It does not receive public funding Editor in chief: CLARA MOSCHINI
Tensions in the Balkans over the name of the airport
Croats and Serbs are at each other's throats over dedicate an airport to Ruder Boskovic
There is tension between Croats and Serbs over the new name of Dubrovnik airport, recently dedicated to "Ruder Boskovic", an 18th century intellectual, astronomer, mathematician and polymath, one of the most illustrious sons of the ancient port city. However, the renaming of the airport has sparked a new ethnic dispute. He was a precursor of the atomic theory and demonstrated the absence of an atmosphere on the Moon. The problem lies in his lineage: his mother was Italian, and there is no objection here. It is the identity and origin of his father that are now a topic of tension: Nikola Boskovic was a trader originally from Orahov Do, a village that today is located in Republika Srpska, the part of Bosnia and Herzegovina managed by the Serbs. Now the separatist leaders want to build their own airport in Trebinje, and also name it after Ruder Boskovic. This demonstrates how thorny the issue of identity is in the Balkans, as it fuels strong emotional repercussions. In general, religious choices and affiliations made centuries ago have since become rooted in ethnic identity: Catholics in Croatia, Orthodox Christians in Serbia, and Muslims in Bosnia.
