Neo-salafi movements in the Balkans -Bosnia and Herzegovina Kosovo North Macedonia-

This study examines the activities of Neo-Salafi movements in the Balkans after the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The salafi movements have played important theopolitical roles in world history in the last two centuries and have particularly consolidated their place on the agenda since the last quarter of the last century. The activities of Neo-Salafis are seen not only as a religious phenomenon but also as a soft power activity in line with the political goals of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in the region. There are deep differences between the religious understandings of these formations, which began to appear in the Balkans in the 1990s, and the Balkan Islam, which was embodied by the Maturidi-Hanafi and Sufi-oriented Turkish/Islamic understanding that left its mark on the region. For this reason, from the very beginning, Neo-Salafis, as in other regions, have embarked on activities to "transform" Muslims in the Balkans in line with their own understanding. These movements, which encountered intense resistance from the Balkan people, continued their activities by renewing their means and methods every time they were defeated. Other than the Introduction chapter, which addresses the background, dimensions, importance, content, goal, method and sources of the subject, the thesis is consisted from three chapters. In the first chapter, Neo-Salafism is defined and described in general based on its basic ideas, and in the second chapter, information is provided about the post-Ottoman religious structure in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and North Macedonia and the entry of Neo-Salafist movements into the region. In the third chapter, the unique views, discourses and methods of Neo-Salafist groups in the Balkans are described and analyzed in terms of the Ahl al-Sunnah tradition in the Hanafi-Māturīdī line of the Balkans. Keywords: Neo-Salafism, Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia.