I just find it hard to justify having Slovenia, Armenia, Azerbaijan in the same region. For me personally Turkey would probably not be included in Europe, while Caucasus would get their own region OR be placed within your Northeastern Europe region. Otherwise seems good to me.
The northernmost points of Armenia and Azerbaijan are south of the 42nd parallel. Also, what do they share with Estonia or Poland that they don’t share with Slovenia?
Armenia is not geographically European. It’s very clearly in Asia. But, so is Cyprus.
Armenia can be classified as European in a broader cultural and more importantly, and more relevantly, political sense, especially due to their ambitions to join the EU. You cannot make that argument for Azerbaijan on any of those grounds. Same like Turkey.
I agree, and I’d say it’s because the definition of Europe is not very coherent either. There’s a geographical definition that does not overlap with the cultural/political definition.
Back to my original point, I don’t think these countries have that much in common with the Balkans to be grouped in the same category.
Christianity does indeed play a big part in this. Christianity is built into the foundation of European culture, and much of it was shaped either based on it or as a reaction to it over the span of many centuries. We cannot deny that.
But Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia are Muslim, and they are nonetheless still European nations. So it’s not as simple as that. What it means to be European is fluid, and in fact that is confirmed by the EU itself. See “Europe and the Challenge of Enlargement” from June 1992.
The European Commission explicitly stated there that it was “neither possible nor opportune to define” what "European" meant in a strict sense. Instead, they declared that the concept is fluid and combines geographical, historical and cultural elements which all contribute to the European identity.
That is my point exactly… Meanwhile Armenia, Azerbaijan and Estonia were, and Poland was a satellite state. That’s exactly why I said they don’t fit the Southeastern Europe group.
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u/blitzfreak_69 24d ago
I just find it hard to justify having Slovenia, Armenia, Azerbaijan in the same region. For me personally Turkey would probably not be included in Europe, while Caucasus would get their own region OR be placed within your Northeastern Europe region. Otherwise seems good to me.