The Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe (hereafter CDRSEE) began groundbreaking work in the field of historical research and history teaching in Southeast Europe in 1998. These initiatives come under the umbrella of the Southeast European Joint History Project (hereafter JHP), an on-going and open-ended educational, social and political programme with the goal of bringing about informed, significant and realistic change in historical research and education in the countries of Southeast Europe. The importance of the JHP is that it is carried forward by scholars from the region itself who recognise an urgent need to critically examine their own national histories and how these are taught in schools.

The JHP includes several different areas of work all of which bring together practitioners of the history of Southeast Europe from the region and beyond. The project creates and sustains networks of scholars across state borders. The JHP methodically takes stock of the educational systems and attitudes towards history in the various countries. Finally, the JHP aims in the long-term to revise ethnocentric school histories by avoiding the production of stereotypes, by identifying conflict-producing situations and by suggesting alternative teaching methods for controversial historical events or periods. Such a stereotype-free history, committed to a search for the truth, could serve as a solid basis for democracy, reconciliation and tolerance in Southeast Europe.

The Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1998 in Holland and has a 19-member, international Board of Directors chaired by U.S. Ambassador Richard Schifter, the initiator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI). The JHP is overseen by Mr. Costa Carras, Rapporteur to the Board, who recognised that while several scholars in the region had the will, knowledge, and experience to undertake such a project, the newly-founded Center for Democracy could be the most appropriate vehicle to assist them. The eleven countries involved in the JHP are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, FYR of Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, and Yugoslavia.

The JHP is divided into two sections, one overseen by the Academic Committee, chaired by Professor Maria Todorova, and the other overseen by the History Education Committee, chaired by Associate Professor Christina Koulouri, with Professor Halil Berktay and Lecturer Dubravka Stojanovic as Vice-Chairs.

The Members of the Board of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe: Richard Schifter - Chair, Smaranda Enache - Co-Vice-Chair, Nikos Efthymiadis - Co-Vice-Chair, Spiros Voyadzis - Treasurer, Rigas Tzelepoglou - Deputy Treasurer, Seljuk Erez - Secretary, John Brademas - Rapporteur, Costa Carras - Rapporteur, Pekin Baran, Erhard Busek, George David, Osman Kavala, Albert Koenders, Ivan Krastev, Matthew Nimetz, Saso Ordanoski, Dusan Reljic, Fatos Lubonja, Veton Surroi - members.

The Academic Committee, chaired by Dr. Maria Todorova, looks for ways to increase and co-ordinate academic contact between scholars, mainly those in universities within the region. More specifically, it fosters dialogue and research that can overcome the confining but still dominant nationalist paradigms. It sees as one of its primary objectives the nurturing of the younger generation of scholars in the region by creating appropriate venues for their professional development. To this end, two lines of activities have been followed: the organisation of thematic academic conferences, and the convening of junior scholars' workshops

The first success of the Academic Committee has been the organisation of a major international conference on the island of Halki in June 1999 on the creation and expression of national memory in the region. The publication of many of the papers presented at Halki is forthcoming by Hurst & Co. (London) together with New York University Press, with the title, "National Identities and National Memories in the Balkans." The Academic Committee organises international seminars around one thematic focus. The first one was “Migration in the Balkans” held in May 2000 in Thessaloniki, and the second was “The Idea of Liberty” in September 2001. Applications are distributed via JHP’s network of academics thus attracting young scholars in the region to the seminars.

The Academic Committee’s work has expanded to the Board of Eminent Scholars, a group of scholars who are specialised in the Southeast European region and who are recognised in the academic community and beyond for their original and influential research and publications. The Board of Eminent Scholars organises one or two workshops per year in the Southeast European region for young scholars ready to present and defend their doctoral research. Two Junior Scholars' Workshops have taken place: one in Chalkidiki, Greece in September 2000, and the second in Dubrovnik, Croatia in June 2001.

The JHP’s history education activities are developing in three phases:

The members of this committee are (as of December 2000):

The content of the textbook workshops consisted partially of responses to a questionnaire that was circulated prior to the workshop. The participants submitted their answers to the questionnaire, and these answers were distributed to the participants, presented, and discussed at the workshop. The questionnaire posed questions about:

The schedule of Regional Workshops was as follows:

Workshop I, Budapest, 17-18 December 1999 - Title: “Hungarian Legacy in Southeast Europe”

Workshop II, Pyla, Cyprus, 28-29 February 2000 - Title: “Teaching Cyprus: in search of tolerance and understanding”

Workshop III, Skopje, 16-18 April 2000 - Title: “The Macedonian Identity: complementarities, conflicts, denials”

Workshop IV, Athens, 15-16 June 2000 - Title: “Albanians and their Neighbours”

Workshop V, Istanbul, 20-23 September 2000 - Titles: Part A, “Greeks and Turks: the Janus of a Common History,” and Part B, “The Balkan Empires: common heritage, different heirs”

Workshop VI, Ljubljana, 2-5 November 2000 - Title: “Yugoslavia: a look in the broken mirror - Who is the ‘Other’”

Workshop VII, Thessaloniki, March 2001, Theme: “Religious Education and the view of the Others in Southeast Europe.”

The Teacher Training Workshops, with the title: Southeast European History Teachers’ Education Project (SEHTEP), have been chosen by the Stability Pact to implement the goals of the History Education Task Force, formerly the Advanced Graz Process. The goal of the workshops is to make history teachers realise that their manner of teaching certain historical events is just one approach among many others. By exposing to or immersing history teachers in the perspective of “the other,” those teachers will recognise the potentially destructive influence of the stereotypes often transmitted in school history lessons. The workshops are premised on the observation that prejudices can by transmitted by both textbooks and teachers. Furthermore, teaching methods influence students’ ability to critically analyse any given subject matter. Understanding multiple perspectives is a crucial precondition for reconciliation and mutual toleration between the peoples of Southeast Europe.

The schedule of Teacher Training Workshops is the following:

Workshop I -Theme: “The Balkan Wars” 14-17 December 2000, Thessaloniki, Greece

Participants coming from Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey

Workshop II -Theme: “First World War and the Creation of Yugoslavia” 26-29 January 2001, Thessaloniki, Greece. Participants coming from Croatia, Yugoslavia

Workshop III -Theme: “Second World War” 8-10 March 2001, Thessaloniki, Greece

Participants coming from Croatia, Slovenia, and Yugoslavia

Workshop IV -Theme: “The Balkan Wars and the Creation of the Albanian State” 11-13 May 2001, Tirana. Participants coming from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Turkey

Workshop V -Theme: “The Ottoman Empire and the Creation of Nation-States” 1-3 June 2001, Bucharest. Participants coming from Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey

Workshop VI -Theme: “Cyprus” February 2002, London

Participants coming from Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey

Workshop VII - Theme: “The Balkan Wars” 14-15 December 2001, Skopje

Participants coming from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and FYR of Macedonia

The History Education Committee has reached specific and general conclusions from the textbook and teacher training workshops which are available in two publications, both edited by Dr. Christina Koulouri:

The Center has proposed to execute, as part of JHP, the creation of a single set of history textbooks for Bosnia and Herzegovina. For this project, a team of authors will write history textbooks for Primary and Secondary schools which can be used in both entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina: the Federation (both in Bosniac and Croatian schools) and in the Serbian Republic.

The JHP is at the stage where much information has been gathered and conclusions and some recommendations for change in history education have been formulated. The next important step towards fulfilling JHP’s goals is to implement an outreach programme to publicise the work and results of the project and to implement the recommended changes in the educational systems of each country of Southeast Europe.

The JHP International Conference in April 2002 will bring together the teachers and university professors who have participated in the workshops to date, with Ministries of Education, politicians, as well as with representatives from the Advanced Graz Process, other International Organisations working in Southeast Europe, and international press agencies. Phase 3 includes the creation of supplementary teaching material for history teachers, the production of a documentary film and audio-visual teacher training materials.

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