Author: Aylin D. Miller

Balkan nations
The Balkans is a southeastern European region that includes countries located on the Balkan Peninsula, with diverse landscapes and climates:

Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey

The initial Ottoman expansion took place at the expense of Christian lands in western Anatolia and the Balkans, particularly the Byzantine Empire

Countries in the Balkans often share borders with one another, and historical border disputes have influenced regional dynamics. Many Balkan nations were once part of the Ottoman Empire, which has left a significant historical and cultural impact.

The breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s resulted in violent conflicts, with lasting implications for the region.

The Balkans are home to various ethnic groups and religions, with Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Catholicism being the major faiths.

Some Balkan nations aspire to join the European Union and NATO, which has implications for their political and economic development; while others have already become members.

Let’s compare them by several key attributes relating to their military, size, economy and quality of life.

We will look at the top 3 and bottom 3 in each case.

Military power (Global Fire Power index – 2023) 0 = Super military power and higher the number= less military power

Top 3
1. Turkey (11th in the world) – 0.2016
2. Greece (30th in the world) – 0.4621
3. Romania (47th in the world) – 0.7735
Bottom 3
1. Bosnia and Herzegovina (133rd in the world) – 3.0788
2. Montenegro (128th in the world) – 2.8704
3. North Macedonia (108th in the world) – 2.1717
Population

Top 3
1. Turkey – 84.78 million (2021)
2. Romania- 19.12 million (2021)
3. Greece – 10.64 million (2021)
Bottom 3
1. Montenegro – 619, 211 (2021)
2. North Macedonia- 2.065 million (2021)
3. Slovenia- 2.108 million (2021)
Landmass

Top 3
1. Turkey – 783, 562 km²
2. Romania – 238, 397 km²
3. Greece – 131, 957 km²
Bottom 3
1. Montenegro – 13, 812 km²
2. Slovenia – 20, 273 km²
3. North Macedonia – 25, 713 km²
Education (UN education index – measures the expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling of the population – 0 = no Education at all and 1 = maximum Education)

Top 3
1. Slovenia – 0.914 (2019)
2. Greece – 0.855 (2019)
3. Croatia – 0.805 (2019)
Bottom 3
1. North Macedonia 0.704 (2019)
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.711 (2019)
3. Turkey 0.731 (2019)
Democracy Index (The Economists Intelligence Unit – 2022, 10 = super democratic and 0 = dictatorship)

Top 3
1. Greece – 7.97, Flawed Democracy (25th in the world)
2. Slovenia – 7.75, Flawed Democracy (31st in the world)
3. Bulgaria – 6.53, Flawed Democracy (57th in the world)
Bottom 3
1. Turkey – 4.35, Hybrid regime (103rd in the world)
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 5.00, Hybrid regime (97th in the world)
3. North Macedonia – 6.10, Flawed Democracy (72nd in the world)
GDP (size of economy)

Top 3
1. Turkey – $819 billion (2021)
2. Romania – $284.1 billion (2021)
3. Greece – $214.9 billion (2021)
Bottom 3
1. Montenegro – $5.861 billion (2021)
2. North Macedonia – $13.83 billion (2021)
3. Albania – $18.26 billion (2021)
GDP per capita (size of economy relative to population)

Top 3
1. Slovenia – $29, 291.40 (2021)
2. Greece – $20,192.60 (2021)
3. Croatia – $17,685.33 (2021)
Bottom 3
1. Albania – $6,492.87 (2021)
2. North Macedonia – $6,694.64 (2021)
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina- $7,143.31 (2021)
GDP per capita at Purchasing Power Parity – IMF (how much can people buy with money in a country)

Top 3 (2023)
1. Slovenia – $52,641
2. Croatia – $42,531
3. Romania – $41,634
Bottom 3 (2023)
1. Albania – $19,197
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina – $19,604
3. North Macedonia – $21,111
Exports of goods and services (in millions of $, 2022)

Top 3
1. Turkey – 343,688
2. Romania – 129,165
3. Greece – 105,756
Bottom 3
1. Montenegro -3,178
2. Albania – 7,057
3. North Macedonia – 10,150
Percentage of Population Living in Poverty – Poverty Rate, World Bank

Top 3 (with lowest poverty of population)
1. Slovenia – 12% (2018)
2. Albania – 14.3% (2012)
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 16.9% (2018)
Bottom 3 (with highest poverty of population)
1. Montenegro – 24.5% (2018)
2. Bulgaria tied with Romania – 23.8% (2018)
3. Serbia – 23.2% (2018)
Peacefulness (Global Peace Index 2023, 1 – 5 scale, 1 being a super peaceful utopia and 5 being a warzone)

Top 3
1. Slovenia – 1.334 (8th in the world)
2. Croatia – 1.450 (14th in the world)
3. Bulgaria – 1.640 (30th in the world)
Bottom 3
1. Turkey – 2.389 (121st in the world)
2. North Macedonia – 2.039 (88th in the world)
3. Albania – 1.925 (79th in the world)
Happiness (Happiness Index, 2023, 10 being maximum happiness and 0 being totally depressed)

Top 3
1. Slovenia – 6.63 (22nd in the world)
2. Romania – 6.48 (27th in the world)
3. Serbia- 6.18 (43rd in the world)
Bottom 3
1. Turkey – 4.74 (109th in the world)
2. Albania – 5.2 (88th in the world)
3. Bulgaria – 5.37 (84th in the world)
Suicide Rate (suicides per 100,000, WHO, 2019)

Top 3 (has the least suicide)
1. Turkey – 2.3 (10th in the world)
2. Greece – 3.6 (27th in the world)
3. Albania – 3.7 (29th in the world)
Bottom 3 (has the most suicide)
1. Montenegro – 16.2 (161st in the world)
2. Slovenia – 14 (150th in the world)
3. Croatia – 11 (121st in the world)
Homicide rate (murders per 100,000, UN)

Top 3 (with least murders)
1. Slovenia – 0.4 (2021)
2. Greece – 0.9 (2021)
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1 (2021)
Bottom 3 (with most murders)
1. Turkey – 2.5 (2021)
2. Montenegro – 2.4 (2021)
3. Albania – 2.3 (2021)
Healthcare Index (100 being amazing quality & universal healthcare and 0 being 0 healthcare, 2023)

Top 3
1. Turkey – 71.1
2. Slovenia – 66.4
3. Croatia – 64.5
Bottom 3
1. Albania – 49.3
2. Serbia – 52.2
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina -54.8
Life expectancy

Top 3
1. Slovenia – 82.31 Years
2. Greece – 82 Years
3. Croatia – 79.4 Years
Bottom 3
1. Bulgaria – 72.84 Years
2. Romania – 75.14 Years
3. Serbia – 75.21 Years
CONCLUSION:

Turkey has the most economic and military power as a whole, due primarily to it’s size.
October 31, 2023
Uygur acknowledges Armenian Genocide

The Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur acknowledges Armenian Genocide, refuses to change the name of show.

The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur has recognized the Armenian Genocide. Cenk Uygur is a Turkish-born American political commentator and main host/ co-founder of the American commentary program, The Young Turks.

He has a history of writing opinionated pieces and editorials in various columns, including university newspapers denying the Armenian Genocide. He claims that he redacted his statement and that the Armenian Genocide did in fact happen. However, he refuses to change the name of his show, “The Young Turks.

Zartonk Archives (May 13, 2019)

The Young Turks were part of the Committee for Union and Progress (Ittihadists) that overthrew the sultan in the 1913 coup d’etat. Amongst their ranks, were the nefarious triumvirate who became the masterminds behind the systematic orchestration to annihilate over 3 million Christians in the Ottoman Empire between 1915-1923. This included exterminating over 1.5 million native Armenians, ethnically cleansing them of their ancestral homeland.

Uygur uses the excuse that he was born in Turkey as one of the reasons for his false statements at diminishing the merit of genocide, though his family moved to America when he was young.

In 1991, while at the University of Pennsylvania, Uygur wrote an article for The Daily Pennsylvanian (the student newspaper) called “Historical Fact or Falsehood“, which imputes false claims of genocide to Armenian demands for land and money.

An excerpt: “Hence, once you really examine the history of the time it becomes apparent that the allegations of an Armenian Genocide are unfounded. So the question arises of why the Armenians would bother to conjure up such stories, and even go as far as, committing approximately 200 acts of terrorism since 1973 to further their cause, resulting in countless deaths and injuries to government officials and civilians. The answer is that they want their demands met. Their demands are that they receive close to one-half of the land of the Republic of Turkey for a new Greater Armenia, and that every Armenian claiming to be injured by the alleged genocide be compensated with cash reparations. That is why every year they push the U.S. Congress to pass a bill declaring the Armenian Genocide a historical fact…”

In a letter to Salon in 1999, he again argued that there was no evidence for that genocide:

“. . . every non-Armenian scholar in the field believes it is an open question whether this event was a genocide. Is it the claim of the article that all of these people are tainted by the tentacles of the Turkish government? If not, then why is it not pointed out that no one outside of the “Armenian position” believes it is a genocide? Why is it assumed that the “Turkish studies side” has the burden of proof in overturning the verdict of Turkish guilt? It is because of the underlying assumption that despite what these people in “Turkish studies” say, there must have been a genocide.”

“This is an embarrassing position for someone to take who’s an American progressive”

Uygur recently lost in a congressional race for California’s 25th district, losing to Christy Smith, gaining a total of 5% of the votes. Nevertheless, Uygur did not receive the endorsement of California’s Democratic Party. Then presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, endorsed him, then retracted his endorsement shortly thereafter.

October 30, 2023
UN recognition of Armenian genocide (Whitaker Report)

The Whitaker Report is not specifically related to the Armenian Genocide.

The Whitaker Report is commonly associated with a different issue. It is often referred to as the “Whitaker Report on Genocide,” and it was prepared by Benjamin Whitaker, a British lawyer, for the United Nations in 1985. The report focused on the topic of genocide and the legal and practical measures that should be taken to prevent and punish it. It played a significant role in shaping the legal and political discourse surrounding genocide prevention and the eventual establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The UN Sub commission did not accept the report, but decided to “receive” it.

Since 1985, the UN Spokesperson has three times declared that the UN does not accept the Armenian case as genocide.

Of the seven independent organizations who provided their expert opinions, three were later to be found to be fronts for Armenian groups that support the Dashnaks.

The Special Rapporteur (Whitaker) who snuck in the footnote later admitted that he had been retained by the Armenian lobby, but that he did not receive any money for his report. However, he later did work for the Armenian lobby for money.

Whitaker report stated in paragraph 24 that:

The Nazi aberration has unfortunately not been the only case of genocide in the twentieth century. Among other examples which can be cited as qualifying are the German massacre of Hereros in 1904, the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in 1915–1916, the Ukrainian pogrom of Jews in 1919, the Tutsi massacre of Hutu in Burundi in 1965 and 1972, the Paraguayan massacre of Ache Indians prior to 1974, the Khmer Rouge massacre in Kampuchea between 1975 and 1978, and the contemporary [1985] Iranian killings of Baha’is.
— Whitaker Report, (paragraph 24)

The documents that show the UN does not accept the Armenian case as genocide are provided by Emre Serbest.

October 27, 2023
Henry VIII or Suleiman The Magnificent?
Who was more powerful, Henry VIII or Suleiman The Magnificent?

Suleiman the Magnificent, also known as Suleiman I, was the tenth Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and he reigned from 1520 to 1566. He is one of the most famous and influential rulers of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman was born on November 6, 1494, and he died on September 6, 1566.

During his reign, Suleiman oversaw the expansion of the Ottoman Empire to its greatest territorial extent. It covered modern day Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, much of Libya and Algeria, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Moldova as well as bits of Ukraine and Russia. He ruled over 25 million souls.

He is known for his military campaigns and successful conquests, which included the capture of Belgrade, Rhodes, and most notably, the siege of Vienna in 1529. Suleiman’s reign is often considered the height of Ottoman power and influence in both Europe and Asia.

The economy of the Ottoman Empire was more than double France, Spain and the Hapsburg Empires combined.

Suleiman was also a patron of the arts, and his rule saw a flourishing of literature, architecture, and culture. He is particularly well-known for his legal reforms and the codification of laws that became the basis for the legal system of the Ottoman Empire. His title, “the Magnificent,” reflects the grandeur and success of his rule. His reign is sometimes referred to as the “Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire.” He was succeeded by his son, Selim II, upon his death in 1566.

Henry VIII was a King of England who ruled England from 1509 to 1547. Not even the whole of island of Great Britain. He ruled over a puny 2.3 million souls. His economy was tiny compared to the major European powers of the day – far less the mighty Ottomans. Henry was born on June 28, 1491, and he died on January 28, 1547.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Henry is famously known for his six marriages. His desire to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and the Pope’s refusal to grant him an annulment, led Henry to establish the Church of England in 1534. Henry passed the Act of Supremacy, which declared the English monarch as the supreme head of the Church of England, further solidifying his control over the church.

This event, known as the English Reformation, resulted in the Church of England breaking away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. As part of the English Reformation, Henry ordered the dissolution of the monasteries in England, confiscating their lands and wealth. This move had profound effects on the religious, social, and economic landscape of England.

Henry’s reign had a lasting impact on English history, especially in the areas of religion and government. The establishment of the Church of England set the stage for the development of Protestantism in England, and the monarchy’s power and role in governance were significantly transformed.

Resources:
- Colin Riegels, BCL in Law, University of Oxford
- World History Encyclopedia
October 24, 2023
Is Turkish the best natural/non-artifical language
Is Turkish really the best natural/non-artifical language out there, and if yes, why?

Former English lecturer at Bilkent University Robin Turner answers this question on Quora:

It’s a point of dogma among linguists that no natural language is superior to another. Personally I think this is just dogma, but it’s probably true that there is no such thing as the best language overall for the simple reason that languages have to balance a number of different and often contradictory things. A language with a very large vocabulary will likely be more expressive, but will be harder to learn. Using tones multiplies the available vocabulary while limiting the use of intonation to express emotion. Isolating languages (where words do not have different grammatical forms) have simple grammar at the expense of relatively inflexible word order (except for Chinese, which is an isolating language that also has fairly flexible word order, but it does this at the cost of ambiguity).

Having said this, we can say Turkish has some advantages.
1. It’s agglutinating (“stick things on the end of words”) grammar is almost completely regular and very easy to learn. Learning a new grammatical feature is usually just a case of learning which suffix you need to add to the verb, and you can put your new knowledge into practice immediately.
2. Related to this, you can play around with word order with little danger of ambiguity. In English, fronting (moving a word to the beginning of a sentence to emphasise it) is very limited (e.g., “That I could go for”) but in Turkish, like Latin, you can do it as much as you like. You can also move the question word ma/mi around to show what you are questioning (Ali geldi mi? = “Did Ali come?” Ali mi geldi? = “Was it Ali that came?”).
3. It has no gender, articles or other ways of making nouns a nightmare. It does have case, but once you’ve sat down and drilled yourself in it, it’s easy – it’s not like Latin where you have different declensions.
4. Because Turkish adopted the Latin alphabet late, it is written almost exactly as pronounced (there are a few exceptions where the written form doesn’t properly represent contractions, like ağabey or yapayım).
5. The language reforms of the mid-twentieth century got rid of a slew of Arabic and Persian loanwords, sometimes replacing them with (usually) logical Turkish neologisms. This created a smaller and more consistent vocabulary.
But of course, these can be also construed as disadvantages. The grammar means that you have to keep your ears open to catch the suffix that tells you if a sentence is negative (and by the time the speaker gets to the verb, someone will probably have interrupted them). Losing all those loanwords was seen as a tragedy by many. Writing phonetically makes it more likely that people speaking different dialects will “misspell” words, and so on.

I love Turkish, but I can’t claim that it is objectively superior to other languages, just better for some people if they like the kind of features that Turkish has. It’s like Malcolm Gladwell said, “There is no such thing as the perfect Pepsi. There are only perfect … Pepsis.¹”
1. Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce | Malcolm Gladwell ↩︎
October 19, 2023
Why didn’t Russia conquer Constantinople?

Why didn’t Russia try to conquer Constantinople and surrounding territories after the Ottoman Empire collapsed?

During the 1768 — 1774 Russian Ottoman war , Russia was close to conquer the Ottoman Empire

Battle of Chesme

Ali Bey al Kabir

Russia conquered Crimea and kicked the Ottomans out , defeated them in Caucasus , and totally destroyed the Ottoman navy in 1770 during the battle of Chesme

a revolt occurred in Greece and Russia formed an alliance with the Mamluk of Egypt Ali Bey al Kabir who kicked the Ottomans out of Egypt and marched towards Syria with Russian support

Russia bombed and occupied Beirut , at that time the Ottoman Empire lost all of it’s Arab provinces as Iraq was ruled by Kulmnd Mamluks and Syria was falling as well , Russia had the Ottomans on their knees , but Britain , Austria and Prussia saved the Ottomans and prevented Russia from conquering Constantinople

Russia tried again in 1791 and 1878 and was too close but the Western powers feared a very powerful Russia.

John Jafar on Quora

October 17, 2023