(Estimated Pub Date) the Challenge of Ethnic Conflict to National and International Order in the 1990S: Geographic Perspectives- October 1995

Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268
a majority population in the given group. In all other
cases the Christian majorities attempted to force con-
version to Christianity or to have the Muslims reclas-
sify themselves as Turks and emigrate to Turkey. In
addition, a series of population exchanges took place
during which Muslim groups went to Turkey and
Christians were resettled in the Balkans. This was
especially true of the Greeks; hundreds ofthousands
of Greeks emigrated from western and northeastern
Turkey and were resettled in what is today Greek
Macedonia and other parts of Greece.
After World War I, Serbian nationalists followed a
policy of intimidation of Muslims (both Muslim Slavs
and Albanians) in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
and Macedonia (then called South Serbia). Tens of
thousands fled to Turkey at that time. Bulgaria has
continued to harass its Muslim Bulgarian population.
Policies outlawing Muslim cultural practices and
enforcing name changes (to Christian ones) led to
massive emigrations to Turkey as well. It was conve-
nient for Greeks, Serbs, Macedonians, Bulgarians, and
others to purport that these were Turks—-not Slavic or
Greek peoples whose ancestors chose to adopt the
Islamic religion—and to promote emigration.
The Muslim subgroups, although persecuted, do not
pose serious threats to their regions. It is interesting to
note that the Torbesi of westem Macedonia and many
Serbian Muslims of the Sandzak and Kosovo have
reclassified themselves as Albanians, rather than
assimilate into the greater Serbian or Macedonian
nations.
The Turkish Minorities
The Turkish question is still an open one. To date,
however, the Turkish position (for instance, that of the
Republic of Turkey) is similar to that of the Hungari-
ans regarding their ethnic compatriots in neighboring
states. The Turkish Government basically expected
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia to respect the Turks as ethnic
minorities in those countries. Recently, Bulgaria pres-
sured ethnic Turks into emigrating to Turkey. Approx-
imately 300,000 Tlurks left. Although the Turkish
Government protested this, it did not invade. The
Turks feel pressured by European powers who use the
issue of Turkish entry into the European Union as a
means of keeping Turkey out of intervention in Bul-
garia and parts of fonner Yugoslavia. In Turkey itselfi
literally millions of Turks have ancestors who immi-
grated from various Balkan countries. These groups
lobby for Turkish involvement in their homelands to
protect the Turkish and Muslim peoples there. The
Turkish situation is discussed at the end of this presen-
tation with particular reference to its relationships
with Europe and the EU.
Potentially Serious Conflicts With Implications
Extending Beyond the Region
The Macedonian Question
A very serious situation exists regarding Macedonia,
in which major ethnic groups—Greeks and Serbs-
and their respective states are attempting to use histor-
ical issues and incidents as justifications for their posi-
tions regarding this territory.
The Greeks claim title to the name Macedonia based
on fallacious historical claims. They assert that Alex-
ander the Great was a Greek and that therefore Mace-
donia is Greek—-a claim backed by historical records.
Not only do all early Greek sources make the point
that he was a non-Greek (the Macedonians were Illyr-
ians related to today’s Albanians) but also that the
Macedonians were the enemy of Greece. Certainly the
Macedonian Empire maintained Greek language as
the lingua-franca of the Empire and had a policy of
Hellenism, but Macedonia was itself not Greek.
Rather than engage in debates about a man who lived
in the 4th century BCE, one should consider more
important historical facts as well as current realities.
Does the concem deal with the name, with Alexander
the Great’s nationality, or with current ethnoterritorial
realities? Clearly it is the latter. After the arrival of the
Slavs in Macedonia (including what is today Greek
Macedonia) starting in the 4th century CE, the Mace-
donian Slavs maintained close relations with those of
Bulgaria. The Macedonian and Bulgarian Slavs came
to form one people with a common language and
church. After the arrival of the Turks their territory
was administratively (not ethnically) divided. This
division lasted into the 19th century when Bulgarians
(with the help of the Russians) tried to reunite with
their ethnic Macedonian kinsmen. As a result of West-
em intervention this was not accomplished.
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Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268