Balkanski savez 1953–1954. i jugoslovenska medijska slika političkog i geografskog okruženja

English title: The Balkan Alliance 1953–1954 and the Yugoslav Media Image of the Political and Geographical Environment

This article analyzes the official Yugoslav media image of the Balkans during the period of the Balkan Alliance in 1953–1954. It examines how the Yugoslav public was presented with a particular image of the political and geographical environment surrounding Yugoslavia, especially through the representation of Turkey, Greece, Albania and Bulgaria in the Belgrade press.

The article shows that the Balkan Alliance was not only a diplomatic and military-political project. It also had a strong media dimension. Through the press, Yugoslav public opinion received a new image of the Balkans: Turkey and Greece were represented as allies, friendly countries and part of a common security space, while Albania and Bulgaria were more often presented through the prism of danger, tension and their connection with the Soviet bloc.

Special attention is given to the way the media transformed earlier representations of Turkey and Greece. Historical reservations, stereotypes and inherited distrust were pushed aside by the need to create a public image of cooperation, closeness and shared interests. Turkey was represented through military strength, modernization, the Kemalist legacy and strategic importance. Greece was represented as a country of historical connections, cultural proximity and new alliance.

The article shows that media representations were shaped by current foreign-policy needs. As Yugoslavia’s position in relation to East and West changed, so did the media image of the Balkan space. The Balkans were not presented only as geography, but as a political space in which friends, opponents, dangers, opportunities and directions of Yugoslav policy were defined.

The article is therefore a contribution to the study of Yugoslav political culture, media history, foreign-policy propaganda and symbolic representation of space during the Cold War. It shows how the state and the media together shaped the public image of the international environment, and how geography became a politically and ideologically constructed space.