.svg)
Bosniak nationalism (Bosnian:bošnjački nacionalizam) orBosniakdom (Bosnian:bošnjaštvo) is thenationalism that asserts the nationality ofBosniaks and promotes the cultural unity of the Bosniaks.[1] It should not be confused withBosnian nationalism (Serbo-Croatian:bosanski nacionalizam), often referred to as Bosniandom (Serbo-Croatian:bosanstvo), as Bosniaks are treated as aconstituent people by the preamble ofConstitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas people who identify asBosnians for nationality are not. Bosniaks were formerly calledMuslims in census data but this model was last used in the1991 census.
In both the past and present, Bosniak nationalism has been largely based upon a focus to preserve the territorial integrity ofBosnia and Herzegovina and to ensure the national and cultural unity and rights of Bosniaks.[2]
The earliest vestige of aBosnian identity initially emerged inmedieval Bosnia and lacked any religious connotation. The situation remained largely unchanged throughout theOttoman 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 theAustro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, theAustrian administration officially endorsedBošnjaštvo ('Bosniakhood') as the basis of a continuedmulti-confessional Bosnian nation. The policy aspired to isolate Bosnia and Herzegovina from itsirredentist neighbors (OrthodoxSerbia,CatholicCroatia, and theMuslims of theOttoman Empire) and to negate the concept ofCroatian andSerbian nationhood which had already begun to make headway among Bosnia and Herzegovina'sCatholic andOrthodox communities, respectively.[4][5] Nevertheless, in part due to the dominant standing held in the previous centuries by the nativeMuslim 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 journalBošnjak ("The Bosniak"), Bosniak author andmayor of SarajevoMehmed Kapetanović declared that Bosnian Muslims were neitherCroats norSerbs but a distinct, though related, people:[10]
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 haveSerbianized the whole world. We shall never deny that we belong to theSouth Slav family; but we shall remain Bosniaks, like our forefathers, and nothing else.[11]
— Mehmed Kapetanović, 1891
Uponthe founding ofYugoslavia in 1918,Yugoslav unitarists claimed that there was only one singleYugoslav nation and that theCroats,Serbs, andSlovenes were recognized as the "tribes" of the Yugoslavs, this excluded recognition of Bosniaks as adistinct people of Yugoslavia and provoked frustration amongst Bosniaks.[7] In response to a lack of recognition, theYugoslav Muslim Organization (JMO) was founded in 1919 with support of most Bosniaks and otherSlavic Muslims in entire region, including the Muslimintelligentsia and social elite, that sought to defend Bosniak and Muslim identity - including religious, social, and economic rights withinBosnia andHerzegovina.[7] The JMO took part ingovernment briefly in 1928 and then longer from 1935 to 1938 in which it participated in government with the goal of preserving the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina in opposition to plans tocreate an autonomous Croatia that held territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[7] The JMO's efforts to prevent thepartition of Bosnia and Herzegovina failed and theBanovina of Croatia was created in 1939.[2]
Bosniak nationalism received a severe setback duringWorld War II whenYugoslavia was invaded by theAxis powers and Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed by theIndependent State of Croatia (NDH) that regarded the Bosniaks as "Muslim Croats".[2] By late 1941, much of the Bosniak elite openly criticized theNDH regime forits policy toward its minorities, and demanded autonomy for Bosnia and Herzegovina.[2]
With the creation ofSocialist 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, theYugoslav government in 1971 recognizedBosnian Muslims as a nationality.[2]
Bosniak nationalism rose in strength since the 1980s, especially followingAlija Izetbegović's publishing of theIslamic Declaration that called for anIslamic renewal amongst Bosniaks, Izetbegović was arrested by Yugoslav state authorities in 1983 on allegations that he was promoting a purely Muslim Bosnia, and served five years in prison.[2] In 1990, Izetbegović and others founded theParty of Democratic Action, that became the main Bosniak party in theBosnian parliament.[2] The eruption of theBosnian War from 1992 to 1995 strengthened Bosnian Muslim identity.[2] In 1993, "Bosniak" was officially revived as the ethnic or national designation to replace the "Muslim" designation, employed by the Yugoslav authorities.[2]
