Balkan Lessons
By Mowahid Hussain Shah

A trek, in effect, through the Balkans – an area encompassing a swath of southern Europe extending from Slovenia to Bulgaria and south to Greece and the European part of Turkey – is especially instructive, for those duped into believing that fragmenting Pakistan into smaller provinces would be beneficial. Yesterday, Yugoslavia was one. Today, Yugoslavia is broken up into 7. Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Bosnia/Herzegovina. Europe is currently marking the 20 th anniversary of the genocidal massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica by Serbs.

Some Pakistani advocates of provincial balkanization push a covert agenda not dissimilar to what led to the severing and secession of South Sudan from Sudan and East Timor from Indonesia. Rebecca Garang, the widow of John Garang, who spearheaded the independence of South Sudan, now repents it and July 9 on BBC Radio expressed her disillusionment.

Evident throughout the Balkans is the massive imprint of the Ottoman Empire and, more recent, the reach of Hitler’s Third Reich. Hitler despised the Slavs but had a soft corner for Albanians whose unique Illyrian roots he associated with the Aryan race.

With Greece in the grip of a severe fiscal crisis, Albania arguably may be the sole Balkan nation with a modicum of stability. Emerging from isolation from the rest of the world, despite being only 65 minutes flying time from Vienna, the heartland of Europe, this ancestral homeland of Mother Teresa is a model of amicable coexistence between its Muslim majority and Christian minority. Flourishing here, too, is a Sufi order of Bektashi.

In April 1939, Mussolini’s forces from Fascist Italy invaded Albania with an intent to colonize it. It was a consequential act in that it delayed Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa – the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler ended up dropping German paratroopers over Tirana, Albania, in 1943, thereby occupying it.

Albania also fascinated the English poet, Lord Byron, who visited it in 1809 and befriended the reputed yet ruthless warrior, Ali Pasha, who eventually fell afoul of the Ottoman Empire and lost his head in the process.

At Albania’s south – adjacent to the Greek isle of Corfu, the birthplace of Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip – are the historic ruins of the ancient Graeco-Roman city of Butrint, the founding of which is associated by classical mythology with exiles fleeing the fall of Troy.

Albania today may be the sole European country with no McDonald’s. Albanians retain their traditional warmth and hospitality, having thus far evaded the contagion of globalization, along with its tourist onslaught. But that may change inevitably in a few years.

At Gjirokaster – the birthplace of Albania’s former Communist leader, Enver Hoxha, and acclaimed author, Ismail Kadare – the old town of which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, it was a treat to go to a small hole-in-the-wall bistro featuring the classic Muslim medieval dish of whole roast spit lamb slow-cooked over charcoal, and served with friendly delight by its owner, Altin.

If there is any in the Balkan neighborhood that has earned its seat at the EU table, it is Turkey. Its exclusion from it, by itself, sends a message.