Komshi

Komshi ( _tr. komşu, "neighbor") or Komšiluk denotes the neighborhood in the Balkans. It was in the culture for Balkan families to serve their neighbor. Balkan neighbors or komshis had special relations between them, whether they were Muslim, Christians, or Jews. Their houses had two gates or doors, one facing the street, the other leading to the komshi. Somebody could easily arrive at the komshi gate from the opposite street without walking through a public road, people offered their komshi food from their own table. It was Balkan culture that had its origin in Turkish culture.

"Komshi" is made of mutual respect, reciprocal help and assistance, work and neighbourhood relationships, and invitations to important events of a family. People engaged in a "komšiluk" are called "komšije".

A symbol of "Komshi" is the sugared coffee shared in fragile, handleless cup ("fildzan": a famous editorial of "Oslobođenje" introduced the term "fildzan-Bosna" to suggest the idea of a fragile, multicultural Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The "Komshi", by opposition to ethnic and cultural integration, was used as an argument for the rise of nationalist parties in the beginning of the 1990s. Biljana Plavšić, of the Serbian Democratic Party, in November 1990:: In the past, relations between "komšije" were so, one respected what was other. This is how, in a reasonable way, this issue has to be solved. By respecting these principles, national parties can solve it in a democratic and parliamentary framework (interview in "Javnost", newspaper of the SDS, 1990).

After the beginning of the war, the "Komshi" was both described as an illusion and as the idealisation of ethnic cleansing. Alija Izetbegović, in 1994, said:: Life in common is a beautiful thing, but I think and I can say freely that this is a lie, this is not what our soldiers are dying for. (...) our soldier in the hills, who suffers in the mud, does not so to live together, but to defend the "toprak", this land which some want to rip from him. He risks his life to defend his family, his land, his people".

while Radovan Karadžić said:: Blood has been spilled, a historical process of separation has taken place, and it is better now to be good "komšije" than to be once again mixed and experience new antagonism ("Borba", 19 October 1993)