Què és?
Els Balcans és una península muntanyosa del sud-est d’Europa, envoltada per la serralada dels Balcans (que és la causa del nom de la regió) i els Alps Dinàmics a l’oest. Tot i que actualment, aquesta zona és coneguda amb aquest nom, antigament, abans del segle XIX, la península balcànica va rebre diferents connotacions, com per exemple, península Hel·lènica, Grega, Bizantina, Romana i Il·lírica.
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| Mapa físic de la zona dels Balcans |
Els països inclosos són: Bosnia i Herzegovina, Bulgària, Grècia, la República de Macedònia, Montenegro, Sèrbia, Kosovo i la part europea de Turquia. No obstant, hem de remarcar que, països com Croàcia, Eslovènia, Eslovaquia, Hungría, Rumanía, Moldavia i Ucrania no formen part de la península balcànica (sobretot, per motius històrics i culturals) però no podem negar que pertanyen a la regió degut a la seva situació geogràfica.
Les fronteres, especialment en aquesta zona, han patit diverses redefinicions al llarg del temps. Els motius, pels quals aquests canvis s’han convertit en l’escenari típic de la zona balcànica, han estat els conflictes i ocupacions històriques; algunes de les raons són que diferents països no en volen formar part i, per tant, no s’identifiquen com a països balcànics. Davant d’aquest marc, els Balcans són coneguts, principalment, per l’evident inestabilitat que l’ha acompanyat des del segle XX.
De fet, la diversitat cultural que posseeix la zona ha sigut un dels motius que ha originat conflictes polítics en els últims dos segles, com explicarem a continuació. Alguns historiadors creuen, que no es pot analitzar l’evolució suportada des d’un punt de vista actual, ja que les nostres idees neixen a partir de la concepció monoteista.
Context històric
Al llarg de la història, els Balcans s’ha definit com una zona que, com ja hem dit, es caracteritza pels nombrosos conflictes. Per aquest motiu, aquesta regió està molt dividida. Ja entre 1912 i 1913, es va lluitar contra l’imperi otomà i un any després, la Primera Guerra Mundial va provocar que l’imperi Austrohungarès i Sèrbia entressin en conflicte. Així mateix, es van començar a formar processos d’independència i de nacionalisme; on les diferents ètnies van afavorir la creació de grups minoritaris i amb això, la població es va veure immersa en un escenari que feia impossible la prosperitat de la regió. Però, el problema de la regió balcànica no s’atura aquí; no oblidem que després de la Gran Guerra, és a dir, la Segona Guerra Mundial, es van provocar encara més divisions en la zona. Alguns països que formaven part de la regió com Bulgària, Romania i Albània lluitaven amb el bàndol que comprenia Japó, Alemanya i Itàlia, mentre que d’altres com l’ex-Iugoslàvia i Grècia es van unir a França, Estats Units i Anglaterra.
Descripció dels països actuals dels Balcans.
La República d’Albània va ser creada a partir del 1912 després d’haver aconseguit la independència de l’imperi Otomà. Geogràficament està envoltada per Montenegro al nord, Kosovo al nordest, Macedonia a l’Est, Grècia al sudest, el mar Adriàtic a l’oest i el mar Jònic al sudoest. La seva capital és Tirana i la seva llengua oficial és l’albanès (que té dos dialectes: el Geg i el Tosk). Políticament, forma part d’una democràcia parlamentària i des del juny del 2014 també s’integra a la Unió Europea i, alhora, a la OTAN. No obstant, no ha integrat al seu sistema la moneda Euro, ja que conserven el Lek Albanès.
Bòsnia i Hercegovina es va declarar independent de Iugoslàvia al març del 1991 després d’haver efectuat un referèndum. Està envoltada per Croàcia (nord-est), Sèrbia (est), Montenegro (sud) i una petita obertura al mar Adriàtic; la seva capital és Sarajevo. Aquest país té tres llengües oficials que són: el bosnià, el croat i el serbi. Políticament, és tracta d’una República Federal (Federació Bòsnia i Hercegovina, República de Sèrbia i el Districte de Brčko). Contràriament a Albània, no forma part de la Unió Europea ni de la zona Euro, ja que la seva moneda oficial és el marc convertible.
Bulgària, té fronteres amb Sèrbia i Macedònia (oest), Grècia i Turquia (sud) i una obertura al mar Negre per l’est; la capital és Sofia tot i que Plòvdiv, Varna, Burgàs i Ruse són ciutats de molta importància. L’idioma oficial és el búlgar. Políticament, està organitzat com una democràcia parlamentària. Des del 2007 forma part de la Unió Europea tot i que conserva la seva moneda pròpia que és el Lev. 
Grècia, és va independitzar del Imperi Otomà cap al 1825 però no va ser fins cinc anys més tard que se li va reconèixer la independència. Aquesta, està encerclada per Albània, per Macedònia i Bulgària (nord), per Turquia i el Mar Egeu (est), el mar Jònic (oest) i el mar Mediterrani (sud); la seva capital és Atenes i l’idioma oficial és el grec. La seva organització política és d’una república Parlamentària. A partir de l’any 1981 es va adherir a la Unió Europea adoptant l’euro com a moneda oficial.
República de Macedònia es va crear al 1991 després d’aconseguir la Independència de Iugoslàvia. Està encerclada per Grècia (sud), Albània (oest), Bulgària (est), i Sèrbia (nord) ; la capital Skopje i la seva llengua oficial és el macedoni. Es tracta, políticament, d’una República parlamentaria i no forma part de la Unió Europea però sí que té el Euro com a moneda oficial.
La República de Kosovo és un estat declarat independent de Sèrbia l’any 2008. Està situada al mateix centre de la regió dels Balcans, té una forma àmpliament romboïdal i sense accés directe al mar. Està limitada per Montenegro (nord-oriental), part d'Albània (sud-oriental), la República de Macedònia (sud) i Sèrbia (pel nord i l’est). La seva capital és Pristina i la seva moneda oficial és, des de l’any 2002, l’euro tot i no estar integrada a la Unió Europea. 
Sèrbia es considera un païs sobirà instaurat en estat social i democràtic de dret amb un govern república parlamentari. Aquest país està limitat per Hongria (nord), Montenegro, Bòsnia i Hercegovina i Croàcia (oest) i la República de Macedònia (sud) de la qual n’ha ocupat gran part. La seva capital és Belgrad, sent també la ciutat més poblada del país. Sèrbia no forma part de la Unió Europea i la seva moneda és el dinar serbi.
Turquia, tot i que territorialment es situa a la zona dels Balcans, no hi pertany completament a la regió, sinó una petita part del nord que és definida com la part europea del país ja que aquest país és considerat euro-asiàtic i, per tant, una part es situa al “continent” europeu i l’altra al continent asiàtic. A pesar que és un país que denota desitjos de pertànyer a la Unió Europea i és considerat un candidat encara no hi forma part, sent la seva moneda la lira turca. Turquia és un estat transcontinental al ser situat en una posició estratègica. La Turquia europea, situada al nord-oest del país, conforma la Tràcia oriental tenint com a fronteres Grècia i Bulgària. 
M'encanta com està quedant!!!
ResponEliminaHello, my name is Josh Mielke and fourth year college student, majoring
ResponEliminain Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality and minoring in Geography. My
interests include track and field, being outdoors, mountain biking and
other recreational activities. I am 21 years old and from Colorado. My
family heritage is all European, descending from Germany, Poland and
the Netherlands on my father’s side, and on my mother’s side, my family
descends from Croatia, Romania and Hungary. My family drinks a lot of
beer (sort of a ritual) that illustrate our
Hi, my name is Camaryn Reynolds and I am a third year college student
ResponEliminamajoring in History Secondary Education. My interests include coloring
in adult coloring books, taking long naps and working with dogs. I am 20
years old and am originally from Arizona but moved to Colorado when I
was 13 years old. My family heritage is comprised of German, Irish and
Native American blood lines. But mainly German from both my mother
and fathers side of the families. My family doesn't have any traditional
habits of our cultural heritage except drinking a good amount and having
a lot of family events.
We explored Croatian-American traditions and discovered that a popular
ResponEliminafood on Christmas Day is cabbage and sauerkraut. The tradition
originated in Croatia and has traveled with the people that emigrated
from Croatia to America. Along with the delicious food, Croatian
Americans have their own festivals and celebrations. One called the
Marko Polo Festival which is in the fall season and celebrates the famous
explorer Marko Polo. Another festival that is celebrated is Poklada or
also known as the Tamburitza festival. This festival is a traditional
prelenten carnival held every President’s day weekend. These events
both offer traditional tambura music which is a Croatian folk music
preserved by these festivals and the Croatians who have immigrated to
America throughout the years.
Because of the fact that Albania is primarily Orthodox, Catholic and
ResponEliminaMuslim, when immigrants moved to America, churches had to be
established to coincide with their religion and culture. Majority of these
churches are located on the Eastern part of the United States. Albanian-
Americans established a church called the Albanian Orthodox
Archdiocese in America, holding 16 perishes nationwide. These perishes
hold a strong presence in Massachusetts. Albanian Catholic churches
were established and hold their presence in Michigan and New York.
And finally there are Albanian Muslim community centers that are
located in other Eastern American states. A holiday that the Albanian
Americans celebrate is their independence day held on November 28th,
they celebrate this because it was the day that Albania finally gained its
independence from the Ottoman Empire.
While exploring Greek-American traditions it seemed to become clear
ResponEliminathat they celebrate a lot of the same holidays that a majority of Christian
Americans celebrate including Christmas Day, Easter Day, and New
Year’s Day. This is because there is a standing religion in Greece, Greek
Orthodoxy, so when Greek people immigrated to America they held on to
their religious traditions that just happened to match up with Christian
traditions. Like in Albanian culture, the Greeks also celebrate their
independence from the Ottoman Empire. Greek Independence Day is on
March 25th. Another thing that connects the Greek culture to American
culture is their language. Greek Americans will still use some of their
traditional Greek sayings that they acquired from Greece but Americans
have also adopted their alphabet to be used as names for sorority and
fraternity organizations. So almost every member of what is known as
“Greek Life” in colleges know the Greek alphabet.
An icon of the Balkans can be seen through a religious aspect of the
region. Because a majority of the Balkan region is centered on the
Orthodoxy religion, there are specific icons that express that region while
also expressing their religion at the same time. The main icon that I
found that has been served to be an important one to the Balkan people
is their icon of the Archangel Michael. This icon is widely presented
throughout Balkan culture and posted in different areas of the Balkan
region.
Sources: Croatian American Cultural Center:
ResponEliminawww.croatianamericanweb.org
Countries and their Cultures (Albania): http://www.everyculture.com/A-
Bo/Albania.html
Countries and their Cultures (Greece):
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Du-Ha/Greek-Americans.html
Icons and their Interpretations:
https://russianicons.wordpress.com/tag/balkan-iconography/
Post Two
ResponEliminaJosh Mielke and Camaryn Reynolds
Immigration problems:
Croatia: Not willing to accept the Middle Eastern refugees because their economy cannot support them.
8,000 migrants fled into Croatia from Serbia in one day leading Croatia to threaten to close its border
with Serbia to halt the problem. Most migrants are travelling by train, so Croatia is asking neighboring
countries to check trains before they enter in the Croatian territory. EU is trying to limit the amount of
immigration without having to rewrite the Treaty of Rome which states that all people of the EU may
have the freedom to move whenever and wherever they feel. Croatia, being fairly new to the EU, has
been limiting free movement from people of other EU states. This limit states that people migrating to
Croatia from specific countries must have a work permit. There is also an option for Croatia called the
“emergency stop” which allows them to stop migration into their country after a certain level of intake.
Greece: Asking for help from the EU because of the immense amount of immigration onto the country
from Afghanistan and Syria. Around 124,000 migrants have arrived on Greek islands while passing
through Turkey. The government says that the Greek economy cannot handle the immense inflow of
foreign migrants into the country because they are still recovering from the six year recession. The plan
for Greece is to create a mobilization plan like one that they have for natural disasters. They are labeling
this a civil protection emergency plan. This plan is being put in place because of the fact that Greece has
a large number of empty army barracks and plenty of uncultivated land that could be rented out and
developed for those migrants. But besides that, the EU itself is planning on relocating 16,000 migrants
within the next two year, leading most countr8ies to think that it will be too late to move that few of
people. Everything will already have changed.
Albania: Albania is currently dealing with a migration crisis. Albania had over 8,000 migrants flee into
ResponEliminathe country and an additional 30,000 persons illegally came in. But the big crisis that Albania is facing is
the immense inflow of migrants from the Middle Eastern countries. Thousands of refugees want to cross
through into Albania, causing some unrest. The Prime Minister of Albania does not want to close the
borders because he fears it would create a chain effect and back up migrants into other countries, nor
does he want to deny a better life for the migrants. Instead, Albania and the other Balkan countries are
slowing the amount of migrants that are crossing the border and set a limit to how many are able to
cross and apply for asylum each day. The Prime Minister is hopeful that this will not cause trouble for
the country of Albania who is hoping to join the EU. The Prime Minister reported in a BBC interview that
he wants to help the refugees. Even though he is providing some aid to the camps, the mass amounts of
people are proving to be too much of a challenge for the Albanian government to handle in the current
state.
Macedonia: Macedonia shut down the border between Greece entirely to stop the inflow of migrants
into the country, though a BBC article did state that the police were "Sporadically allowing a couple
hundred migrants through". The article also stated that Macedonia is not allowing refugees from
Afghanistan through anymore. In their effort to reach Germany, violence has erupted between the
migrants trying to cross from Greece into Macedonia and the Macedonian police forces. Police have
responded to the refugees breaking fences down by using tear ga.. This is causing more hardship for
Greece as the refugees continue to pile up along the border and in Athens. Greece has called for more
emergency aid from the EU. In fact, with the warming weather, Greece is expecting even more refugees
to be crossing the water and Macedonia is stressing over that fact. A CBS article expressed that
Macedonia would only allow Syrian and Iraqi refugees through their border at Greece as Serbia would
allow refugees coming from Macedonia.
European Definition of Citizenship: The European definition of citizenship, as outlined by the EU is any
ResponEliminapersons who have the nationality of any country within the EU. If that is obtained than that person
automatically has citizenship within the EU. But EU citizenship does not replace the citizenship of the
country that said person is from, it just adds onto it. So for example if someone is a citizen of Croatia,
they are automatically a citizen of the European Union along with being a Croatian citizen. With being a
citizen of the European Union, a person has the ability to move freely within the borders of the
European Union. They also have the freedom to work anywhere within the EU. There is also an identity
of being European. Not just Croatian or Greek, but citizens have this European identity which is a newly
formed concept. There is a national driver’s license, motto and ever holiday for this European identity. It
is creating a fraternal bond between every European so that no matter where they travel and decide to
live, they will be recognized as a citizen because they are an EU citizen, and that in itself binds people
together across borders.
Croatian Citizenship: Croatian citizenship can be acquired in a couple different ways; a couple being
Naturalization, birth within Croatian territory, in accordance with international treaties and if it is the
origin of that individual. To gain Croatian citizenship, one must be required to do a hefty amount of work
in order to complete the process. When applying as a foreigner to gain Croatian citizenship a person
must submit a letter of application, questionnaire, birth certificate, certificate of citizenship, valid
identity document, different payments, etc. This long process is necessary to become a citizen of Croatia
but once citizenship is gained, that person then becomes not only a citizen of Croatia, but a citizen of the
European Union.
Albanian Citizenship: To become a citizen of Albania, you must have be born there, naturalized or be
adopted. Also, any child born of at least one Albanian citizen will automatically acquire citizenship or if a
child is found within Albanian territory and the parents cannot be defined. As far as naturalization, a
person must have at least elementary Albanian language skills, be 18 or older, have resided in Albania
for at least 5 years, has an income and a dwelling and has no criminal allegations in the state of Albania.
For a child who's both parents are citizens through naturalization, must be requested to become a
citizen by their parents if they are between the ages of 14-18.
American Citizenship: American citizenship has been rumored to be a very difficult thing to obtain.
There are different routes to becoming a citizen of America, just like there are different ways of
becoming a citizenship of any other country in the world. The ways to become a citizen is to be naturally
born in the United States or to applying to gain citizenship. Through the application process there are
many different requirements one must have before they can even apply. Some of those requirements
are that the individual must be age 18 of older, they must have held a permanent residence within the
United States for 3-5 years, they must be a person of good moral and character, they must be able to
read, write and speak English, etc. All these are required because it fits into the idea of being a true
American. One must fit into the mold of the loyal, honest and devoted American citizen. If an individual
has all these requirements, then they are able to take the naturalization test which contains content on
United States history, government, etc. This is required because America feels that it is a must for
people to know this ‘basic’ information.
Sources:
ResponElimina“Croatia Overwhelmed by Flood of Migrants, EU Calls Summit.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 2015. Web.
04 Mar. 2016. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-idUSKCN0RD0P42015917.
“Croatian EURAXESS Portal.” Croatian EURAXESS Portal. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
http://www.euraxess.hr/sitegenius/topic.php?id=451.
“EU Citizenship.” –European Commission. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/citizen/index_en.htm.
“EU Immigration- the Croatian Solution? –BBC News.” BBC News. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-29687248.
"Europe Migrant Crisis Sees Macedonia Police Tear Gas Iraqi and Syrian Refugees at Greece Border."
CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
“Immigrant Flow to Greece is Beyond What We Can Handle- Alexis Tsipras.” The Guardian. Guardian
News and Media, 2015. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/07/immigrant-flow-to-greece-is-beyond-what-
we-can-handle-alexis-tsipras.
"Migrant Crisis, Brexit Distracting EU from Enlargement, Says Albania’s Foreign Minister." Atlantic
Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
"Migrant Crisis: Explaining the Exodus from the Balkans - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar.
2016.
"Migrant Crisis: Macedonia Tries to Stop Flow - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
"Migrant Crisis: What Is the next Route through Europe? - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 02
Mar. 2016.
"Legislationline." Law: On Albanian citizenship. Legislationline. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
“State Office for Croats Abroad.” Croatian Citizenship. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
http://www.hrvatiizvanrh.hr/en/hmiu/crooatian-citizenship/66.
“Thinking of Becoming a U.S. Citizen?” USCIS. Web. 04 Mar. 2016. https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship.
“What Does it Mean to be a European Citizen?” Europe Direct. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
http://www.europedirectvalletta.eu/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-european-citizen.