Öz Historians wıll have to judge ıvhether the year 2000 really was a tumıng point in the history of the Balkans - or whether ıt was just a brief tespite for a regıon which has become synonymous with turmoıl, ınstability and chauvinist aggression in recent years? Four wars ın the Westem Balkans in only one decade, the 1990s, appear to have confirmed ali the stıgmas and stereotypes of South Eastern Europe whıch first emerged during the break-up of the Austro Hungarian Empİre of the late 19th and the Balkan Wars of the early 2O'h century: the “powder keg” of Europe, where deeply rooted ethno-nationalist conflicts önce and again produce genocide, ethnic cleansing and enormous refugee flows. It will take time to overcome these stereotypes, as does the healing of wounds inflicted years and decades ago.