Mihailo MARKOVIC

INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF DIFFERENT CIVILIZATIONS IN THE BALKANS

The Balkans may be considered a region with four civilizations: the Greek, South-Slav, Romanic and Islamic. Their interrelationships are varying from very good to the worst possible. As the Balkan region has always had an exceptional strategic significance, its peoples were exposed to repeated invasions and military interventions. For the first time after many centuries, conditions for a rapprochement and cooperation of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Romanians, regardless of their civilizational differences, have been created. After many centuries, the Balkan states have no territorial pretensions toward neighbors while, at the same time, they do have a common religion and interest do defend the existing situation in the region. The members of Islamic civilization, unsatisfied with this state of affairs, represent a dynamic factor which menaces the actual peace and stability. Other civilizations feel menaced not only but the militant character of the Islamic civilization but also by its artful use of demographic process for political objectives. The guiding principle for a possible rational solution of the Balkan problems -"Balkans to the Balkan peoples" -remains a utopian vision.

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