Paschalis M. Kitromitez

Paschalis M. Kitromilides explains about collective identity and ethnic loyalties in the Balkans in the late 1990s. Nationalism had generated violence and outrage in 20th century in the region of South-Eastern Europe. During 18th century, the Ottoman Empire established political and social unity in the Balkan region and it’s called Pax Ottomanica. The Ottoman Empire stabilized the external border of the Balkans, although the Ottoman Empire was declining due to increase of Christian population and power in the region. According to Paschalis M. there are two maps that explain the distribution of languages of Europe between 17th and 18th century. The first map was called Europa Polyglotta published in Nuremburg in 1730 that explains the distribution …show more content…
In South-Eastern area of the Balkans people speak Turkish language. The Catholic population were found in Adriatic coasts and some Jewish population were found in some cities of Greece. Muslim population were found in Southern Greece, some parts of Bulgaria, and in the Island of Crete. All the groups mentioned in the map of O’Etzel were widely spread in the Balkan region and were politically and socially unified. These communities were called Diaspora communities. The diaspora community includes Jews in the Balkans, Orthodox community, Vlachs community, and the Muslim community. The Orthodox diaspora community includes merchants, scholars, and church preacher. The Vlachs community includes Shepherds, merchants, and craftsman. The Muslim community widely spread in Albania and mostly them were soldiers in the Ottoman army but also include merchants, Shepherds, and craftsmen. The Orthodox community is based on three factors: the Church, higher education, and commerce. The population belonged to Orthodox community worshipped in same church, same pilgrimage, and provided same monasteries. The important function of church was to provide social communication between the ethnic communities in the Balkans despite having differences in the