Miroljub JEVTIC

ENCOUNTER BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS IN THE BALKANS IN THE LIGHT OF SAMUEL HUNTINGTON'S THESES

Samuel Huntington mentions the cases of Bosnia and Kosovo as the examples of conflicts between civilizations in the Balkans. If we begin with his statements and analyze the actual situation, then we can see that his assessments are completely true. The Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina themselves are now admitting that, apart from religion, they have no other form of collective existence. Thus, they define their culture as essentially religious. From this viewpoint all that is done in the Bosnia and Herzegovina has the Islam at its root. As the theory of Islam implies constant expansionism, therefore it is logical that it was expressed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and this has led to the war. This war was, with respect to its dimensions, a religious war and this is now acknowledged by the world and Muslim media, and therefore Huntington's theses are confirmed.

Kosovo is a case apart. The situation there is different because it is commonplace that the it is Albanian nationalism in question, which is secular because the Albanians arc a people divided into members of three different religious creeds. However, this tact, regarding the former SFRY is not correct, because the Yugoslav Albanians are, in 95 % Muslims. Thus the conflict regarding the future of Kosovo has a religious, i.e., civilizational dimension. This especially gains importance because of the events in Macedonia, where the Albanian secessionist movement has transformed itself into a religious- Islamic movement. When all this is viewed together with the conflict between the Greeks, Bulgarians and the Turks which started as a religious conflict with the emergence of Seljuks, it can be seen that Huntington's theses, within the Balkan framework, have their full justification.

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