Symposium in Croatia, 25 October 2024

‘Sultans Trail: Close Encounters of East and West”

The Academic Council aims to collect and distribute knowledge on a wide range of topics for the benefit of travellers using the trail and for other interested parties.
Symposiums are one of the means suitable for this purpose.

The very first symposium was held at the end of August 2022 in Haarlem, the seat of the foundation. Former minister Jan Pronk functioned as chairperson of the day.
The performance was rated as successful. Enthusiastic participants from south-eastern Europe, especially from Balkan countries, pleaded the case for a follow-up in their region. The Sultans Trail board thought this a promising idea.

An entire museum as a partner
Croatia was chosen as the next location, with the municipal museum of the town of Ilok as a partner. The route of the Trail passes by that museum. It was already known to travellers as a point to visit. And the museum, housed in a former castle overlooking the Danube, has a unique collection of Ottoman heritage artefacts.
There are special links with a hotel-restaurant complex and a famous ‘winery’
The town hall of Ilok is a neighbour. Altogether a beautiful complex on a hill.
The museum functioned as a pleasant and important partner, both with its venue and staff.

The municipal council auditorium, which we were allowed to use, was not noticeably big.
But the smaller number of participants turned out to be an advantage. It gave the meeting a ‘workshop character’ with enthusiastic discussions.

The chairperson of the day
Daan Everts, retired senior diplomat of the Netherlands, functioned as chairperson of the day. Everts served as ambassador to several countries, and for a lengthy period as NL-representative in international organisations. That included areas like former Yugoslavia, to which Croatia belonged.

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Programme
The programme was implemented as mentioned in the earlier Newsletter and website.
Like in Haarlem, the main format consisted of two parts. In the morning ‘general’ topics, in the fields of culture, history and geopolitics of the region of the Sultans Trail.

Historian Trvtko Jakovina provided participants with the key features of the region’s history, from World War I to the present day.
Damir Jurić focused on Croatia, in its relation to Europe. And he pointed to the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the West, pleading for “bridges to be built again”, like the famous former Ottoman bridge spanning the Danube.
But, according to Aleksandra Terzic,  Ottoman heritage is ignored or even destroyed in many places in the Balkan region and Eastern Europe. Her plea is to do justice to its centuries-long history, like one does with other heritages. And to combine the attention for different heritages.

The afternoon, dealing with the other main part, focused on ‘slow tourism’ such as the Sultans Trail. About its advantages and limitations, and about policies for the future.
‘Tourism with a mission’ is, after all, also a motto of the Sultans Trail.
Lectures by Miloš Ničić on the relations between tourism and other themes such as ‘Peace’ and ‘Culture’ and by Irena Mikulić on socially motivated trips by and for young people entered that path.
Sultans Trail route-coordinator Max Smits outlined for the participants the development and current state of affairs of the Sultans Trail itself.
A discussion on the merits of Cultural Routes led to the view that the Sultans Trail could very well meet the criteria for recognition by the Council of Europe. Worthy of note !

The afternoon ended with the views of Mirella Sidro, German journalist from Sarajevo, on recent developments of travel in the region and with a virtual journey along the Danube with Sabine Geller, editor-in-chief of Donau-Connect.

Finally, the participants joined an extensive tour of the museum, provided by Maja Barić.
It is quite special that a small town could collect so many archaeological and historical artefacts from its own environment.

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Reconciliation
The former Yugoslav war of the 1990s, which one would like to forget, but which still generates – sometimes fierce – resentments- received attention through two contributions.
One speaker looked back at the period of that war and the role of cooperation for peace work with external organisations, such as the Council of Europe, Dutch and Belgian municipalities and the Dutch peace movement (IKV of Mient-Jan Faber and Pax Christi).
The Prodi club of Irena Mikulić organized exchange trips of young people from different conflict areas immediately after the war.

Some conclusions from the evaluation by the board of the Trail
It was a successful symposium, both in terms of content and the PR function for the Sultans Trail.
The experience of two symposia clearly shows that they are good means of serving the Trail’s objectives and to promote awareness among travellers and others. To continue with this for all countries of the Trail is a recommendation.
The Academic Council will organize the next one in Nish, Serbia, at 5-7 September 2025.