Upcoming Anniversaries in the Balkans: 2012-2016
July 18, 2011
Balkanalysis.com Research Service- While potentially violent ethnic nationalism and related ideologies in the Balkans may diminish in the long term, they are not likely to do so during the next few years.
A minefield of upcoming anniversaries in the coming period will serve to enhance heated local and international rhetoric over the validity of competing ideologies and narratives. If the post-Communist period in the region can be defined as the years of ‘transition,’ the coming period may someday be remembered as the years of regression, a time when retrograde, obscurest and tribal views influenced the balance of power, economy, social and religious life, and ultimately the continuously evolving identity of the region.
Perhaps not incidentally, a conspicuous number of these events involve the deep influence left by the Ottoman Empire, even more important given modern Turkey’s ascent to regional power, and the issue of Macedonia, almost as vexed now as it was during the turbulent times of a century ago. The reappraisal of the Balkans’ mixed legacy represents an ongoing info-war for cultural hegemony that, while not violent, is being waged with grim determination using a variety of means.
The world over, humans have long embraced the practice of associating meaning to rather arbitrary, decimal-system time notations- and to sustain them, have often exerted great energy into organizing events and proclamations having political, economic, media, social and other import. The following is a partial list of such decimal-system anniversaries between 2012-2016, many of which will elicit the stated type of reactions, and become ‘events’ in themselves.
2012
February 28, 2012: 15th anniversary of the ‘soft’ military coup in Turkey that forced the resignation of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan of the pro-Islamist Welfare Party- the forerunner of today’s ruling AK Party
March 30, 2012: 580th anniversary of the birth of Mehmet II, Ottoman conqueror of Constantinople
April 5, 2012: 20th anniversary of the start of the Siege of Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia
August 30, 2012: 90th anniversary of the final battle in Dumlupınar, ending the Turkish Independence War in 1922 (Victory Day)
October 8, 1912: Centennial of initial hostilities between the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia) declared war on the Ottoman Empire
October 18, 2012: Centennial anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, and end of the Italo-Turkish War; Italy was awarded the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica (today’s Libya)
October 28, 2012: Centennial anniversary of the Greek liberation of Thessaloniki from the Ottoman Empire
November 8, 2012: 35th anniversary of the discovery of the royal tomb of Phillip II of Macedon in Vergina, Greece
November 28, 2012: Centennial anniversary of Albania’s declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire (Flag Day)
2013
March 4, 2013: Centennial anniversary of the Battle of Vizani and Greek liberation of Ioannina from the Ottoman Empire
March 11, 2013: 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Jews of Macedonian to Treblinka by the Bulgarian army in WWII
March 12, 2013: 10th anniversary of the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić
May 4, 2013: 110th anniversary of the death of Gotse Delchev, Macedonian-independence revolutionary leader against the Turks
May 29, 2013: 560th anniversary of Ottoman capture of Constantinople
May 30, 2013: Centennial anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of London, ending the First Balkan War
June 16, 2013: Centennial anniversary of the Second Balkan War (Bulgaria’s declaration of war against erstwhile allies Greece and Serbia)
July 26, 2013: 50th anniversary of the great earthquake in Skopje, Macedonia
August 2, 2013: 110th anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising in Krusevo, Macedonia, against the Ottomans
August 10, 2013: Centennial anniversary of the controversial Treaty of Bucharest and official end of the Balkan Wars
September 9, 2013: 20th anniversary of the Battle of the Medak Pocket in Croatia
October 19, 2013: 10th anniversary of the death of Alija Izetbegović, first president of the post-Yugoslav Bosnian Federation
October 29, 2013: 90th anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic by Ataturk (Republic Day)
November 9, 2013: 20th anniversary of the destruction of the Bridge of Mostar during the Croat-Bosniak War
November 10, 2013: 75th anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkish national leader
November 17, 2013: 40th anniversary of the major student protests in Greece against the ruling junta (Polytechneio)
December 1, 2013: 95th anniversary of the declaration of the union of Transylvania with Romania (the National Day of Romania)
2014
February 7, 2014: 150th anniversary of the death of pioneering Serbian linguist and author Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
February 15, 2014: 15th anniversary of the capture of Kurdish PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan by Turkish special services in Kenya
February 26, 2014: 10th anniversary of the death of Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski in an airplane crash near Mostar
March 3, 2014: 90th anniversary of the constitutional abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate in Turkey
March 17, 2014: 10th anniversary of the March riots of Kosovo Albanians against Serbs and internationals in Kosovo
March 24, 2014: 15th anniversary of the beginning of NATO bombings against Serbia
April 2, 2014: 10-year anniversary of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to NATO
May 21, 2014: 150th anniversary of the unification of the Ionian islands with Greece
June 28, 2014: Centennial anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, leading to WWI
July 20, 2014: 40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus
July 28, 2014: Centennial anniversary of the invasion of Serbia by the Austro-Hungarian Army, starting hostilities in WWI
July 29, 2014: Millennial anniversary of the Battle of Kleidion/Belasica, in which Byzantine Emperor Basil II decisively defeated the Bulgarian army of Tsar Samoil
August 2, 2014: Centennial anniversary of the secret Turkish-German treaty that brought the Ottoman Powers into WWI on the side of the Central Powers
August 23, 2014: 150th anniversary of the birth of Eleftherios Venizelos, future Greek national leader
September 14, 2014: 200th anniversary of the formation of the famous Greek secret society, the Filiki Etairia
2015
April 24, 2015: Centennial anniversary of the symbolic start of the ‘Armenian Genocide’ in eastern Anatolia, by the Ottoman authorities
April 25, 2015: Centennial anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Gallipoli between Commonwealth and Ottoman troops in WWI (ANZAC Day)
May 6, 2015: 610th anniversary of the birth of Albanian national hero Georgi Kastrioti Skanderbeg
July 11, 2015: 20th anniversary of the ‘Srebrenica massacre’ of Bosniak Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces during the war in Bosnian
August 5, 2015: 20th anniversary of the Battle of Knin, ending the Serbian Republic of Krajina in Croatia (Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders)
September 6, 2015: 130th anniversary of the unification of Eastern Rumelia and Bulgaria (Unification Day)
September 13, 2015: 20th anniversary of the signing of the Interim Accord between Greece and Macedonia
October 5, 2015: 15th anniversary of mass Belgrade protests resulting in the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević
October 28, 1915: 75th anniversary of Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas’ rejection of Mussolini’s capitulation ultimatum during WWII (Ohi Day)
December 9, 2015: 25th anniversary of election of Slobodan Milošević as Yugoslav president
December 14, 2015: 20th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Agreement in Paris, ending the war in Bosnia
2016
March 31, 2016: 25th anniversary of the first multi-party elections in Albania
May 20, 2016: 75th anniversary of the Battle of Crete in WWII
May 21, 2016: 10th anniversary of Montenegro’s successful referendum for independence from the state union with Serbia
June 25, 2016: 25th anniversary of Croatia and Slovenia’s declarations of independence from Yugoslavia
July 10, 2016: 150th anniversary of the birth of world-famous Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla
September 8, 2016: 25th anniversary of Macedonia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia
November 8, 2016: 150th anniversary of the massacre at Arkadi Monastery in Crete, during a revolt against the Turks
November 19, 2016: Centennial anniversary of the WWI Battle of Bitola, in which Serbian troops captured the city from the Central Powers
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