Im not from Europe. Can someone explain what are the Balkans exactly and why there’s “beef” between them?
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Broadly, the Balkan nations are countries that are located between Italy to the West and Turkey to the East on the Balkan Peninsula. To be more precise, between the Adriatic Sea, Black Sea and Aegean Sea. Collectively, they are a part of the European continent.
Some of the Balkan nations are fairly well integrated into the “Western” parts of Europe (like Greece). Post WW2, some of them were in the USSR and the rest were a part of Yugoslavia. Both Yugoslavia and the USSR crumbled in the early 90s and that left a bit of a political mess as various sections claimed independence as separate nations.
It certainly doesn’t help that most of the countries, post breakup, were fairly poor and underdeveloped. From WW2, many of these countries/regions were also run by rather brutal dictatorships.
Add that to the fact that the region is also the modern “mixing ground” between Greek/Eastern Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Roman Catholic religions and it all becomes rather fractious.
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