Besides the conflicts, who were the individuals that promoted friendship and cooperation between Balkan nations?

[u/theDivic]

We often discuss the wars and conflicts in Balkan history, but I’m curious about the other side. Who are some notable individuals, leaders, intellectuals, or even everyday people who worked to build understanding, cooperation, or friendship between Balkan nations?

I don’t mean the mainstream political figures we always hear about, like Tito or the broader Yugoslav “Brotherhood and Unity” project. I’m more interested in lesser-known writers, thinkers, or activists - people like Esad Mekuli, the Kosovo Albanian poet who helped shape modern Albanian literature and also translated works from Serbo-Croatian, bridging cultural spheres.

On the Serbian side, an example might be Dobrica Ćosić in his early years, before his later nationalist reputation - back then he wrote sympathetically about Albanian issues and advocated for their recognition within Yugoslavia (though his views later shifted dramatically).

Who are other such figures - from any Balkan country - who genuinely tried to bridge divides rather than deepen them?

[u/JariLobel]

Ljudevit Gaj was a key figure in the 19th-century Illyrian movement, which aimed to unite South Slavic peoples culturally and linguistically. He promoted a common literary language and fostered national awareness among Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes. While Yugoslavia emerged decades later under different political circumstances, Gaj’s ideas laid early foundations for South Slavic unity and inspired later efforts toward a shared identity.

His work wasn’t directly political, but it helped shape the cultural imagination that made Yugoslavia thinkable.