ČLANSTVO JUGOSLAVIJE U BALKANSKOM SAVEZU I NATO PAKT
NATO AND YUGOSLAVIAN MEMBERSHIP IN THE BALKAN ALLIANCE

Summary/Abstract: Yugoslavia’s conflict with the Soviet Union and the east European countries in 1948 compelled the Yugoslav leaders to seek a new strategy in foreign politics, which would primarily incorporate a tactical approach of the West. The diplomatic activity of Yugoslavia, regarding the establishment of allied relations with two Balkan states, Greece and Turkey, both members of the NATO, can also be viewed in this context. However, the question which has remained unsolved to this day is to what extent Yugoslavia's membership in the Balkan alliance also meant a commitment to the NATO, that is, did Yugoslavia, nevertheless, maintain its non-aligned position. It is impossible to give a categorical answer regarding this question, as we are faced with an exceptionally dynamic occurrence, filled with a number of contradictions and illogicalities. The study of this subject must be centered on the evolution and content of Yugoslavia’s activity in foreign politics in the function of positive movements within the international community. The analysis of accessible documents leads to the conclusion that already with the first steps taken towards the institutionalization of cooperation between Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia, the question of relations between the future alliance and the NATO appeared as a stumbling block. Turkey and Greece insisted from the very beginning on elaborate forms of Yugoslavia’s gradual connection with the military and political group of west European countries, while Yugoslavia stubbornly insisted on cooperation of a more flexible type in this context, indicating the negative side of its association with either of the opposing blocs. Although Yugoslavia counted on Western help in the event of an attack from east European countries, it did not accept any concrete obligations in the course of forming an alliance with Greece and Turkey, which would directly bind it to the NATO. In this respect, the opinion often voiced today that with its entry in the Balkan Alliance, Yugoslavia also entered NATO, can be rejected categorically. It is, however, also difficult to accept the stand maintained in Yugoslav legal and political literature, that Yugoslavia’s membership in the Balkan Alliance had no effect whatsoever on its position regarding the NATO. A more studious research of this matter leads to a conclusion which is more or less a compromise between these two, basically opposing, views. This conclusion reflects the compromise in foreign politics which the Yugoslav leaders accepted at the time. They felt threatened’ "by pressure from the Soviet Union and, therefore, inclined toward closer ties with the West. However, intensified cooperation with the West constantly harbored the possibility of endangering, at some point, the existing sociopolitical system and the inviolable power of the Communist Party, As a result, the Yugoslav leaders found themselves in a difficult position which required constant weighing, depending on current international or internal events, of the extent to which they should approach the West and accept its demands or keep it at a distance. This was also the policy manifested during cooperation with Greece and Turkey. It was met by the negative attitude of both the members of the NATO and represented an inhibiting factor to the trilateral cooperation, which in the end rendered the Balkan Alliance ineffectual.

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