Bosniaks of Serbia
Ethnic group in southern Europe From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ethnic group in southern Europe From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bosniaks of Serbia (Serbian: Бошњаци у Србији, romanized: Bošnjaci u Srbiji) are a recognized national minority in Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the population of ethnic Bosniaks in Serbia is 153,801, constituting 2.3% of the total population, which makes them the third largest ethnic group in the country. The vast majority of them live in the southwestern part of the country that borders Montenegro and Kosovo, called Sandžak. Their cultural center is located in Novi Pazar.
Бошњаци у Србији Bošnjaci u Srbiji | |
|---|---|
  | |
Flag of the National Council of the Bosniak minority in Serbia | |
| Total population | |
| 153,801 Serbian citizens, 2.31% of Serbia's population (2022)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Novi Pazar | 85,204 (79.84%)[2] |
 Tutin | 30,413 (92.01%)[2] |
 Sjenica | 17,665 (73.35%)[2] |
| Languages | |
| Bosnian, Serbian | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Serbs, South Slavs | |
The first major political organisation of Bosniaks from Sandžak happened at the Sjenica conference, held in August 1917, during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of the former Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Bosniak representatives at the conference decided to ask the Austro-Hungarian authorities to separate the Sanjak of Novi Pazar from Serbia and Montenegro and merge it with Bosnia and Herzegovina, or at least to give it autonomy in the region.[3]
After the end of World War I and the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, the Sandžak region also become a part of the newly created country. At the Constitutional Assembly election held in 1920, the Bosniaks in Sandžak voted for the People's Radical Party. The main reason for supporting the radicals was a promise made to several influential Bosniaks that they would be compensated for losing their lands during the agrarian reform.[4]
The Muslims in Sandžak organised themselves together with the Albanians into the Džemijet party, that covered the area of present-day Kosovo, North Macedonia and Sandžak. The main goal of the Džemijet was the protection of the interests of Bosniaks and Albanians. Džemijet was founded in 1919 in Skopje and was led by Nexhip Draga and later by his brother Ferhat Bey Draga. After it was founded in Skopje, branches of the party were soon founded in Kosovo, Sandžak and the rest of North Macedonia. District and municipal branches in Sandžak were founded at a meeting of the Džemijet held in Novi Pazar in 1922. The meeting was highly attended, and it insisted upon Bosniak unity instead of division by various political parties.
One of the most important political figures of the Bosniaks in the part of Sandžak situated in Serbia was Mufti Muamer Zukorlić, who led the revival of Bosniak territorial and institutional organization in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to the 2011 Census, almost all Bosniaks in Serbia are Muslim (99.5%). The remainder is not religious or did not declare their religion.[5] Bosniaks make up the basis (75%) of the Muslim community in Serbia, while most other Muslims are ethnic Albanians or Romani.
Bosniaks, an ethnic minority, are primarily the ones living in southwestern Serbia, in the region historically known as Sandžak, which is today divided between the states of Serbia and Montenegro. Colloquially referred to as Sandžaklije by themselves and others, Bosniaks form the majority in three out of six municipalities in the Serbian part of Sandžak: Novi Pazar (77.1%), Tutin (90%) and Sjenica (73.8%) and comprise an overall majority of 59.6%. The town of Novi Pazar is a cultural center of the Bosniaks in Serbia. Many Bosniaks from the Sandžak area moved to Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Over the years a large number of Bosniaks from the Sandžak region left to other countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, United States, Canada, Australia, etc. A second group is formed by Bosniaks that came from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the largest cities in Serbia during the 20th century as economic and inter-Yugoslav migrants.
Today, the majority of Bosniaks are Sunni Muslim and adhere to the Hanafi school of thought, the largest and oldest school of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. Some in this region who identify as Bosniak do so on the account of religious identity as Muslims, but are ethnically Albanian and live in villages (Boroštica, Doliće, Ugao) located in the Pešter region. They have adopted a Bosniak identity in censuses, due to intermarriage, during the period of the SFR Yugoslavia, or due to sociopolitical discrimination against Albanians following the break-up of the SFRJ.[6]
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