What do y'all think of this classification? Looks pretty accurate to me! *grabs popcorn*

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Thin-Eagle-4334@reddit

The term ‘Southern Balkans’ felt extremely funny and forced to me, lol. Turkey is a Middle Eastern country that is politically connected to European countries.

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Actually, Southern/Balkan is for Greece, and it indicates that the country shares both Southern European culture and Balkan Culture. All of the trans-regional countries are maked the same way (except Slovenia, which the OP didn't think/wasn't aware that it transcended the Balkans into the higher realms of central Europe).

I think Turkey is "contested Balkans" exactly because of what you said. A small part of it is on the peninsula and some of its regions have Balkan-esque culture, but its core identity is rooted in the Middle East (whether Turks are of aware of this or not).

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Thin-Eagle-4334@reddit

well, most of us are aware. Online is not a good place to make assumptions.

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tomatos_raafatos@reddit (OP)

Kosura bakma, dostum. Assumptions are tricky to avoid on the internet, unfortunately.

My experience with a lot of Turks on Reddit made me feel that they're really annoyed whenever someone implies they are Middle Eastern or closer to Arabs or Iranians than Europeans, etc. A lot of them seem to truly believe that they are 100% removed from this region and that their history in it is all "dark past" and irrelevent.

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Thin-Eagle-4334@reddit

Ikr, that’s why I said we shouldn’t make assumptions based on the internet. Turkish society is heavily influenced by Persian culture, and there are also influences from other Middle Eastern cultures. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it should also be noted that we have a unique side that connects us with European culture. However, in my opinion, that connection is not that strong enough to claim that Turkey is more Balkan than Middle Eastern.

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tomatos_raafatos@reddit (OP)

Right, I totally agree. Very fair conclusion.

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

For me, as a Balkan Turk, it's very difficult to explain to an outsider how we see ourselves. Our culture is definitely not Middle Eastern.

If you ask a Balkan Turk where their ancestors came from, most would say Konya. LOL, that's a myth about origin.

DNA results show that Balkan Turks, in particular, have a high percentage of Balkan (Slavic, Albanian, Romanian) population ancestry (often also Gypsy).

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tomatos_raafatos@reddit (OP)

Wow, thanks for sharing this, I never knew this story.

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

Geographically and culturally speaking, East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, is definitely part of the Balkans.

Because the Anatolian part has always been called Asia Minor, I don't think "Middle East" would be a suitable term.

Even within Asia Minor, there's cultural diversity.

For example, the Aegean Sea is definitely Mediterranean, while the border with Syria and Iraq is more like the Middle East, culturally speaking.

Turkey is unique.

Calling it simply "Balkans" or "Middle East" doesn't do it justice.

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Thin-Eagle-4334@reddit

Yeah, I know certain terms don’t do justice, but bfr, only a very small part of Turkey is in Europe, and our society even the secular population has a Middle Eastern core. Religion isn’t just religion; it’s also deeply integrated into our culture. So if I had to use one term, it would be Middle Eastern.

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

I don't know any Balkan Turks from Bulgaria, Romania, or North Macedonia who call themselves Middle Eastern.

Likewise, I don't know any Person from Edirne, Tekirdag, or Kirklareli provinces who call themselves Middle Eastern. They call themself Trakyali.

How would that apply to the Pomaks there, for example? Or those of Crimean Tatar origin, Albanians, Bosnians, etc., or even Roma... that just wouldn't fit.

And regardless of how small Thrace is geographically, its population density is higher than in some Balkan countries.

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Icy-Wasabi2223@reddit

I am from Kayseri and I would call myself middle eastern either. it's too Arab based. I am west asian and Anatolian that's it.

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

Kayseri is not in the Balkans.

Why should a Tatar-Turk from dobruja in romania with ada kaleh ancestry called himself as middle eastern ???

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Thin-Eagle-4334@reddit

"I don't know any Balkan Turks from Bulgaria, Romania, or North Macedonia who call themselves Middle Eastern, or the Muslim Minority of Western Thrace in Greece. LOL"

Mind you I'm talking about generally Turkey not a certain part of Turkey. you can be balkan I don't actually care. I'm just generalizing Turkish society.

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

Why are you getting aggressive?

That's the point. What does "Turkish society" mean to you, Middle East? Where do you compare us Dobruja Turk-Tatars (especially those of Ada Kaleh descent) to the Middle East?

Ask a Romanian what they think of us.

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Thin-Eagle-4334@reddit

Okay, sorry if my language bothered you. I guess I’ve already made my point.

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

Yes, it's good that you understood, that Balkan Turks have nothing to do with Turkey or the Middle East.

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Thin-Eagle-4334@reddit

lol.

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

?

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Hefty_Jaguar4305@reddit

Who makes these maps and categorizes them? Is all of Türkiye part of the Balkans?

Hmm...

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tomatos_raafatos@reddit (OP)

It's "consted Balkans", which means they're not fully part the Balkan-o-sphere, just Thrace (geographically) and some of the Aegean Sea areas (culturally).

Obviously this is all according to the opinion of the OP on the other sub, it's not that deep.

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super_pasrelle@reddit

I am from the south of France and I consider myself southern European and western

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Young_Owl99@reddit

Could they use more types of blue and green this isn’t complicated enough.

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stuyvesant1@reddit

Doesn't make sense. Northern Italy is southern Europe but Macedonia and Albania are not.

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humanistazazagrliti@reddit

How will the Slovenes react at being called Balkan? Will the Greeks be offended at Macedonians breathing? Will Albanians redraw the map? Will Serbs foam at their mouths because of Kosovo being drawn as a sovereign state? Will Bosnians explode when they see "burek sa sirom" at the Zagreb Bus Depot? Will Romanians even care? Will Turkey call gyros a copy? Will Bulgarians shake their heads or nod? Tune in next week for the next episode of our award winning soap opera: "Nationalism - A Surrogate of a Real Life"

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Substratas@reddit

Albania in the same region as Slovenia is wild. Why are we so often put in the same category when we’re so different?
This map is likely made by a Czech who thinks they’re culturally, linguistically & every other -ally, closer to Germany than to Poland.

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tomatos_raafatos@reddit (OP)

In case the colors aren't clear, Portugal and Greece are Southern/Balkan, Hungary is Central/Balkan, Romania and Moldova are Eastern/Balkan, and Turkey is "Contested Balkan"