Some older readers probably still think of the Balkan region as synonymous with Yugoslavia - a nominally united communist country bordering the Adriatic Sea and stretching from Italy to Albania. But the country properly called the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is no more! It disintegrated into separate states - currently seven in number.

Throughout most of the Balkan region, circumcision is seen as a “Badge of Islam”, a symbol of religious affiliation. The presence in South-Eastern Europe of large numbers of Muslims is a consequence of the conquest of the area in medieval times by the Ottoman Empire.

Fragment	Date of Separation
Slovenia	25.Jun.1991
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	08.Sep.1991
Croatia	08.Oct.1991
Bosnia-Herzegovina	01.Mar.1992
Kosovo	10.Jun.1999  (Disputed)
Montenegro	03.Jun.2006
Serbia (including Vojvodina)	The remnant

There is a certain irony in regarding Serbia as the remnant of Tito’s state, given that at one time Serbia was the seat of opposition to communism in Yugoslavia.

During the period of occupation of Yugoslavia by the Wehrmacht (1943-44), there were two rival guerilla armies fighting not only against the Germans but also at times against each other. On the one hand, the Communist Tito and his “Partisans”, with a power base in Croatia. On the other hand, the supporters of the Yugoslav Government in Exile in London, loyal to King Peter II, led by Draža Mihailović, known as “Chetniks” and strongest in Serbia. For reasons that for decades remained secret but have now been documented in the TV Series Secret War (Series 1, Episode 13 ‒ The Aristocrat and the Balkan Communists), Winston Churchill allied with the Partisans rather than with the Chetniks, first sending British special forces officer Fitzroy MacLean into occupied Yugoslavia to make contact with Tito and later sending his own son, Randolph Churchill, behind German lines as an envoy. It was an improbable alliance, in part a consequence of disinformation about the relative fighting prowess of the Partisans and Chetniks planted within the British ‘Special Operations Executive’ (SOE) by James Klugmann, a communist spy working in SOE’s Cairo office.

The consequences of the British having exclusively backed Tito with both Special Forces on the ground and air support by the RAF reverberate to this day. Had that support instead been given to the Chetniks, Yugoslavia might not have become communist after World War Two and that in turn would have led to a very different situation in the Balkans today.

The following resources were used in the preparation of this web page:

Wikipedia.

Map courtesy of www.youreuropemap.com.

To return to the previous page that you were viewing, please use the BACK button of your browser. Alternatively, click on a link in the text above or choose another topic from the navigation panel below.

CIRCLIST Home Page	Latest News	Glossary  & Anatomy	Considering Circumcision?	Styles & Results	Instruments & Techniques	TOP of this page
	Preferences & Experiences	Rites & Traditions	Circumcision and the Law	Femcirc and FGM	Statistical Surveys
	History of Circumcision	Photography advice	Academic Corner	Site Map	Resources elsewhere

Copyright © 1992 - 2012,  All Rights Reserved CIRCLIST.