Those who dwell on the past, imperil the present

Another book that I dug out of the back bookshelves is titled “The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond” by André Gerolymatos, a professor of Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Here’s a quote that gives a bit of what the United Nations, if fact what anyone interested in the future of this area, is facing: “The Balkan states stand at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, Russia and Africa. Accordingly, the region has been the highway for armies large and small, many of which have cut a swath of destruction on their journey to empire building. This legacy of war has endowed the region with a tradition of fatalism that has guided the cultural heritage of the Balkan peoples. The memory of great defeats and great massacres has shaped at least part of the identity and commonality of each nation, tribe or group in the Balkans.

“Over the centuries, these upheavals have acquired a unique reality that often plays havoc with historical truth. It is not so much that events are altered to suit a particular political agenda, but instead that they are interpreted in the light of Balkan lore. In other words, Balkan national history does not represent a scientific reconstruction, or even a distortion of the past, but it does endow the current inhabitants with the ability to cast events in the context of a recurring theme of victimization and persecution. For each of the Balkan peoples, there is one particular event that reflects their own image of the past and practically dictates relations with their neighbors. Events in the cauldron of Balkan history are linked to war, and war is associated with victory for one group and defeat and humiliation for another.

“Remarkably, in the kaleidoscope that is Balkan history, success and failure have almost the same significance. Both have provided the justification for future conflict. Great defeats are fodder for revenge and spectacular victories the prelude to further conquest. The Battle of Kosovo (Polje) is a historical landmark, but more important, it’s both a cultural icon to the Serbs and a glorious chapter in the history of the Ottoman Empire . Like most battles in the medieval period, it is shrouded in mythology and only partly accessible through facts. But its salient feature are the themes of self-sacrifice, betrayal and assassination.”

There. Now maybe I can sleep. Mirupafsham.