Because the borders of the Balkans cause so much strife and tension, why doesn’t somebody fix them. So, here is my map on what I think the borders should be, and explain my reasons for why.

Note: Might be heavily biased towards Albania.

Credit to Google Earth for the image and Mapchart for the legend.

So, I might have been overly biased to Albania. In Kosovo, the population is mostly Albanian, so Kosovo gets annexed by Albania. In the west of North Macedonia, there is a large Albanian minority, and there used to be more Albanians in the north of the country. In Greece, there used to be more Albanians, but they faced genocide in 1944. Albania would get those regions back. In Italy, Albania would get Apulia and most of Calabria, as there are Albanian Arbëreshë people. Also, in 1939, Benito Mussolini demanded control over the entrance to the Adriatic, and Albania gets Apulia in revenge. In Montenegro, the southern part of the country would go to Albania also, because of the current and former Albanian population. In Serbia, the southern half of the country goes to Albania, because in 1878 and 1912, the Albanians were expelled and genocided, so Albania would get it back in revenge.

I will explain in more detail the territories earned by Albania in my next post.

Up north in Bosnia, most of the territory would go to ether Serbia or Croatia, as those areas are either mostly ethnic Croat of Serb. Republika Srpska would be divided between the areas actually Serb and
Bosniak. Brčko district would go to Croatia, due to Croat majority. This would mean half of Republika Srpska would be cut off, so a joint Bosniak and Serb road would connect the territories. South of Bosnia, there is a region between Serbia and Montenegro that is majority Bosniak, so it would go to Bosnia. Because this would now mean that Bosnia would be split in 3, there would be joint Serb and Bosniak road connecting the country together.

Over in Bulgaria, there is a Turkish minority in the South and Northeast. So, those would go to Turkey. However, in order to not lose their coastline, the northern Turkish area would be an enclave, connected by a joint Bulgarian-Turkish administration.

Croatia would gain territory from the Croat Majority area’s in Bosnia, but would give Bosnia port axis. In the north, Italy would get an enclave from Croatia that has a Italian population.

Greece got it bad from this plan. In the north, the Albanian’s would gain territory because of the past and current Albanian population living there. Further west, North Macedonia would become Macedonia, as they would get Macedonia, because ethnic Macedonian’s live there. And in the Aegean, they would lose islands to Turkey, as Turkey wants a bigger EEZ, and the islands are closer to Turkey than Greece. However, Greece would get the Republic of Cyprus.

After Albania, the countries that got the best from this is Hungary. After the fall of Austria Hungary, and the Hungarian Romanian War, Hungary lost a lot of territory that still had ethnic Hungarians. In World War 2, Hungary got some of this territory back, but it got taken by the Soviet’s after. Now, Hungary gets a third chance with all these territories. There is a Hungarian minority on the border in Slovenia, so they get that. In Slovakia, there is a significant Hungarian minority in the southern part of the country, so Hungary also gets that. In Ukraine, there is a significant Hungarian minority, so Hungary gets Transcarpathia. In Romania, there is a huge Hungarian minority in Transylvania, so Hungary gets Transylvania. And finally, in Serbia, there is a Hungarian minority in the northern part, so the north of Vodijana goes to Hungary.

In Italy, they would lose Caliabra and Apulia to Albania, because of ethnic Albanian Population. However, they would gain Italian areas in Croatia, and would get the Italian region of Switzerland. Also, because Corsica is mostly Italian, they would get it back from France.

Over in Macedonia, although they would lose territory in the north to Albania, it would gain Macedonia from Greece, because there are ethnic Macedonian’s there.(Greece still keeps Mt Athos)

Up in Romania, they would lose Transylvania to the Hungarian’s, they would get Moldavia back, as the population is mostly ethnic Romanian. They would also keep Transnistria.

In Serbia, although a lot of territory would be lost to the Albanians and Hungarians, the Serb’s would still get a lot of what they want. Because of the ethnic and language similarities between Serbia and Montenegro, they would unite again, connected by a area between the Bosnia’s. Republica Srpska would be divided between Serb and Bosnian ethnic lines, and the Serb parts will go to Serbia. Because half of Republica Srpska would be cut off, a joint Bosniak-Serb road would connect the region.

Up north in Slovenia, not much would change, except for losing the minor border region with Hungary, because of the Hungarian minority.

And finally, Turkey. In Bulgaria, the Turkish minority in in the north and the south would join Turkey. However, due to the fact we can’t just take all of Bulgaria’s coastline, the northern area would remain a huge enclave, connected by a road jointly controlled by Bulgaria and Turkey. In the Aegean, Turkey would gets some Greek Islands in the south, because they are uninhabited, and are closer to Turkey than Greece. Turkey would also get Northern Cyprus.