Bosniak nationalism
Bosniak nationalism (
In both the past and present, Bosniak nationalism has been largely based upon a focus to preserve the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to ensure the national and cultural unity and rights of Bosniaks.[2]
History
The earliest vestige of a Bosnian identity initially emerged in medieval Bosnia and lacked any religious connotation. The situation remained largely unchanged throughout the Ottoman period with terms such as "Boşnaklar", "Boşnak taifesi", "Bosnalı takımı", "Bosnalı kavmi"[3] (all meaning, roughly, "the Bosniak people") being used to describe Bosniaks in a regional sense.
After the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the Austrian administration officially endorsed Bošnjaštvo ('Bosniakhood') as the basis of a continued multi-confessional Bosnian nation. The policy aspired to isolate Bosnia and Herzegovina from its irredentist neighbors (Orthodox Serbia, Catholic Croatia, and the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire) and to negate the concept of Croatian and Serbian nationhood which had already begun to make headway among Bosnia and Herzegovina's Catholic and Orthodox communities, respectively.[4][5] Nevertheless, in part due to the dominant standing held in the previous centuries by the native Muslim population in Ottoman Bosnia, a sense of Bosniak nationhood was cherished mainly by Muslim Bosnians, while fiercely opposed by nationalists from Serbia and Croatia who were instead opting to claim the Bosnian Muslim population as their own, a move that was rejected by most Bosnian Muslims.[6][7][8] Austro-Hungarian period witnessed the emergence of Bosniak nationalism. It was in this period that the Bosnian Muslims made political demands in a modern sense. After 1906, the Muslims established several political parties and many institutions and associations which reflected their ethnic and cultural distinctiveness.[9]
In an article of the journal Bošnjak ("The Bosniak"), Bosniak author and
Whereas the Croats argue that the Orthodox are our greatest enemies and that Serbdom is the same as Orthodoxy, the Serbs wear themselves out calling our attention to some bogus history, by which they have
Serbianized the whole world. We shall never deny that we belong to the South Slav family; but we shall remain Bosniaks, like our forefathers, and nothing else.[11]— Mehmed Kapetanović, 1891
Upon
Bosniak nationalism received a severe setback during World War II when Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers and Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed by the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) that regarded the Bosniaks as "Muslim Croats".[2] By late 1941, much of the Bosniak elite openly criticized the NDH regime for its policy toward its minorities, and demanded autonomy for Bosnia and Herzegovina.[2]
With the creation of Socialist Yugoslavia in 1945, Bosnia and Herzegovina was restored as a territorial entity and as one of the six constituent republics of the federal state of Yugoslavia.[2] To resolve the Serb-Croat dispute over Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Yugoslav government in 1971 recognized Bosnian Muslims as a nationality.[2]
Bosniak nationalism rose in strength since the 1980s, especially following
See also
- Anti-Croat sentiment
- Anti-Serb sentiment
- Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire § Bosniaks
- Bosnian Movement of National Pride
- Greater Bosnia
- Yugoslavism
References
- ^ Jack David Eller. From culture to ethnicity to conflict: an anthropological perspective on international ethnic conflict. University of Michigan Press, 1999. Pp. 262.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Motyl 2001, pp. 57.
- ISBN 3-631-47740-6.
- ISBN 1-58544-226-7.
- ISBN 9781850652113. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
- ISBN 9781857431865.
- ^ a b c d Motyl 2001, pp. 56.
- ^ Jack David Eller. From culture to ethnicity to conflict: an anthropological perspective on international ethnic conflict. University of Michigan Press, 1999. Pp. 262.
- ^ Babuna, Aydın (1999). "Nationalism and the Bosnian Muslims". East European Quarterly. XXXIII (2): 196.
- ^ Jack David Eller. From culture to ethnicity to conflict: an anthropological perspective on international ethnic conflict. University of Michigan Press, 1999. Pp. 263.
- ^ Jack David Eller. From culture to ethnicity to conflict: an anthropological perspective on international ethnic conflict. University of Michigan Press, 1999. p. 263.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-12-227230-7.