Öz
The Balkans is a geography that remained under the domination of the Ottoman Empire from the 14th century to the 20th century and experienced the most peaceful period of its history in this period. The nationalist movement that emerged in Europe has laid the groundwork for rebellions and wars by striking the peace and tranquility of these multinational lands in the last period of Ottoman rule in the Balkans. In particular, the Turkish population in the Balkans was tried to be destroyed by the oppressions and persecutions applied to the Muslim Balkan Turks. Most of the Balkan Turks lost their lives in their homes that they did not want to leave or on the way to migration and in wars; some of them continued their lives by keeping the pain of the disasters alive inside of them. The ethnic cleansing that Turks have been exposed to in the Balkans since the beginning of the 20th century, appears as a theme in Turkish literature that reflects different aspects without losing its up-to-dateness. The fact that events and people can be fictionalized in detail, especially in novels, allows the theme to be revealed more in the novel genre. One of these examples is Halide Alptekin's Balkan. In the novel, it is described the destruction of a family forced to migrate from Thessaloniki to Anatolia, based on the disasters that took place from the 93 War to the Independence Struggle. In this study, the novel Balkan will be discussed with its aspects that touch the place and the life of the individual within the framework of the migration theme.