FROM KULIN BAN AND THE GOOD OLD DAYS

The traditional folk saying – “From Kulin Ban and good old days” – shows that people have preserved the memory of the rule of Kulin Ban, which was characterized by political stability and a significant economic progress. It is the Charter of Ban Kulin, a trade agreement which he made with the Municipality of Dubrovnik on 29.8.1189 that reveals the existence of the state structure and authorities. At present, this written document is considered the most significant trace of the existence of the medieval state of Bosnia.

Bosnian aristocrats and their mutual fight for power led to the weakening of the state and opened the way for Hungary to place it under its authority. Two last kings – Stjepan Tomaš and Stjepan Tomašević – relied on the support by Hungary and Roman Pope, and began to persecute members of the Church of Bosnia in return. The support to Bosnia and to the last king Stjepan Tomašević was missing during the fall of Bosnia under the Ottoman State in 1463. It was then that one of the most significant documents pertaining to Bosnia – Ahdnama of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih was issued – on 28 May 1463, which protected Franciscans' rights and allowed them to freely perform religious service. It took over 100 years for the entire territory of Bosnia – particularly Krajina – to be conquered by the Ottoman State. This period witnessed the development of towns and other settlements. Isa-beg Ishaković, an Ottoman military leader, laid the foundations of Sarajevo, by building residential facilities, a mosque, a tekke,musafirhana (free accommodation for travelers) and a bridge.

Another well-known vakif (benefactor), governor of Bosnia – Gazi Husrev-beg – left a significant trace by building the core of the city, which is proven by Gazi Husrev-beg's vukufnama (a document which defines the subject of waqf, its purpose and the way of management) of November 1537. In 1580, Bosnian beylerbeylik or eyalet, a military-administrative and political organization of the Ottoman authority in Bosnia, was formed. In this way, all sanjaks in the Bosnian historical space (Bosnian, Herzegovinian, Zvornik and Klis) were united in the Eyalet of Bosnia. The legal system of the Ottoman Empire was based on the state and Sharia law, which was in line with the Hanafi school of law. Bosniaks' autonomous movement led by Husein-kapetan Gradaščević in 1832 was an attempt to strengthen and protect Bosnian territory from attacks, in line with the new political situation in the region – autonomy of the Serbian state. Reforms in the Ottoman Empire affected Bosnia. The Gulghane Hatt-I Serif (edict) of 3 November 1839, which was issued by Sultan Abdulmdjid, marked the beginning of a new period, i.e. the era of Tanzimat (reorganization), which was aimed at modernization and adjustment to European standards. This period lasted until 1876, when the first constitution of the Ottoman State was adopted. An additional organization of Bosnia as a single territory was implemented through the Decree on the organization of the Vilayet of Bosnia of 7 November 1864.

Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia was based on Article 25 of the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia was factual while the sultan was considered a legitimate sovereign of Bosnia, which was essentially only the apparent sovereignty. This was fully resolved by the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austro-Hungary in 1908, when the Announcement to the Population of Bosnia and Herzegovina was made. Pursuant to the Emperor's decree of 17 October 1882, Austro-Hungary appointed Mustafa Hilmi-ef. Hadžiomerović the first raisu-l-ulama in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was done after Mustafa Hilmi ef. had been appointed Sarajevo mufti by sheikhu-l-islam in Istanbul. Struggle for autonomous organization and management of the religious life in Austro-Hungary led to the adoption of the Statute for the autonomous administration of Islamic religious, waqf and mearif (educational) affairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1909. The Austro-Hungarian period itself marked the transition from one legal system to another, although Sharia law and Bosnian common law were still applied, particularly in civil law.

Sarajevo became the focus of world events on 28 June 1914, when Gavrilo Princip committed an act of terrorism by assassinating the Austro-Hungarian heir apparent Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. It triggered the First World War, when a significant number of Bosniaks participated in the ranks of Austro-Hungarian army in battles across Europe. In this period, the region of Novi Pazar sanjak was first territorially separated from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which led to the Sjenica Conference in 1917, when Sanjak Bosniaks requested from Austro-Hungary to annex this region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Upon the end of the First World War and the defeat of the Central Powers, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed in 1918. It was a new development for Bosniaks, as well as a new challenge they faced. Their position in the new state was also regulated by an international agreement. In September 1919, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Peace Treaty of Saint Germain, and took the obligation to ensure certain minority rights and protection to Muslim population. The rights pertained to the election of raisu-l-ulama and the protection of mosques and cemeteries, among other things. On 28 June 1921, the so-called Vidovdan Constitution was enacted, which included an article pursuant to which, in case of a division of the state, territorial integrity is granted to Bosnia and Herzegovina within its historical borders.

The territorial framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina was first divided in 1939, by the Cvetković-Maček agreement. At the beginning of the Second World War, the fascist Independent State of Croatia was formed, and the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was included in it, while in Serbia a quisling government, controlled by Nazi Germany, was formed. Without a proper political leadership, Bosniaks remained divided on different sides in the new circumstances. Population across Eastern Bosnia, Sanjak and Krajina, were unprotected, and it was in these regions that most Bosniak civilians were killed, mostly by chetniks. The criminal policy of ustasha regime and chetniks led to Bosniaks' mass support to the partisan movement, particularly in cities. On 25 November 1943, the First Session of ZAVNOBiH (Country's antifascist council of people's liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) was held in Varcar-Vakuf (Mrkonjić-Grad), when the Bosnian statehood was renewed. On 29 November 1943, at the Second Session of AVNOJ, a Decision was made on building Yugoslavia on the federal principle, while ZAVNOBiH was given the responsibility for state functions in the federal unit of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Liberation from fascist occupation in 1945 led to the formation of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and, later on, within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). In the new country, Muslims were not recognized as an ethnic group until 1974, when they were recognized as a constitutive nation by the new Constitution of SFRY. The fall of communism and the “iron curtain” in 1989 led to democratic changes in Yugoslavia as well.

At the first democratic elections in 1990, national parties of Bosniaks (SDA), Serbs (SDS) and Croats (HDZ) came to power. After the Referendum for the independence of Slovenia and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina voted in favor of independence on 1 March 1992. It was exploited as the reason for Yugoslavia's armed aggression on the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which lasted for three and a half years. In the period 1992-1995, pretentions of Serbia and Croatia to become large states left a deep trace on the modern history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This policy, based on horrendous crimes and genocide, resulted in the thorough destruction of Bosniak communities and their cultural heritage.

The war ended by signing the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995, which territorially divided Bosnia and Herzegovina into two Entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been recovering from the consequences of the genocide for thirty years.