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Balkan Club Newsletter Issue 1, Vol. 1
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Balkan Cuisine 1
History: Pre-Roman States 2
Geography 3
Film Review 3
Interest Survey Results 4
Inside this issue: Balkan Ways
Club News
The Balkan Club held its first
meeting Friday, June 20. A
successful showing of KFOR
soldiers from a variety of units
and civilians was made.
An introduction was made by
SGT Greg Sell. He made
known the answers to the
country geography quiz which
has been circulating around
Camp Bondsteel for a week.
The intentions for the creation
of The Balkan Club were
shared with members as well as
the original proposal presented
to the Task Force Falcon com-
mand.
Members participated in an
interest survey in order to iden-
tify the most popular topics
relating to the Balkan region.
The results of the survey are
posted on page 4. History in
general ranked very high.
Members are reminded that
their input is extremely impor-
tant to the success of the club.
All are invited to make film
and book recommendations,
present a topic which interests
them, or provide a guest
speaker or entertainer. A
membership distribution list is
generated from the attendance
at a meeting. Please share
club information with anyone
interested in the Balkans.
Remember, All KFOR soldiers
and civilian employees at Camp
Bondsteel are welcome as
members.
The Balkan Club
May 23, 2011
Volume 1, Issue 1
Special points of inter-
est:
May 27: Romania Pres-
entation by Romanian
KFOR and film.
June 3: Local Cultural
Brief by KSF CSM
(planning phase)
August: Dokufest in
Prizren
Balkan Cuisine
Tarator is consumed in Alba-nia similarly to other countries. However, water, nuts, fruits and dill aren't used. Olive oil is often used in place of vegeta-ble oil. In a different variation, this dish is enriched with a plain omelet, cut into little pieces and added to the mix-ture. Due to the richness the eggs add, this variation of tara-tor may be consumed as a main course. In Bulgaria tarator is a popu-lar appetizer (meze) but also served as a side dish along with Shopska salad with most meals. Sunflower and olive oil are more commonly used and wal-nuts are sometimes omitted. Tarator is a popular dish in Bulgaria; a salad version of tarator is known as
"Snowwhite salad" (Bulgarian: салата Снежанка- "salata Snezhanka" or "Snejanka"), also called Dry Tarator. It is made of thick yogurt, without water. It can be served as an appetizer or as a side to the main meal. It is a common refresher during the summer. In Greece, a similar meal is known as tzatziki. Tzatziki usually contains olive oil, pars-ley and mint in addition to the ingredients listed above. The word used for the Cypriot vari-ant, ttalattouri, derives from the word tarator via Persian. Tarator is a popular salad and dip in Serbia rather than a soup; it is also known as "tarator salata". It is made with yoghurt, sliced cucumber and diced garlic, and served cold.
In Turkish Cuisine, "tarator" is a dip sauce generally eaten with fried fish and squid. The sauce includes white bread crumbs, walnuts, lemon juice or vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, herbs and yoghurt. One Turk-ish version using the name, tahinli tarator, is a similar dish specifically containing tahin or sesame. In the coastal towns of Turkey, fried squid or mussels are almost always served with tarator sauce. In FYROM, tarator or taratur is
made with garlic, soured milk,
cucumber, sunflower oil and
salt. It is garnished with dill
and served either room tem-
perature or chilled (sometimes
by adding ice blocks).
Bulgarian tarator
Turkish tarator (right) and fried http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarator
The Illyrian king, Bardyllis turned Illyria into a formidable local power in the 4th century BC. The main cities of the Illyr-ian kingdom were Scodra (present-day Shkodra, Albania) and Rhizon (present-day Risan, Montenegro). In 359 BC, King Perdiccas III of Macedon was killed by attacking Illyrians.
But in 358 BC, Philip II of Macedon,
father of Alexander the Great, defeated
the Illyrians and assumed control of
their territory as far as Lake Ohrid.
Alexander himself routed the forces of
the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus in 335 BC,
and Illyrian tribal leaders and soldiers
accompanied Alexander on his con-
quest of Persia.
After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Greek states started fighting among
themselves again (esp. Southern Greeks against Northern Greeks this time), while up North, independent Illyrian kingdoms again arose.
In 312 BC, King Glaukias seized Epidamnus. By the end of the 3rd cen-tury BC, an Illyrian kingdom based in Scodra controlled parts of northern Albania, Montenegro, and Herzegovina. Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attacked Roman merchant vessels plying the Adriatic Sea and gave Rome an excuse to invade the Balkans.
In the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC and 219 BC, Rome overran the Illyrian set-tlements in the Neretva river valley and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe. In 180 BC, the Dalma-tians declared themselves independent of the Illyrian king Gentius, who kept
his capital at Scodra. The Romans de-feated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, bringing him to Rome in 165 BC.
Four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was directly governed by Rome and organized as a province, with Scodra as its capital.
Also, in 168 b.c, by taking advantage of
the constant Greek civil wars, the Ro-
mans defeated Perseus, the last King of
Macedonia and with of their allies in
Southern Greece, they became lords of
the region. The territories were split to
Macedonia, Achaia and Epirus.
History: Pre-Roman states (4th to 1st c. BC)
Page 2 Ba lkan Ways Volume 1, I ssue 1
Various Authors, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Balkans
Geography
Film Review: No Mans Land (2001)
The Balkan region is a trian-
gular peninsula with a wide
northern border, narrowing
to a tip as it extends to the
south. The Black, the Ae-
gean, the Mediterranean and
the Adriatic Seas surround
it; they have served as both
barriers and entry points.
Unlike some peninsulas, the
Balkan area has not been
physically isolated from
nearby regions. In the
northeast, Romania is ex-
posed to the steppe regions
of the Ukraine, an easy inva-
sion route from prehistoric
times to the present. In the
northwest, the valley of the
Danube and the flat Hun-
garian plain are easy points
of entry. Most (but not all)
of the ethnic groups in the
region entered by one of
these paths.
While it is surrounded on three
sides by water, the peninsula is
not cut off from neighboring
regions to the east, west or
south. To the east, the narrow
straits of the Bosphorus and the
Dardanelles are a natural path-
way between the Balkans and
Anatolia, and Asia beyond. To
the west, the Italian peninsula is
only forty miles away across the
Adriatic from Albania, and influ-
ence from that direction has
been another constant. Finally,
the Aegean and Mediterranean
islands to the south are stepping
stones to the eastern Mediterra-
nean and Egypt. Not surpris-
ingly, the Balkan region has been
a crossroads for traffic passing to
and from all these destinations.
The mountains which divide the
region are a prominent internal
physical characteristic. The
region takes its name from
the "Balkan" mountain
range in Bulgaria (from a
Turkish word meaning "a
chain of wooded moun-
tains"). On a larger scale,
one long continuous chain
of mountains crosses the
region in the form of a re-
versed letter S, from the
Carpathians south to the
Balkan range proper, before
it marches away east into
Anatolian Turkey. On the
west coast, an offshoot of
the Dinaric Alps follows the
coast south through Dalma-
tia and Albania, crosses
Greece and continues into
the sea in the form of vari-
ous islands.
Page 3 Ba lkan Ways Volume 1, I ssue 1
Steven W. Sowards, http://staff.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture1.html
but can't move because a
bouncing mine is beneath him.
The two men cooperate to
wave white flags, their lines call
the UN (whose high command
tries not to help), an English
reporter shows up, a French
sergeant shows courage, and
the three men in no man's land
may or may not find a way to
all get along.
After various skirmishes, two
wounded soldiers, one Bosnian
and one Serb, confront each
other in a trench in the no
man's land between their lines.
They wait for dark, trading
insults and even finding some
common ground; sometimes
one has the gun, sometimes the
other, sometimes both. Things
get complicated when another
wounded Bosnian comes to,
Duration: 98 minutes
Director: Danis Tanovic
Writer: Danis Tanovic
Stars: Branko Djuric, Rene
Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283509/
The Balkan Club is a voluntary learning community meeting once a week to explore the history, geography, culture, politics and economy of the Balkan region. Activities include and are not limited to lectures or presentations by members or guests, film viewing, and cultural excur-sions. Membership is open to all KFOR soldiers and civilian employees of Camp Bondsteel. The Balkan Club is a place to cultivate an under-standing and appreciation for the Balkan region and to stimulate fur-ther, self directed study.
Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo
POC: Mrs. Ganimete Pashoja-Myftiu
Phone: DSN 314 781 6535
E-mail: [email protected]
The Balkan Club
POC: SGT Greg Sell
Phone: DSN 314 781 4136
E-mail: [email protected]
2.5
2.75
3
3.25
3.5
3.75
4
4.25
4.5
Average Interest (1=none, 2=low, 3=medium, 4=high, 5=very high)
Interest Level
Interest Survey Results
