The term Balkans is a geographical designation for the southeastern peninsula of the European continent. To understand who the peoples of the Balkans are, one must first know which countries make up the Balkans. Some scholars also consider Croatia to be part of the Balkans.
Balkan peoples are nations that live in the countries listed above.
Most, but not all, share certain historical characteristics such as several centuries of association with the ruling Turks in the Ottoman Empire . A list of Balkan peoples today would include Greeks, Albanians, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbs, Montenegrins, and Bosnian Muslims. Other population groups who inhabit the Balkans are members of nations which have countries elsewhere. For instance, Romania has a large minority of Hungarians, but there is also the country of Hungary right next to Romania. There is a Turkish minority in both Macedonia and Bulgaria, but the country of Turkey is close by.