Balkan Nationalism

1. The Ottoman system segregated people according to religion. Thus many of the ethnic Greeks, Slavs and Albanians in the Balkans considered themselves simply as Christians or Muslims.

2. The choice of identity was initially dictated by the people’s affiliation to a particular Christian Autonomous Church (e.g. Bulgarian Exarchate, Greek Archbishopric, Patriarch of Constantinople etc). The Church affiliations themselves were mainly according to linguistic criteria (Bulgarians belonged to the Exarchate etc). However cross-linguistic affiliation (Bulgarians under the Patriarch) did exist and was encouraged by nationalist on both sides (often very violently).

3. When that system collapsed some adopted a Bulgarian identity, some a Greek or Albanian one, while others still opted to remain independent of either of these two nations and chose to adopt a Macedonian identity. This is the source of the historical fallacy. That they chose to adopt the name of the area they lived in, Macedonia does not mean that they have anything in common culturally or historically with the ancient Macedonians. The autocephalous Macedonian Church was established much later than that. The Yugoslav Communist party, headed by Tito, declared it independent in the 1940’s for political reasons (removal of residual Bulgarian influence, strengthening of Macedonian nationalism, this could be later harnessed for a possible expansion in Aegean Macedonia).

4. The myth was perpetuated, as were similar myths elsewhere in the Balkans (the Romanian-Thracian-Dacian connection, the Bulgarian-Thracian connection, the Turkish-Hittite connection and the Albanian-Illyrian connection). In the interest of fairness we should admit that the Greeks disregarding their Roman-Byzantine past in favour of their much more distant and less relevant (but more glorious) Ancient past, smacks of the same archaiophily, which was at the time a major feature of the European imported nationalism (see the German myths of the Aryan race etc).

5. An important element directing the choice of most mythological ancestors was the lack of written-linguistic evidence that would verify or disprove the claims. Additionally the scarcity of any other evidence specifically linking the ancient people with the modern was a plus. Once the tenuous connection was established, further previously unrelated historical finds could be used to further irredentist aims. For example the presence of an ancient Roman city in the border between Romania and Hungary, “proves” according to Romanian mythology that the “soil” was Romanian, and from then it should be either liberated or held. Similarly, for Albanian mythology, all who came from the northern part of the Hellenic Oikoumene were in fact Albanian. Since Illyrians might also have inhabited that space, once you accept that Illyrians are Albanians a whole new world of possibility opens for the would-be historians.

6. The Dacians, Illyrians, Thracians and others of whom we know only through Latin and Greek historians left little written evidence of their customs, language, traditions and practices. Hence they all offered themselves as excellent subjects for appropriation. Although that is not to say that had they left us substantial evidence things would have been much different. The Macedonians left a large body of evidence in Greek and yet the Slavic Macedonians seem not at all troubled by this.

7. The absence of substantial cultural connections explained above leads Balkan nationalism towards a racial and racist expression. Here genes are called upon to play the role that evidence of cultural continuity, because of its paucity or absence, cannot play. The fact that genetic evidence was unavailable in the past and sketchy at best today only reinforces this trend. Additionally it presupposes the false assumption that culture and civilisation is in any way dependant on race. For example, while the present inhabitants of Turkey have more in common genetically with the people who lived there for thousands of years (many of them Greeks) than with the inhabitants of the Central Asian Turkic Republics, they are Muslim Turks culturally and this is how they identify themselves. In the end this is what matters. Their heroes are Attila and Tamerlane and their legacy Turkish. Similarly there are Greeks in Attica of Albanian descent or in Epirus of Romanian (the Aromanoi or Vlachoi). This doesn’t affect the fact that they are Greek today. They have adopted the Greek culture and language, and they consider themselves proud Greeks. Who your grandfather was 100 years ago, has less bearing on your “objective” identity than who you are today. The examples are too numerous. The bottom line is that we can’t speak of racial “purity” in such spans as millennia. For a good example of racial purity and where it leads delve into the history of the Spanish Royal family. Check “Phillip the Handsome” out.

8. The main thrust of all this mythology was the proof of autochthony and the legitimisation, either of claims of land or independence. Hence in the Balkans Archaeology is a charged science. It is not entirely incidental, and amply demonstrated in this forum, that both Albanians and Slavic Macedonians claim Alexander the Great as "theirs", while in the past similar theories had been propagated by Bulgarian nationalists. Attaturk in his later days commissioned a theory that claimed all the world’s civilisations can be traced back to Turkic peoples (the “Sun Language” theory). This has fallen into discredit by the Turks themselves since the 1960’s. A similar fate awaits historical revisionism called upon to further nationalist claims, wherever it may come from.

9. The communist regimes in most of the Balkans didn't solve these problems, nor banish the misconceptions. They simply put them on deep freeze for fifty years or in some cases actively nurtured them. Hence we should not really be surprised that they are with us today, anachronistic though they seem at first.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2004

Answers

Yiannis,

I agree completely. Your words are inspiring.

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2004

hej open this site www.geocities.com/protoillyrian/

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2004

I have never laughed so much in my life when i saw your writing about the greek Scanderbeg. Thats how they teach you history you idiots.

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2004

Albania during WWII was less of an occupied country than an unwilling ally to the Italians, standing somewhere between Bulgaria and Greece. Remember, however that Kossova and parts of Montenegro were transferred to the Italian occupied Albania district during the Axis occupation. The Cheks (Albanian paramilitaries) of the SS Skanderberg (after George Kastriotis the only Albanian national hero and he was Orthodox and Greek) division fought for the Axis in Kossova and conducted their own ethnic cleansing operations against the Serbs on the side. This is similar to the Bulgarian attempts to settle colonists in Macedonia during the occupation. You can’t really convince me that had the Axis won the war Albania wouldn’t have been granted serious territorial concessions. Greater Albania had already been realized during the occupation .

Finally the Albanians in northern Greece (Chams) aided the Italians in their subjugation of the Greeks. I can see the reasons behind this behavior (hope of union with Albania, mistrust of Greeks). However you can understand how this failed to engender fuzzy feelings among us natives. Hence when the Axis left they too got the boot.

3. Albanian efforts of liberation were sparked by the threat perceived from the liberated Christian Balkans. The Prezrin League was initially pro-Ottoman while the Pec League was a Muslim effort and as such inherently pro-Ottoman. Albanians willingly assisted the Turks in the 1897 war as well as sending troops to support their massacres in Crete in ’88. The only valid attempt at a rebellion was in 1910-11 and it was crashed as well. If it weren’t for the First Balkan War and (valid) British fears of Serbian/Russian influence in the Balkans you would never have gotten a state. The majority of Albanians were quite content living under the Turks and you never had an autonomous state in your history before that anyway.

6. As for Tolerance and Hospitality remember that there are over half a million Albanians living in Greece whom we grudgingly tolerate. I say grudgingly because in the short time they have been here they managed to acquire a reputation for criminality unmatched by any other immigrants in Greece. However we do tolerate them, for now. Tolerant and Hospitable we may be, Malakes we aren’t. As for our treatment of minorities you should remember that there are still over 150 thousand Turks living in Greece, while of the 200 thousand Greeks that lived in Turkey after Lausagne there are now but a few thousand thanks to the Turkish pogroms.

7. I also heard of hundreds of Albanian murderers, thousands of thieves and robbers and drug pushers. How can you say “of that Greek doctor who” and keep a straight face. You should be ashamed. The Pakistanis, Poles, Kurds, Gypsies, Turks, Filipinos all these people haven’t generated the kind of reaction Albanians get today. And it is not just Greece. The Albanian mafia is very active in Italy as well and busy giving all Albanians a lasting reputation as criminals. Kossovar refugees in the UK had also managed to get themselves really bad press as I remember from my time there. Face it, Albanian society both native and Diaspora has attitude problems that it needs to address if they ever hope to be accepted by their host nations.

8. The smartest, better-educated and hardest working Albanians have already taken root in Greece and want to adopt a Greek identity. I am glad for these people and want them to stay here and prosper with us, eventually becoming one of us. The rest are those who don’t like it here yet somehow choose to stay, those who find the Greeks intolerant and mean yet have no problem taking their money (by honest means and foul), those who don’t want to become Greeks and yet protest when they see the slogan “Äåí èá ãßíåéò ¸ëëçíáò ðïôÝ, ÁëâáíÝ” (ala Mr. Mitsi). These can and should be encouraged to leave, by the state. Not by Greek thugs hitting children, but by the state arresting and deporting them and FINALLY removing the revolving doors they seem to have placed in our borders with Albania.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2004

I am glad to see you disaprove of the death of an innocent man . The person responsible was detained and will soon undergo trial, where I am sure he will get what is coming to him for bringing such sorrow to the poor kids family.

It would also behoove you and your countrymen residing in the country we now share, Greece, to show similar abhorence at the many incidents of criminality perpetrated by Albanians residing here. According to a recent survey published by the Leftist, opposition newspaper TA NEA, violent crime rates are double amongimmigrants than for the rest of the population. They are also much larger among Albanians, who constitute half the migrant population in Greece, than among the general immigrant population.

My point here is not to slam Albanians, as criminality is common among all recent immigrfants wherever they may be. It does however show that your argument lacks perspective and is more than a little unfair.

I do however wish to see Albanians integrate themeselves in our society and this can't happen unless the anti-Hellenic mentality exhibited by many, like yourself perhaps, is changed. You can't both despise us AND wish to live among us. Please, come to your senses and abandon these infantile attempts to falsify history. You can instead try and find validation in present accomplishments and work to improve your lot.

Try altering the future instead of the past.

A good example would be the Arvanites community in Attica. These people were Albanians who came here two-three centuries ago and now consider themselves (and rightly so for they are) true Greeks.

Abandon your racist ideas and try to succeed in your community.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2004

Hej listen up you freaks. it's true we Albanians hate you grekks and you know why?? Tell me some neighbours who never hated each other. But we don't hate you for your culture and language and so on but just for the simpliest reason. We always helped you and you always hated us.We helped you gaining the indipendence and you did massacres after that in Chameria.the same thing during and after WW 2.

Tell me why should Albanians like Greeks as they kill innocent people while they are peacefully celebrating the victory over the european champions? Why shouldn't we hate you when even the Police beats fans of Albania and umiliate their Girlfriends in front of the TV leaving them without clothes.

Because you are motherfuckers,dick head cock suckers of all the world.bitches of all the world.So fuck you sluts

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2004

Yiannis, ypu have a great knowledge on Greece and indeed all the Balken lands, use this knowledge to prove Alexander was not an Albanian. PLEASE

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2004

Yiannis, You should write all of this in a newspaper in Greece, especially now with the influx of immigration and the dangers of xenophobia looming.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2004

"Run a google search on Calabria, Salento, Griko, Grecano. "

I recently leafed through a beautifull book of Griko poetry in a friends house. It is amazing, to discover such a thing. The language is a beautiful mix of Italian and Greek. Last year I was fortunate to attend a concert from a group of Griko singers in Athens. It sent shivers down my spine, to hear a language that evolved from the same roots as ours, yet so differently and beautifuly. And this is a living language, not just spoken by old men, or in books. A living breathing language.

This is Hellenism, not some sickly thing, trapped in the narrow borders of Hellas, marred by constant fighting with the cancerous nationalism of our Balkan neighbours. Hellenism is something alive and beautifull, and much much greater than Hellas. Something that can and should give the world hope and a fresh view of life, of its beauty and wonder.

Hellenism is precious gift to the world, not our legacy alone. But our responsibility to see that it is not ruined or lost. To see that we do not hoard it like misers but share its beauty and rational thought with the world. And to do that, we have to work hard to recapture them.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2004

Stefane,

Modern Greeks are the products of more than two thousands years of civilisation, evolution, strife and conflict that led to our present day identity and culture. We are the product of ALL these heritages, not one only to the exclusion of others. You can’t understand Modern Greek culture without studying the ancient practices, language and customs that survive to this day. Equally one must delve into the medieval evolution of language, life in cities and mindset.

1. The first Greek civilisation was that of the Mycenaean’s in the Peloponnesian peninsula.

2. This eventually led to the Classic Greek civilisation.

3. That was transformed, as it spread to different non-ethnic Greek cultures to the Hellenistic civilisation.

4. With the adoption of Christianity a fundamental shift occurred, from the polytheistic-syncretistic mindset of the ancients to the monotheistic-exclusionist mindset of Christianity. Additionally the Christian Church threatened by Paganism sought to discredit many Hellenic institutions and identified Hellene with Pagan.

5. It should be noted that although Christianity is in the main a Judaic concept, its adoption first by the Greeks led to the formation of a large part of its character. That is: a. Circumcision is not a feature of Christianity, as the marring of the human from was unacceptable to Greeks. b. The concept of the afterlife was absent from Judaism but it was important to the Greeks (consider the Elysian fields and Tartarus). In the later we see the forerunners of modern Heaven and Hell. c. The concomitant concept of the immortal soul was already present in the mind of the people and writings of philosophers (Plato). This too is a Hellenic contribution. d. Many of the holidays and Christian rituals we observe today have their roots in corresponding pagan Hellenic practices. Consider the plethora of Saints honoured today in various locales, and juxtapose this with the patron deities and heroes of the ancient city –states. e. Much of the philosophical substantiation of the scriptures came from people who, possessing themselves a classical education, sought to gift the fledgling Christianity with the ideological depth and substance that the pagan religion had. People like John Chrysostom, Basilios of Caesarea, and Gregory Nazianzine among others interpreted the scriptures using the tools and concepts of pagan philosophers.

6. So a new civilisation emerged that was distinct from the Hellenistic one, just as the Hellenistic culture was different from the Classical and that from Mycenaean. This we term today the Byzantine civilisation.

7. The main point is to understand that although each civilisation was the product of the ones preceding it, it adapted itself to better cope with the present historical situation. That is not to say that any could have existed without the ones that came before, or that it did not contain a core of several common features, not least among them language.

8. The best way to think on this is in terms of different, complementary heritages. These are adaptations of a civilisation to changing historical circumstances. External conditions, threats, new ideas, all demanded that changes be made or the Greeks perish and go the way of the Phoenicians and most other ancient people. I think Arnold Toynbee, in his “The Greeks and their Heritages” puts this better than I could hope to. (link: http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou/anatolia/heritages.html)

9. Greek tradition and civilisation is not monolithic or unchanging. What makes Greeks stand out is our ability to maintain a core of values, beliefs and traditions by adapting them to present conditions and hence avoiding the danger of having to abandon them completely, as many other ancient people have done. This syncretism, which is evident in Hellenes throughout our history, is very much an ancient concept. The willow, which bends under the wind, will not be uprooted like the oak tree that proudly stands tall and refuses to yield.

10. After the 18th century and more so after our liberation from the Turks, Greeks have sought to accommodate ever more elements of Western civilisation and practices, which we correctly saw as superior to some of our own.

So in the end, Stefane your Greeks were connected with their ancient past, not only by choice and through their classical education, but also inescapably by the fact of their birth as members of a Greek civilisation, that could not be what it is today, were it not for the people living in those same lands three thousand years ago.

The past can only survive into the present by adapting, such that it remains always relevant to the present problems and anxieties of the bearers of this civilisation today. Otherwise it is bare and dry, devoid of value and a hindrance more than an asset.

It is sad that there are people today who would disown the medieval part of their heritage because it does not conform to some preconceived notion of “Hellenic purity” or concocted beliefs of a “master race” that should purge alien influences and remain isolated, insular and xenophobic. It is absurd to identify primarily with the ancient Greeks, as the Greeks of the Eastern Roman empire are more our cultural ancestors than the Greeks of Pericles’s Athens. It is equally absurd as the effort of anti-Hellenes who claim that modern Greeks have no connection to the ancient ones, but are “bastardised”. Efforts from both sides are politically motivated and will disregard historical facts, when they don’t fit their agendas.

There are people today who would have either of these fates for our Greek civilisation. However it has proven it is stronger than that and I am confident it will survive such misguided efforts and once again flourish. This present (re) adoption of Western practices will, I believe, be the next step in Greek civilisation that will enable us to cope with the present world, and eventually flourish again in a new Hellenic Renaissance of the Arts and Sciences.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2004

arxos, you should indeed take great pride in your greek heritage. I myself would love to be greek (in my opinion the greatest people who have ever lived) and Ive dedicated most of my life studying them. Remember always be proud of your countrys Intelligence and brilliance, and don't let any Albanian fools tell you otherwise. take care

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2004

Stefan, I agree with you, we do indeed have a right to claim cultural continuinty; I am a Greek living in London and increasingly as I've grown older I’ve taken greater pride in everything Greek and constructed my identity and self-image around it (the sekletia of xenitia have helped). Yiannis is being deconstructive and that is good because critical thinking is a stepping stone for further intellectual achievements. I think Yiannis is not mistaken in trying to highlight the complexity and diversity of modern Greece. For example I have been recently attending rebetiko seminars here in London and have taken a great interest in the music but realize that it is strongly influenced from the orient. In the same respect I think culture is constantly enriched, evolving and I appreciate greatly (and take pride in) later and recent Greek culture (I won't start on Elitis, Seferis, Kavafis etc, which I have recently discovered). That does not mean that modern Greece has no claim on the ancient Greek civilization. We obviously still speak the language so I opt for a relaxed approach to all these people shouting themselves hoarse in here. As for Alexander, as long as there are Doric kiones in the sands of the Middle East and use of the koine from Bactria to Grecia Magna well documented in History his legacy is safe.

By the way did you know that there are still ethnic Greek speakers in remote corners of southern Italy? Run a google search on Calabria, Salento, Griko, Grecano.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2004

Do the Balkens hate each other? There are a lot of discriminations going on there.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2004

Yiannis,

I just wonder whether you would deny that many learned and cultured Greeks have always been in touch with both their Byzantine and their Ancient past?

I suppose I am referring particularly to those Greeks whose families lived in Asia Minor throughout the Ancient age, the Byzantine age, and the Turkish occupation, and left between 1850-1920, going either to Greece, or to Alexandria, in Egypt. These people remained Orthodox Christian during the Turkish occupation, and were always aware of their Ancient roots, teaching their children Ancient Greek, and about Homer and the Athenian classics.

As you correctly pointed out, racial purity has always been irrelevant, i.e. these people may indeed have Turkish or Italian or whatever non-Greek blood. However for these particular people I'm talking about, cultural identity hinges on education. In a sense, if you deprive these people of "archiophily" (a love of and claim of connection with the ancient past), you deprive them of their identity.

If an Englishman had a lot of respect for Greek ideals, both Ancient and Byzantine, he would be called (and would call himself) a Philhellene.

However, take for example a Hellene living in Constantinople. He knows that his ancient grandfathers had gone to great lengths to ensure that their future grandchildren always know the culture from whence they came. He can see the Turkish Muslim culture around him, identifies himself and his own culture as different. In contrast to his Turkish next-door neighbour, he has great respect for Socrates and Plato, Sophocles and Euripides. He believes that the only hope for Europe is to follow in the footsteps of Byzantium, the first example of a European nation-state, complete with social welfare, health care, and education.

This person knows that the only reason he has these values is because of his forefathers' efforts, and his forefathers would only have wanted him to be imbued these values if they too shared them. This person considers himself a Hellene, in the fullest sense of the world.

Is my hypothetical Hellene, and are his descendants, perpetuating a myth / historical revision, or do these people have a legitimate claim to their Hellenic identity, and their claims of cultural continuity?

With respect for what you wrote above regarding Balkan nationalism, and with interest in your opinion,

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2004

Calm yourself young Yiannis you have much too learn and much too teach.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2004