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Greece is very much part of the Balkans In fact, it's the core of the Balkans. I don't get it why everyone is trying to escape from the Balkans. Geographical location unfortunately can not be changed. Culturally, it is just as Balkan as Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia bellow Danube, Bosnia etc. Eastern Orthodox Country located on the Balkan peninsula that used to be part of the Ottoman Empire = Balkans
Greece is very much part of the Balkans In fact, it's the core of the Balkans. I don't get it why everyone is trying to escape from the Balkans. Geographical location unfortunately can not be changed. Culturally, it is just as Balkan as Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia bellow Danube, Bosnia etc. Eastern Orthodox Country located on the Balkan peninsula that used to be part of the Ottoman Empire = Balkans
Maybe because in both bibliography (the biggest part) and most of Common sense Greece is not Balkan, or it's only Geographically?
First of all what geniuses in your country like dkm ignore is that not all of Greece was under ottomans, as there were parts that have never been, see ionian islands and mani
Secondly, even the biggest part that has been ottoman for a while, 1) it was for 99-360 years (depending on region) in contrast to Balkans where nothing was for less than 450-550 under ottomans, worth mentioning that only fyrom was for 520 years (longest occupation)
And 2) before ottomans only Greece was for nearly 3 centuries (which for some parts it reaches 7 centuries) under western influence and dominance, the same time that Balkans were dominated by Serbs and Bulgarians
3) even during this occupation Greece was full of ports that previously were ruled by venetians, and Greeks were known as sailors and merchants, the same time that Balkan people were shepherds and their aristocracy farmers
4) Greece is a stable western European country with exclusively western influence for 2 centuries, the same time that south Balkans gained independence as late as 1913, and the very next decades joined communistic block
And what exactly is Balkan about Greek culture, Slavic dude? The family structure which traditionally in Greece is nuclear in contrast to Balkan which is extended? The architecture which in the overwhelmingly biggest part is south European and Mediterranean:
in contrast to Balkan which is totally ottoman and has no difference from Turkish one? Do you see anything comparable to fyrom/turkey above? Maybe several genres of music, from syrtaki, kantades, rembetikes kantades and even waltzes that never existed in fyrom and South Balkans and only northern Serbia had? Maybe the individualism degree which is nearly half from that of fyrom and South Balkans? What similarities did you expect my dear when half of our history is western European, a quarter eastern European and only a quarter middle eastern, when yours is for the most part middle eastern?
I know that fyromians self-determine according to ottoman presence in their country, as this presence occupied most of their last 1000 years history and included their country as a whole, but that's not the case for Greece, which neither was as a whole under ottomans nor was for most of it latest 1000 years. Either you like it or not, being in gytheio, nafplio, monemvasia etc will remind south Italy, but never anything in fyrom https://www.britannica.com/place/Balkans Greece, because its northern regions of Epirus and Macedonia are often considered parts of the Balkans, also appears on many lists of Balkan states, but it is arguably better characterized as primarily a Mediterranean country.
In fact you should have thanked us for not being Balkans, because if we were Balkan, you would be part of us as early as in 1992
As for "why everyone tries to escape from Balkans", I guess because societies like Greek or Romanian see no reason to associate themselves with Muslims like Albanians, or people who were all ottomans for more than 500 years like fyromians. We can't be kin with geniuses who associate Greece with themselves, in spite of the enormous historical and cultural differences
How can you demand from a Greek from corfu to feel part of your subgroup when his city has never been part of the ottoman empire when yours has been for 520? Or from someone from nafplio, whose ancestors had central and northern European aristocracies for nearly 2 centuries the same time that your ancestors were ottoman and then yugoslavian citizens? Are you a kin of someone from nafpaktos which was a Venetian port until 1499, when your village was ottoman since as early as 1390? Even a northern greek can't feel kin of former Yugoslavian and communists who, unlike Bulgaria and most iof Balkans, hasn't even succeeded to join the EU as late as in 2019
Its historical fact that the (South) Slavs (you might call them Sklavenoi) overran not only the Macedonian region of Thessaloniki but even the Peloponnese. The Byzantines recorded this in great detail. So did the Romans. As part of the great migrations, the Avars pushed the Slavs into Byzantium all the way to the Adriatic. You should know this, but I know people get weird about their own background (see the Russians above) so I'm not surprised at the pushback. Just as modern Italians are not majority descended from the Romans... Sorry if this offends.
Its historical fact that the (South) Slavs (you might call them Sklavenoi) overran not only the Macedonian region of Thessaloniki but even the Peloponnese. The Byzantines recorded this in great detail. So did the Romans. As part of the great migrations, the Avars pushed the Slavs into Byzantium all the way to the Adriatic. You should know this, but I know people get weird about their own background (see the Russians above) so I'm not surprised at the pushback. Just as modern Italians are not majority descended from the Romans... Sorry if this offends.
The only thing that really offends is that you have opinion about a things that you completely ignore.
The "slavs overran peloponnese" is recorded in only one source, chronicle of monemvasia, which was written 3 centuries after the events that it's supposed to talk about, obviously for propagandistic reasons well analysed in modern sources (church bias), as byzantine sources of 6th and 7th century along with archaeological stuff never implies Slavic dominance (Slavic presence is another thing, that obviously happened)
Slavs certainly invaded peloponnese and that's recorded, but you obviously ignore that they didn't "overran" it,they never touched its eastern part and big cities in the West, for example they failed to occupy patras, but the most important parts that you obviously ignore are that, after their defeat most of them were expelled to central anatolia, and got replaced by Greeks from South Italy, Greek Islands and west coasts of anatolia, all of them places that weren't touched by a single slav
And of course this exchange between islands and mainland, with most usual being islandic colonization of the mainland, is a process that continued during the next centuries and occur even today
Otherwise why do you think that I personally look closer to a person from abruzzo or campania than any south slav like you? Is it because I am a Slovakian? Half of my ancestry is from ionian islands, and the other half from mainland, my ancestors from both sides have nothing Slavic about their appearance and these things are confirmed by genetic studies. Greeks are often mistaken for Spaniards when they visit Balkan countries, is it because Slovakians look like Spaniards as well? Should I even mention that in most of the country northwest European genetic components (north sea+Atlantic) are more common than northeast (Baltic+eastern euro) implying that a possible admixture with late medieval Franks or north Italians is more common than with slavs?
And for your information, slavs who invaded Greece were not south slavs, native Latin speakers in what is today South Slavic countries were struggling to keep their identity back then, they were not assimilated yet, and that's a very common knowledge. Slavs who invaded Greece were central-eastern European from what is today Hungary, Slovakia etc
Thanks for sharing your opinion about Greeks like it is a scientific and historical fact, but no, we will not gain the Nobel
Greece is a Balkan country. Balkan is a south European peninsula on the Mediterranean. Your attempts to label Greece as “Mediterranean” and not Balkan is dumb. Dubrovnik is also Mediterranean, was a trading power, it’s own republic as well. Dalmatia was ruled by Venice for a long time. All these areas are still Balkan. In the Balkans we have various types of geography, topography, climate. Hell, even areas outside the Balkans such as Vojvodina who were ruled by Austrians for centuries have no problem identifying as Balkan despite not geographically belonging to it. They obviously recognize that despite Central European rule, they still have more in common with people to the south. Vojvodinians are equally Balkan in their mentality as Macedonians and Greeks. No need to distance yourself from our common cultural area.
Greece is a Balkan country. Balkan is a south European peninsula on the Mediterranean. Your attempts to label Greece as “Mediterranean” and not Balkan is dumb. Dubrovnik is also Mediterranean, was a trading power, it’s own republic as well. Dalmatia was ruled by Venice for a long time. All these areas are still Balkan. In the Balkans we have various types of geography, topography, climate. Hell, even areas outside the Balkans such as Vojvodina who were ruled by Austrians for centuries have no problem identifying as Balkan despite not geographically belonging to it. They obviously recognize that despite Central European rule, they still have more in common with people to the south. Vojvodinians are equally Balkan in their mentality as Macedonians and Greeks. No need to distance yourself from our common cultural area.
No Greece is not a Balkan country. I am not here to respond to autistic wishful thinkings of slavottoman combinations of the 3Rd world about how we can't belong to the same group with them, and as you saw above I have already proved that I belong to no common cultural area with you, as if there is any "cultural area" that I belong this is Mediterranean south Europe, like south Italy and Iberia, with all evidence that I don't belong to your yala slavottoman civilization above, and if any part of Greeks have such influences, 1) they are minority in northern regions and 2) at least they didn't experience communism. If someone is interested in the non-balkan background of Greece she/he can see above
Balkans is a mix of eastern Europe and middle east (depending on country and regions in some cases dominant is the first (like in Bulgaria) and in others like fyrom and Albania is the second). Mediterranean, South European countries, are Greece, Iberia and 2/3 of Italy, with affected regions (but not part of South European countries) in Croatia, France etc
Balkans are not Mediterranean or south Europe, maybe excluding geography
Vojvodina was ruled by Austrians for less than south Greece was ruled by Bavarians, Danes, venetians and Franks, almost the 1/3 of South Greece's dominance by all of them were the Austrian years in vojvodina, let alone Greek Islands, and of course it was a yugoslavian communistic land, but from my personal experience in other forums, no, liar, they don't consider themselves balkan. I am not here to talk about Vojvodina and classify it as Balkan or not, but nevertheless, Vojvodina is a region, not a country, like Greece, and if most of Serbia (I repeat, if, I don't respond yes) is Balkan, then as all of its regions, vojvodina follows this way, the way northern Greece belongs to a predominantly non-Balkan country and gets developed as non-balkan in spite of its historical (and therefore cultural, mental etc) similarities with its northern neighbors
No comment about Croatian friends who would feel insulted if a slavottoman like you would consider them "fellow balkanians" ,so stop lying about both, neither of them feels Balkan, as much as Greeks (who along with the centuries of Bavarian, Danish, venetian and Frankish rule didn't have communism) do, Croatians and vojvodinans struggle in other forums to prove that they have nothing in common with you, something that applies for most of Greece, but Greeks don't struggle because most of people who visit it can see this fact
I really enjoy slavoottomans like you begging Greeks in this and other forums and be like "Greeks, please, be Balkan like us" and we are "sorry Balkan buddies, but your indexes, mentality and culture are completely alien to us" lol like a ex girlfriend that begs you to return when you have made clear that you can't be with such uglies
South Europe/Mediterranean, Greece included=west, Balkans= east (either east Europe or near east, depending on country)
And as for the map that you posted, which is from britanicca and the article that I already posted, it says that "yellow countries" are "often considered Balkan" genius, with the same article making clear that Greece is Mediterranean not Balkan , meanwhile fyrom is "usually Balkan" see link in my previous post
I would say that Balkans are these:
But hell, no, I can't think how countries like Romania, most of Serbia and even more Croatia, Slovenia etc can fit into the same group with 3Rd world countries like fyrom, Albania etc
The "dumb" is not my post, the "dumb" are some 3Rd world countries which spent half of their history in ottoman empire, and the other half in communism or medieval Balkans but try to associate themselves with countries, which are in South and western Europe for most of their history
I personally think Greece has multiple cultural affinities... on the mainland, especially in the mountainous north there are definitely ties to the wooded and mountainous landscapes and cultures of the Balkans, while the islands like Corfù and Crete have more of a Mediterranean flair, like Southern Italy or coastal Turkey, and are even deeply connected to the Levant & Egypt.
In some ways, countries like Croatia and Slovenia are more western than Greece despite the reign of communism, due to having adopted Catholicism vs Orthodoxy... and perhaps have stronger ties to Venetia/NE Italy & Austria, while Greece itself has stronger ties to Sicily and Calabria... While Greece may be richer than the Slavic countries and Albania to its north, that does not exclude it from its position in the region. Why can't Greece be both Balkanic and Mediterranean (including being linked to the Levant, Turkey, and Egypt)? Couldn't it promote the integration of the countries north of it into Europe?
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In fact, it's the core of the Balkans. I don't get it why everyone is trying to escape from the Balkans. Geographical location unfortunately can not be changed. Culturally, it is just as Balkan as Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia bellow Danube, Bosnia etc. Eastern Orthodox Country located on the Balkan peninsula that used to be part of the Ottoman Empire = Balkans 
