The Muslims in South-Eastern Europe

Abstract

The political trajectories of the Balkan Muslims since the territorial losses of the Ottoman Empire during the long nineteenth century reflect a complex and difficult passage to non-Islamic sovereignty. Often driven directly or indirectly to migration, the Balkan Muslims experienced very diverse situations related to their socio-economic status, to the state they were living in and to the period. Their place in the Balkan states follows two conflicting tendencies: rejection, which had its peak with the ethnic cleansing during the wars of the end of the twentieth century, and the integration made possible in different ways (granted rights, “minoritization” policies or citizenship). Balkan Muslims, as European citizens, experienced and are experiencing also more general religious and social changes related to the broader society of which they are part.