WThe Balkans, also known as the Balkan Peninsula, are a geographic area in southeastern Europe with various definitions and meanings, including geopolitical and historical. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria from the Serbian–Bulgarian border to the Black Sea coast. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish Straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala, 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), in the Rila mountain range, Bulgaria.
WThe Balkans and parts of this area are alternatively situated in Southeast, Southern, Eastern Europe and Central Europe. The distinct identity and fragmentation of the Balkans owes much to its common and often turbulent history regarding centuries of Ottoman conquest and to its very mountainous geography.
WThe Adriatic Charter is an association formed by Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia and the United States for the purpose of aiding their attempts to join NATO. The Charter was signed on 2 May 2003 in Tirana under the aegis of the United States. The role of the United States has caused some confusion; in discussions in the other member states, the Charter is often called the U.S.-Adriatic Charter. In September 2008 Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina were invited to join the Charter and joined on December 4, 2008. Serbia accepted observer status at the same time. On 1 April, 2009, Albania and Croatia became the first of the group to join NATO. On 5 June, 2017, Montenegro joined NATO. On 27 March, 2020, North Macedonia joined NATO.
WThe Balkan Battlegroup is an EU Battlegroup led by Greece. Originally referred to as HELBROC, it consists of military units from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Ukraine, and Serbia. During its third and fourth standby period in the second half of 2011 and 2014, the Balkan Battlegroup was joined by Ukraine, while Serbia signed her participation in 2016.
WThe Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The range runs 557 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on Bulgarian-Serbian border eastward through central Bulgaria to foothills reaching Cape Emine on the Black Sea. The highest peaks of the Balkan Mountains are in central Bulgaria. The highest peak is Botev at 2,376 m, which makes the mountain range the third highest in the country, after Rila and Pirin. The mountains are the source of the name of the Balkan Peninsula.
WBalkanisation is a sometimes deprecated geopolitical term for a disorderly or unpredictable fragmentation, or sub-fragmentation, of a larger region or state into smaller regions or states, which may be hostile or uncooperative with one another. When sponsored or encouraged by a sovereign third party, the term has been used as an accusation against such third party nations. The term has also been used by voices for the status quo to underscore the dangers of acrimonious or runaway secessionism.
WA chardak is an old typical house in the Balkans. It is derived from the word cardak, which is a component of Ottoman Turkish house design. This term, which is also called sofa, denotes an open hall of a house's upper living floor.
WEuropean Western Balkans is a web portal that focuses on the Western Balkans countries and reports on development of the European Union's enlargement policy towards the states of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
WA hambar Aromanian: ambare, Bulgarian: хамбар (hambar) Danube Swabian German: hambar, Hungarian: hombár, Romanian: hambar or pătul, Russian: амбар (ambar), Serbian: ambar/амбар or čardak/чардак, ) is a corn crib or small building commonly used for storing and drying maize in the Balkans and the neighboring regions in the Pannonian plain and north of the Danube. The word comes from Turkish ambar, meaning "storehouse, warehouse, repository", from the Greek nautical term ἀμπάρι (ampari), meaning "stowage". The word and the concept are used in Europe as far north as Hungary and the White Sea in Russia.
WKalafat or Kurilovo is a mountain located in a southeastern Serbia.
WIn the former Ottoman countries, a kaldırım (Turkish) or kalderimi is a cobblestone-paved road built for hoofed traffic. Kalderimia are sometimes described as cobbled or paved mule tracks or trails.