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Sandžak

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This page is about a geographical region in Serbia and Montenegro; for districts of the Ottoman Empire, see Sanjak.
Map of Sandžak

Sandžak (Serbian: Sandžak or Санџак, Bosnian: Sandžak, Albanian: Sanxhak or Sanxhaku, Turkish: Sancak) is a geographical region in central Balkans. Its territory is politically divided between Serbia and Montenegro. It derives its name from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman administrative district that existed until the Balkan Wars of 1912.

Name

The region is referred to as either "Novopazarski Sandžak" (Новопазарски Санџак) or simply "Sandžak" (Санџак) by all of the four main ethnic groups which live in the region (Bosniaks, Serbs, Montenegrins, and Muslims). Sometimes Serbs refer to it as the "Raška Oblast" (Рашка Област).

Geography

It stretches from the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina to Kosovo on an area of 8,686 square kilometers. Six municipalities of Sandžak belong to Serbia (Novi Pazar, Sjenica, Tutin, Prijepolje, Nova Varoš, and Priboj), and six to Montenegro (Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, Berane, Andrijevica, Rožaje, and Plav).

The largest city in the region is Novi Pazar (55,000), while other large cities are: Pljevlja (23,800), and Priboj (19,600). In Serbia, the municipalities of Novi Pazar and Tutin are included into Raška District, while the municipalities of Sjenica, Prijepolje, Nova Varoš, and Priboj, are included into Zlatibor District.

Demographics

File:RaskaEtnickaSCG.jpg
Ethnic map of Sandžak according to the 1981 census. Note: map show the ethnic majority populations within the settlements
Ethnic map of Sandžak according to the 2002 census in Serbia and 2003 census in Montenegro. Note: map show the ethnic majority populations within the municipalities

According to the official censuses in Serbia and Montenegro from 2002 and 2003, the total population of Sandžak is 426,044 people. The population of the Serbian part of Sandžak is 235,567 people, while the population of the Montenegrin part of Sandžak is 190,477 people.

Ethnic groups in Sandžak:

Ethnic groups in Serbian part of Sandžak:

Ethnic groups in Montenegrin part of Sandžak:

The municipalities with Bosniak ethnic majority are: Novi Pazar (76.28%), Tutin (94.23%), Sjenica (73.34%), Plav (50.73%), and Rožaje (81.68%).

The municipalities with Serb ethnic majority are: Priboj (74.15%), Prijepolje (56.82%), Nova Varoš (90.09%), Pljevlja (59.52%), and Andrijevica (65.08%).

The ethnically mixed municipalities with relative Serb ethnic majority are: Bijelo Polje (36.31%) and Berane (41.43%).

Bosniak participation in respective municipalities is as follows:

Muslims by nationality participation in respective municipalities is as follows:

Serb participation in respective municipalities is as follows:

Montenegrin participation in respective municipalities is as follows:

Note: Most of the ethnic Bosniaks declared themselves as Muslims by nationality in 1991 census. In 2002/2003 censuses, most of them declared themselves as Bosniaks, but there are also those who still declare themselves as Muslims by nationality. According to the 2002/2003 censuses, Bosniaks and Muslims by nationality counted together numbered 220,073 people, and participated with 51.66% in the population of Sandžak. Also, most of the ethnic Serbs from the Montenegrin part of Sandžak declared themselves as Montenegrins in 1991 census, while in 2003 census they declared themselves as Serbs.

Demographic history

1948

According to the 1948 Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia population census, over 93% of population of the Serbian part of the region were Serbs and over 91% of population of the Montenegrin part were Montenegrins. The Muslims had the largest share of the population in districts of Priboj and Novi Pazar, and the least in Berane. However, it should be noted that many Slavic Muslims declared themselves as Serbs or Montenegrins in this census. Other nationalities could be found mainly in the Berane district (mostly Albanians) and the smaller numbers of other nationalities existed in the districts of Sjenica, Nova Varoš, and Novi Pazar; while Priboj had no other nationalities.

1953

TOTAL - 345,496

By district:

Note that many Slavic Muslims declared themselves as Serbs, Montenegrins, Turks or Yugoslavs in this census.

History

See also: Sanjak of Novi Pazar

The first known inhabitants of the region now known as Sandžak were Illyrians. In the 1st century, the region was conquered by the Romans, while in the 6th and 7th centuries, it was settled by the Slavic and Serb tribes.

In the Middle Ages the region was part of the Serb state of Raška. The capital of Raška was the city of Ras, located near present day Novi Pazar. The region was later part of the subsequent Serb states, until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

Sanjak of Novi Pazar in 1878

During the centuries of Ottoman rule the Sanjak of Novi Pazar was a part of the Province of Bosnia before coming under the Kosovo Province in 1878. The 1878 Congress of Berlin allowed Austro-Hungarian military garrisons to be positioned in Sandžak where they remained until 1909. In October 1912, Sandžak was captured by Serbian and Montenegrin troops in the First Balkan War, and its territory was divided between the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro. Many Bosniak and Albanian inhabitants of Sandžak emigrated to Turkey as muhajirs, as a direct result of oppression by the new Serbo-Montenegrin authorities. The emigration wave lasted from 1912 to 1970. Over a million of modern Turks have Sandžak origins or ancestry. There are numerous colonies of Sandžak Bosniaks in Turkey, in and around Edirne, Istanbul, Adapazarı, Bursa, and Samsun among others.

During World War I, Sandžak was under occupation of Austria-Hungary from 1914 to 1918. In 1918, Serbia and Montenegro united before creating the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. Between 1929 and 1941, Sandžak was part of a newly created province, the Zeta Banovina, with headquarters in Cetinje.

Most of Sandžak was under Italian occupation in World War II, mostly under the Governorate of Montenegro (The city of Novi Pazar was included into Serbia, while Plav and Rožaje were included into Italian ruled Albania), and under German occupation from 1943. At the end of the war, Sandžak was divided between Serbia and Montenegro, according to the initial division agreement between the two states from 1913.

The Yugoslav wars of the 1990s left Sandžak largely unscathed, although the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo led to ethnic tensions and (in the latter case) bombing by NATO forces. According to Sandžak Bosniak political parties, some 60,000-80,000 Bosniaks emigrated from the region during this period, as a result of oppression and police raids throughout Sandžak. A number of group killings of Bosniaks occurred 1992-95, with the most notable ones being the cases of Sjeverin (Priboj), Bukovica[1] (Pljevlja), and Štrpci[2] (Prijepolje).

With the democratic changes in Serbia in 2000, the ethnic Bosniaks were allowed to start participating in the political life in Serbia and Montenegro, including Rasim Ljajić, ethnic Bosniak, who was a minister in the Government of Serbia-Montenegro, or Rifat Rastoder, who is the Deputy President of the Parliament of Montenegro.

Also, the census data shows a general emigration of all nationalities from this underdevelopped region.

Ethnic groups in Sandžak

Bosniaks

Main article: Bosniaks of Serbia and Montenegro

Two thirds of Sandžak Bosniaks trace their ancestry to the regions of Montenegro proper, which they started departing first in 1687, after Turkey lost Boka Kotorska. The trend continued in Old Montenegro after 1711 with the extermination of converts to Islam (“istraga poturica”). Another contributing factor that spurred migration to Sandžak from the Old Montenegro was the fact that the old Orthodox population of Sandžak moved towards Serbia and Habsburg Monarchy (Vojvodina) in two waves, first after 1687, and then, after 1740, basically leaving Sandžak depopulated. The advance of increasingly stronger ethnic Montenegrins caused additional resettlements out of Montenegro proper in 1858 and 1878, when, upon Treaty of Berlin, Montenegro was recognized as an independent state. While only 20 Bosniak families remained in Nikšić after 1878, the towns like Kolašin, Spuž, Grahovo, and others, completely lost their Bosniak population. Additionally, the clan-organized Montenegrin army forcibly converted to Christianity about 12,000 Bosniaks and Albanians from Southern Sandžak, and Metohija, in 1912, upon capturing those lands from the Turks in the Balkan Wars. Practically all of the converts, less a couple of families, converted back to Islam in 1913, when, under international pressure, the public announcement was made giving them freedom to profess the faith of their choosing. The last major interethnic incident occurred in 1924 in Šahovići and Pavino Polje (present day municipality of Bijelo Polje in Sandžak), when Montenegrin peasants massacred hundreds of Bosniaks, under the pretext that Bosniak outlaws murdered a local Montenegrin hero; an allegation which was completely false.

Some twenty percent of Bosniaks stem from the Catholic Albanian clans of Northern Albania and neighbouring Montenegro. Most of them were resettled by the ruling Ottomans at the beginning of the 18th century from Malësia e Shkodrës (Serbian/Bosnian: Skadarska Malesija), partly aiming to populate the lands deserted by the fleeing Orthodox population after the Austro-Turkish wars. By the end of the 19th century, all these Albanians converted to Islam, and got assimilated by a dominant wave of Bosniak refugees from Montenegro proper. Nevertheless, they retained many of their Albanian traditions, especially in the eastern parts of Sandžak, and some older Bosniaks of Albanian ancestry even speak fluent Albanian to this day.

The last segment of Sandžak Bosniaks arrived from a couple of other places. Naturally, there was a continuous intermingling with the members of the local Turkish administration and military. Some of Bosniaks came from Slavonia after 1687, when Turkey lost all the lands north of Sava in the Austro-Turkish war. Many more came from Herzegovina in the post-1876 period, after the Herzegovina Rebellion staged by the Serbs against Austro-Hungary and their Muslim subjects. Another wave followed immediately thereafter from both Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the Treaty of Berlin placed Bosnia under the effective control of Austria-Hungary in 1878. The last wave from Bosnia followed in 1908, when Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia, thereby cutting off all direct ties of Bosnian Muslims to the Sublime Porte, their effective protector.

Serbs

Serbs are ethnic majority in three western municipalities of the Serbian Sandžak (Prijepolje, Priboj and Nova Varoš), and they are also largest ethnic group in the Montenegrin Sandžak. The town of Pljevlja in the Montenegrin part of Sandžak is the largest settlement with Serb majority in Montenegro. There are numerous traces of Serbian history and culture scatered through the region, including several Serbian Orthodox monasteries such as the two Đurđevi Stupovi (one near Novi Pazar, and the other near Berane), Sopoćani, Crna Reka, Kumanica, Davidovica, Pustinja, Mileševa, Dubnica, Bistrica, Orahovica, Banja, Dubrava, and Uvac.

Politics

During the existence of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro, some ethnic Bosniak politicians from the Sandžak region advocated territorial autonomy for Sandžak. The most radical of the autonomy proposals advocated that Sandžak region should became one of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, created from both, Serbian and Montenegrin parts of Sandžak. Since Serbia and Montenegro are now separate independent states and Sandžak is divided between them, it is likely that future proposals for autonomy will respect new international borders.

Since ethnic Bosniaks form a majority in only three eastern municipalities of Serbian Sandžak, and two eastern municipalities of Montenegrin Sandžak, and since the Serb and Montenegrin populations from this ethnically mixed region would oppose autonomy idea, it is unlikely that an eventual autonomous Sandžak would include municipalities with a majority Serb and Montenegrin ethnic populations.

The Bosniak National Council of Serbia-Montenegro represented the region at the UNPO since 1993. This political pressure group organized a referendum in October 1991 where 98% of the voters opted in favour of autonomy. The Council claims a 69% turnout, although this has not been verified by an independent body.

See also

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