Selim Ibraimi- Hegel, the renowned 19th-century German philosopher (1770-1831), proposed a unique perspective on history as progress. According to Hegel, history unfolds in a series of stages, each characterized by a conflict of opposing ideas or forces. Hegel also saw the state as the embodiment of rational freedom, where individuals achieve self-realization through ethical institutions. According to Hegel, peace, in this view, is not simply the absence of war, but the condition for a state to promote human prosperity and potential.
In the context of everyday life in the Balkans and the centuries-old suffering for freedom and standards, Hegel’s thoughts become necessary at this time. The Balkans, a region where ethnicities, ideologies, and empires have clashed, continues to be caught between endless disputes and the possibility of achieving a lasting peace. However, temporary stability in the Balkans is no guarantee that the region will not be disturbed in the near future, not only for well-known historical reasons, but also because of the cost that countries that do not weigh in on international politics have to pay.
To prevent this phase, which could permanently damage the relations of the peoples of the region, governments, in addition to having combat potential, also have the power to bring peace or make agreements for long-term stability. From a historical perspective, after the Ottoman conquest, in the 16th-17th centuries, the Balkan region experienced relative stability, but it did not last long due to the heavy taxes imposed by the Ottoman Empire.
During this time, when relative stability prevailed, the then Balkan region became an important center not only geopolitically, but also more. The economic and cultural ties, along with the religious ones, between the cities that developed from Sarajevo, Skopje, Manastir, Thessaloniki to Istanbul became a bridge between Christian Europe and the Middle East. The Balkans can still play this function today if governments and peoples are committed to doing more and thinking about peace and not about war. As is known, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Eastern Crisis and then the Balkan Wars, together with the WWI and WWII, recognized or produced an atmosphere of war in the Balkans and Europe, leaving millions of victims behind. In particular, the human cost of the Balkan wars of the last centuries continues to accompany the peoples after and to this day, when the Balkan states aspire to the EU, but are far from being states with European standards. It is not surprising that agreements cannot be reached between the peoples.
There are difficulties that continue to hold the past hostage to the present. It is precisely the massacres and ethnic cleansings that have occurred in the Balkans from Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia and even North Macedonia. Not by foreign powers, but by the armies of the Balkan countries. Although the conflicts can last several years, they have an unpredictable effect with long-term political, social, economic and religious consequences. During the recent wars in the former Yugoslavia, the economy was almost destroyed and remained in the hands of organized crime. An example is Bosnia and Herzegovina, which for more than a decade failed to recover from the consequences of the 1992-95 war.
Likewise, Kosovo and other countries affected by interethnic and religious wars are no better. In a slightly broader perspective, the USA, after the terrorist attacks of 2001 and with the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, spent almost 8 trillion dollars. If $8 trillion had been used to reach an agreement, the US would certainly have had a better economic situation both inside and outside the world. The endless wars of the US brought it losses and nothing more, losing its supremacy as a country in many fields, starting from education, infrastructure, scientific discoveries, etc.
When we think about the Balkan countries, they now have the opportunity, with the EU Growth Plan with 6 billion euros, to develop a space that competes for a better economic and international future. Will the governments of the region take advantage of this EU will? This remains to be seen, since the past of the peoples plays an important role in the policies of the states and makes it impossible to achieve a lasting peace to move forward. Despite the pessimism, the history of the Balkan states can give strength to the new generations to overcome their differences. As with the US Marshall Plan (1948) aimed at rebuilding post-war Europe, the Balkans should embrace cooperation. Although it is difficult to do so given the dark sides mentioned above, where contemporary conflicts and ideologies, whether religious or not, have taken root, other options carry unknowns.
Governments without guesswork should resolve open problems such as the issue between Kosovo and Serbia s, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, etc. They can do this by investing in infrastructure, in joint energy projects, by signing agreements to prevent internal conflicts and agreements that complement the old ones. By choosing agreements instead of war, societies in the Balkans can create a better future. The path is not easy, but it is better to try it by taking as an example the European states, and why not those in Southeast Asia? After all, the meeting of EU high representatives in Tirana this week was a good occasion for a new approach to confronting current and future threats.
Balkan governments must overcome open issues and prevent conflicts. One should always work with the idea that, in peace or relative stability, the problems faced by people and states can be more easily solved. If once Sarajevo, Skopje, Manastir, Thessaloniki and many other cities from our region served as cities where more could be achieved, today we should not miss the opportunity for the region to take on the due importance that it has historically had. After all, Hegel, like never before, can be a reference for a more correct approach to the problems in the Balkans and elsewhere for today and the future.
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