Balkan ducks
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The Balkan Entente (sometimes referred to as the Balkan Pact or First Balkan Pact ) was a military alliance between several Balkan countries that was concluded on February 9, 1934 for seven years . Contracting states were Turkey , Greece , Romania and Yugoslavia . The Balkan countries Albania and Bulgaria as well as Hungary in the north stayed away from the alliance.
The Balkan Entente was designed as a defensive alliance. The contracting parties mutually guaranteed the security of their borders. In particular, it was directed against Bulgarian revisionism . However, it only granted protection against attacks by other Balkan states; the allies were not obliged to provide assistance in the event of attacks by other powers such as Italy.
To coordinate the cooperation, the Balkan Entente received a permanent council, which consisted of the foreign ministers of the signatory states . The alliance lost its importance in the years 1938–1940, when primarily the German annexation policy revised the borders of the Versailles state system . On July 31, 1938, Bulgaria signed a non-aggression treaty with the Balkan Entente states in Saloniki, in return for which the arms restrictions laid down in the Neuilly-sur-Seine Treaty of 1919 were lifted and allowed to move into the previously demilitarized zone on the Greek-Bulgarian border to engage. In the military clauses of this treaty, Bulgaria was forbidden from introducing compulsory military service, the size of its army was limited to 20,000 men, and the introduction of war material was forbidden. Bulgaria did not join the Balkan Entente, it continued to demand access to the Aegean Sea . The Balkan Entente met for the last time from February 2 to 4, 1940 in Belgrade .