Politics and religion in the Balkans
The Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA) held a roundtable discussion entitled “Politics and Religion in the Balkans” on May 4, 2023. The participants of the event were János T. Barabás, Senior Analyst of the HIIA, Zoltán Egeresi, Research Fellow of the Institute for Strategic and Defense Studies, and Judit Rákos, PhD student of St. Athanasius Greek Catholic Theological Institute. The event was moderated by Julianna Ármás, Research Fellow of the HIIA.
Both the religious and political structure of the Balkans has been influenced by the historical experience of the region. While the emergence of Islam under Ottoman-Turkish rule, Roman Catholicism under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the multinational-multireligious policy under the Yugoslav state formation, as well as the absence of a state religion (also) reinforced the already existing religious fault lines in the Balkans. Due to its geographic location, both Roman and Byzantine missions were present in the region, and three main trends can be observed in the spread of the Muslim presence: the settlement of Turks in the cities of Bulgaria, North-Macedonia and Greece during the Ottoman occupation, the emergence of Turkish merchants, and the conversion to Islam of those living along the strategic routes of the Ottoman Empire.
The connection between politics and religion is prominent in the Balkans, where they operate in a dual system; political and religious leaders are both supporting each other and competing for public influence. This may have developed because for centuries the church has provided the social safety net and acted as a reinforcer of state power. A good example is the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Serbian domestic and foreign policy. As the birthplace of the Church, Kosovo is considered a province of Serbia despite Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2008 and the Orthodox Church’s socio-political role makes it inadvisable for the political leadership to contradict this, as Judit Rákos pointed out.
According to János Barabás, Serbia’s recognition of the Orthodox Church of Macedonia’s autocephalous status is an excellent example of the interaction between church and politics. The Macedonian Orthodox Church was under the leadership of the Serbian Orthodox Church with moderate autonomy, and its autocephalous status was unilaterally declared by the Macedonian Church in 1967. After decades of struggle for independence, which was achieved in the spring of 2022, the Serbian Orthodox Church recognized the new autocephalous church, which was then named the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid. As a sign of Russia’s influence over Serbia, in August 2022 the Moscow Patriarchate also recognised the Ohrid Archdiocese, but continued to insist on the canonical jurisdiction of the Serbs, which is a signal to Serbia that Russia expects to maintain close ties.
However, Russia’s traditionally strong influence in the Balkans based on historical and cultural foundations is decreasing, and in the emerging geopolitical vacuum it is important to note the rise of Türkiye, based on its cultural and economic ties. After the Yugoslav wars, the importance of religious affiliation was reinforced, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina but contrary to general expectations, this is not where the Turkish–economic–presence is the most significant. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Türkiye ‘s main focus is on supporting religious institutions and communities, but the countries where it really works closely are those with strong markets, explained Zoltán Egeresi. Thus, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia in particular have a significant Turkish economic presence, in which the fact that these countries sided with Erdoğan after the coup attempt in 2016 plays a major role.
During the roundtable discussion, our experts discussed several other current issues: the relationship and cultural ties of Russia and Ukraine to the countries of the region, the role of national churches as well as the great power competition for political-economic influence. The panelists also outlined on the strategic importance of the Western Balkans in Hungarian foreign policy and the Hungarian foreign policy strategy related to the region.
Photos by: Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA)