Novi Pazar

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This article is about the Serbian municipality. For the town in Bulgaria, see Novi Pazar, Bulgaria.
Novi Pazar
Нови Пазар
—  City  —

Coat of arms
Location of the municipality of Novi Pazar within Serbia
Coordinates: 43°09′N 20°31′E / 43.150°N 20.517°E / 43.150; 20.517
Country  Serbia
District Raška
Settlements 99
Government
 • Mayor Meho Mahmutović (SDP)
Area[1]
 • Municipality 742 km2 (286 sq mi)
Population (2011 census)[2]
 • Town 66,527
 • Municipality 100,140
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 36300
Area code +381 20
Car plates NP
Website www.novipazar.rs

Novi Pazar (Serbian: Нови Пазар / Novi Pazar, pronounced [nɔ̂v̞iː pǎzaːr]) is a city located in southwest Serbia, in the Raška District. Novi Pazar is the cultural center of Bosniaks in Serbia and the historical region of Sandžak- Raška.[3] A multicultural area of Muslims and Orthodox Christians, many monuments of both communities like the Church of St. Apostles Peter and Paul and the Altun-Alem mosque are found in the region. As of 2011 census, the population of the municipal area of Novi Pazar was 100,140, while the city itself had a population of 66,527.[4]

Contents

Name[edit]

Novi Pazar means "new marketplace", which in turn was derived from Slavic placename Trgovište 'market', found near the modern city. During the Ottoman rule, it was known as Yeni Pazar (meaning "new market" in Turkish), which is derived from bazaar (from Persian بازار (bāzār), meaning "market"; from Middle Persian بهاچار (bahā-chār), meaning "place of prices").[5]

Geography[edit]

The Raška river flows through the city

Novi Pazar is located in the valleys of the Jošanica, Raška, Deževska, and Ljudska rivers at the elevation of 496m, in southeast Sandžak (Raška) region. The city is surrounded by Golija and Rogozna mountains; Pešter plateau lies southeast from the city. The total area of the municipality is 742 km². It contains over 100 settlements, mostly small and spread over hills and mountains surrounding the city. The largest surrounding village is Mur with over 3000 residents.

List of villages in the municipality, with population from the 2002 census:

History[edit]

Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul

One of the oldest monuments of the area is the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul first built in the Roman era.

The capital city of the Principality of Serbia, Ras, which was ruled by the Vlastimirović dynasty from 768 to 980 is found near the city and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the next centuries, the region of modern Novi Pazar served as the principal province of the Serbian realm. It was an administrative division under the direct rule of the monarch and sometimes as an appanage. It was the crownland, seat or appanage of various Serbian states throughout the Middle Ages, among the Serbian Kingdom (1217-1345) and the Serbian Empire (1345-1371). In 1427, the region and the remnant of Ras, as part of the Serbian Despotate was ruled by Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. One of the markets was called "despotov trg" (Despot's square).[6] In 1439, the region was captured by Ottoman Empire, but was reconquered by the Serbian Despotate in 1444. In the summer of 1455, the Ottomans annexed the region again, and named the settlement of Trgovište Eski Bazar (Old Market).

Altun-Alem mosque

Novi Pazar was formally founded as a city in its own right in 1461 by Ottoman general Isa-Beg Isaković, the governor of the district (sanjak) and founder of Sarajevo.[7] Isa-Beg Isaković decided to establish a new town on the area of Trgovište as an urban center between Raška and Jošanica, where at first he built a mosque, a public bath, a marketplace, a hostel, and a compound.

It was the chief town of the Ras province (vilayet until its disestablishment in 1463, when it became part of the Jeleč Vilayet. The first written document which mentions Novi Pazar dates from the 15th century, and describes the decision of the Republic of Ragusa to appoint a consul there. Thus the town was already developed at that time, being at the intersection of important routes leading to Dubrovnik, Niš, Sofia, Constantinople, Salonica, Sarajevo, Belgrade and Budapest. The town also remained the capital of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, which continued until the 20th century as a constitutive unit of Bosnia Eyalet. The sanjak was occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary from 1878. In 1908 it was returned to the Ottoman Empire, but taken over by Serbia in 1912 during the First Balkan War. Nikola Bošković (1642–1721), the father of the famous Ragusan scientist Ruđer Bošković (1711–1787), migrated to Novi Pazar, where he spent the last years of his life.

Today, Novi Pazar is the main economic and cultural centre, as well as the largest town, in the south Raška region.

Demographics[edit]

From the 15th century to the Balkan Wars, Novi Pazar was the capital of the sanjak of Novi Pazar. Typically, like other centres of the wider area, its composition was multiethnic, with Albanians, Serbs and Slavic-speaking Muslims (Bosniaks) as the main communities.[8] The Ottoman travel writer Evliya Celebi noted that it was one of the most populated towns in the Balkans in the 17th century. Jews also lived in the city until WWII[9] when the entire Jewish population of Novi Pazar - 221 individuals, were imprisoned, sent to the concentration camp Staro Sajmište and killed during the rule of Aćif Hadžiahmetović.[10]

Municipality Data[edit]

Ethnic composition by census
Year   Serbs    % Bosniaks  % Yugoslavs  % Montenegrins  % Total
1953 50.38% 21.87% 26.94% (included under "Others") 0.83% 53,331
1961 27,933 47.52% 23,250 39.56% 1,261 2.15% 543 .% 58,777
1971 25,076 38.98% 37,140 57.74% 183 0.28% 359 .% 64,326
1981 21,834 29.51% 49,769 67.26% 931 .% 295 .% 74,000
1991 19,064 22.36% 64,251 75.37% 700 0.82% 232 .% 85,249
2002 17,599 20.46% 65,593 76.27% 1,599 1.86% 136 0.16% 85,996
2011 16,234 16.17% 77,443 77.13% 67 0.07% 44 0.04% 100,410

Urban area data[edit]

Ethnic composition by census
Year   Serbs    % Bosniaks  % Yugoslavs  % Montenegrins  % Total
1971 5,322 17.54% 24,544 80.9% 167 0.55% 298 0.98% 28,950
1981 6,689 16.28% 32,798 79.8% 848 2.06% 246 0.6% 41,099
1991 6,698 12.94% 43,774 84.59% 575 1.11% 190 0.37% 51,749
2002 6,724 12.31% 46,339 84.86% 904 1.66% 105 0.19% 54,604

According to the data of Red Cross and NGOs, the city hosts about 6,000 Serb refugees from Kosovo, Bosnia, and Croatia.[citation needed]

In the 1953 census, most of the Turks and Yugoslavs were Bosniaks. On the following several censuses, the term "Muslim by nationality" was offered by the authorities; option for Bosniak as an ethnicity appeared only in the 2002 census.[citation needed]

Politics[edit]

Novi Pazar is governed by a city assembly composed of 47 councillors, a mayor and vice-mayor. After the last legislative election held in 2012, the local assembly is composed of the following groups:[11]

Economy[edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2010)

Lying on crossroads between numerous old and new states, Novi Pazar has always been a strong trade center. Along with the trade, the city developed manufacturing tradition. During the 20th century, it became a center of textile industry.

Paradoxically, during the turbulent 1990s and, Novi Pazar prospered, even during the UN sanctions, boosted by the strong private initiative in textile industry. Jeans of Novi Pazar, first of forged trademarks, and later on its own labels, became famous throughout the region. However, during the relative economic prosperity in Serbia of 2000s, the Novi Pazar economy collapsed, with demise of large textile combines in mismanaged privatization, and incoming competition from the import.

Culture[edit]

The old Serb Orthodox monastery of Sopoćani, the foundation of St. King Uroš I, built in the second half of the 13th century and located west of Novi Pazar, is a World Heritage Site since 1979 accompanying with Stari Ras (Old Ras), a medieval capital of the Serbian great župan Stefan Nemanja.

The city also houses an old church from the 9th-century Church of St. Peter.[12] On a hilltop overlooking Novi Pazar is the 12th century monastery of Đurđevi stupovi, long left in ruin, but recently restored and with a monastic community using it, with plate glass to keep out the weather and preserve the fine frescos. The main mosque of the city, the Altun-Alem mosque, is the largest in this region of the Balkans and dates from 16th century. There are various other historic Ottoman buildings, such as the 17th-century Amir-agin Han, a 15th-century Hammam, and the 15th-century Turkish fortress (all gone but the walls, the site of which is now a walled park in the city centre).

Education[edit]

Faculty for Islamic studies in Novi Pazar

Novi Pazar is home to two universities, the University of Novi Pazar and the State University of Novi Pazar.

Sport[edit]

Novi Pazar City Stadium

The city's football club FK Novi Pazar was founded in 1928, under the name "FK Sandžak", which later changed to "FK Deževa". The club has played under its current name since 1962, when Deževa and another local football club, FK Ras, unified under this name. The club was a SFRJ amateur champion, and a member of the Yugoslav Second League. FK Novi Pazar qualified for a promotional play-off twice, but lost both times (to FK Sutjeska Nikšić in 1994, and to FK Sloboda Užice in 1995). FK Novi Pazar is the oldest second-league team in Serbia. Football is still extremely popular sport in Novi Pazar and city stadium is always full. The President of FK Novi Pazar is Rasim Ljajic, a minister in the government of the Republic of Serbia.

Volleyball clubs in the city are OK Novi Pazar (second league) and OK Koteks.

Handball club is in second league and used to have name "Ras" but it was changed in RK Novi Pazar in 2004.

Famous athletes from the city include Mirsad Jahović Türkcan, Turkish basketball national team player, Sead Halilagić, former football player of Besiktas, handball-player Mirsad Terzić (who represents Bosnia-Herzegovina) and young football players Adem Ljajić (represents Serbia), Ediz Bahtiyaroğlu, and alpinist Basar Čarovac who climbed all seven continents' highest peaks.

Notable residents[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Municipalities of Serbia, 2006". Statistical Office of Serbia. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
  2. ^ "2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in The Republic of Serbia: Ethnicity - Data by municipalities and cities". Statistical Office of Republic Of Serbia, Belgrade. 2012. ISBN 978-86-6161-023-3. Retrieved 2012-11-30. 
  3. ^ Ahrens, Geert-Hinrich (2007-03-06). Diplomacy on the Edge: Containment of Ethnic Conflict and the Minorities Working Group of the Conferences on Yugoslavia. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. pp. 223–. ISBN 9780801885570. Retrieved 2 January 2013. 
  4. ^ http://media.popis2011.stat.rs/2012/Nacionalna%20pripadnost-Ethnicity.pdf
  5. ^ "bazaar". Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  6. ^ Više autora, Novi Pazar i okolina, Beograd 1969.[page needed]
  7. ^ Norris, H. T. (1993). Islam in the Balkans: Religion and Society Between Europe and the Arab World. Hurst. pp. 49–. ISBN 9781850651673. Retrieved 2 January 2013. "Novi Pazar, on the border of Kosovo, was founded by Isa Beg, a governor of Bosnia" 
  8. ^ Hall, Richard C. (2002-01-04). The Balkan Wars 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War. Taylor & Francis. p. 5. ISBN 9780203138052. Retrieved 2 January 2013. "The Sandjak of Novi Pazar was a finger of the Ottoman province of Kosovo, which separated Montenegro from Serbia. The Sandjak of Novi Pazar had a mixed population of Albanians, Serbs, and Slavic-speaking Muslims." 
  9. ^ Cohen, Philip J.; Riesman, David (1996). Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 191–. ISBN 9780890967607. Retrieved 2 January 2013. "Before World War II, about 10,500 Jews lived in Belgrade, about 350 in Nis, about 250 in Novi Pazar (Sandzak)" 
  10. ^ Mušović, Ejup (1979), Etnički procesi i ethnička struktura stanovništva Novog Pazara, Etnografski Institut, 1979, p.48
  11. ^ Skupština grada
  12. ^ Serbian Orthodox Church [Official web site]

External links[edit]

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1 Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. Kosovo's independence has been recognised by 101 out of 193 United Nations member states.
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