nullified. Despite the Ottoman military might that overwhelmed the Safavids in multiple battles, the Safavid–Shiite call resonated much more strongly among the vast Turkoman diaspora from Central Asia to the Balkans, particularly among popular mystical orders of the countryside.

The Persian Cosmopolis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Eaton
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Persian Literature ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Paper Making ◽  
Epic Poem ◽  
Royal Courts ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Subjective Phenomenon ◽  
Middle Persian

The Persian cosmopolis refers to the vast territory between the Balkans and Bengal in which, for 1000 years, an integrated sense of moral, social, political, and aesthetic order was informed by the circulation of normative Persian texts. Several centuries after the Arab conquest of the Iranian plateau, a spoken form of a hybridized Middle Persian and Arabic emerged in written form, using a modified Arabic script. What had begun as a regional vernacular swiftly became a transregional, literary medium as regional courts in Khurasan and Central Asia patronized Persian literature and used that language in their bureaucracies, building on a tradition of professional writers that had served Persian empires for centuries. The technology of paper-making, recently introduced from China, facilitated the rapid movement of Persian texts across space, while Firdausi’s epic poem the Shah-nama (1010) celebrated Iranian mythology and pre-Islamic history in ways that connected widely scattered peoples of different ethnicities. Territorial conquests by Persianized Turks, followed by Mongol invasions that drove peoples of Central Asia and Khurasan into new lands, also served to expand the geographical extent of the Persian cosmopolis. By the 14th and 15th centuries, the political, aesthetic, and moral order elaborated in a growing Persian canon—for example, the principle of justice—had become associated with a prestigious, cosmopolitan style that was emulated and absorbed by widely scattered peoples of diverse ethnicities and religions. Persianate architecture, attire, urban design, music, cuisine, and numismatic traditions were also assimilated by such peoples. With the translation of a rich store of romance literature into vernacular tongues, the Persian cosmopolis became as much a subjective phenomenon, inhabiting people’s collective imagination, as it was an objective, mappable zone in which popular, discursive, and normative texts circulated along networks that connected royal courts, provincial notables, Sufi lodges, merchant communities, and schools.

Service to the Global Ummah

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Ahmet Erdi Öztürk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries

Under the shadow of these observations and findings, the AKP has realised that Turkey’s Western-oriented laik foreign policy has not been serving the new interests of Turkey, and so it aims to establish deeper relations with the Balkan countries, but particularly with the Muslims of these countries. Turkey has in fact been preferring to serve the Ummah, instead of expanding relations with all components of the Balkans, in spite of the fragile economic conditions prevailing in the region. Even though the socio-political elites of the host countries are pleased with these initiatives, they are at the same time suspicious. Hence, this mostly single-sided and religion-oriented investment approach is one of the significant indicators of how its preferences make Turkey an ambiguous power in the region.

8. EU Enlargement and Wider Europe

2018 ◽  
pp. 167-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Sedelmeier ◽  
Graham Avery
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
European Model ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

The EU has expanded many times and many countries still aspire to join. It has extended the prospect of membership to countries in the Balkans and Turkey and has developed a ‘neighbourhood’ policy towards other countries, some of which may want to join in the future. Enlargement illustrates the success of the European model of integration. It has also provided the EU with a powerful tool to influence domestic politics in would-be members. But enlargement also poses fundamental challenges. It has implications both for how the EU works (its structure and institutions) and for what it does (its policies). The chapter first compares ‘widening’ and ‘deepening’ before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

scholarly journals Medical and Social Aspects of Syphilis in the Balkans from the mid-19th Century to the Interwar

Folia Medica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Costas Tsiamis ◽  
Georgia Vrioni ◽  
Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou ◽  
Vasiliki Gennimata ◽  
Mariana А. Murdjeva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Precipitation Reaction ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Wassermann Reaction

Abstract The current study presents some aspects of syphilis in the Balkan Peninsula from the 19th century until the Interwar. Ever since the birth of modern Balkan States (Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey and Serbia), urbanization, poverty and the frequent wars have been considered the major factors conducive to the spread of syphilis. The measures against sex work and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were taken in two aspects, one medical and the other legislative. In this period, numerous hospitals for venereal diseases were established in the Balkan countries. In line with the international diagnostic approach and therapeutic standards, laboratory examinations in these Balkan hospitals included spirochete examination, Wassermann reaction, precipitation reaction and cerebrospinal fluid examination. Despite the strict legislation and the adoption of relevant laws against illegal sex work, public health services were unable to curb the spread of syphilis. Medical and social factors such as poverty, citizen’s ignorance of STDs, misguided medical perceptions, lack of sanitary control of prostitution and epidemiological studies, are highlighted in this study. These factors were the major causes that helped syphilis spread in the Balkan countries during the 19th and early 20th century. The value of these aspects as a historic paradigm is diachronic. Failure to comply with the laws and the dysfunction of public services during periods of war or socioeconomic crises are both factors facilitating the spread of STDs.

Soviet Goals in Yugoslavia and the Balkans

1985 ◽  
Vol 481 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
DARKO BEKICH
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Socialist Government

Soviet interest in Yugoslavia and the Balkans has revived in the last decade owing to the autonomous policies pursued by Yugoslavia and Rumania, the succession struggle in Albania, and the emergence of a socialist government in Greece. Increased Soviet pressures have been rewarded, despite the Balkan countries' long experience in using diplomatic tactics to ensure survival, partly because of regional economic difficulties and a lack of support from the West.

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