Official Name: Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA)

Capital city   : Sarajevo

Important Cities: Tuzla, Foça, Banja Luka, Mostar, Gorajde, Travnik, Zenica.

Area: 51.197 km2

Population        : 3,472,000 (2022). 36.5 per cent of the population lives in cities.[1].

Ethnicity: The people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.  Bosniaks are all Muslims. Bosnians are of Slavic origin and rank first in terms of population among the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, not all Bosnians live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many Bosnians are scattered around the world. Of the Bosnians remaining in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, 86 per cent live in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest in the former Yugoslav republic, mostly in the Sandzak region of Serbia.

Language: Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian, the three main ethnic languages of the people, are all official languages.

Religion: Muslim: 43.7%, Orthodox Christian Serbs: 31.3%, Catholic Christian Croats: 17.3%, Catholic and Protestant Christian Slovenes: %5,5.

Geographical Situation: Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in Southeastern Europe, is surrounded by Croatia from the north and west, Serbia from the east and Montenegro from the south. It has a 20 km coast to the Adriatic Sea from the south. The most important rivers are the Drina, Bosnia, Sava, Vrbas and Neretva rivers. Bosnia is the name of the northern part of the country and Herzegovina is the name of the southern part. Its terrain is generally mountainous. 22% of the land is agricultural land, 27% is grassland, 30% is forest and bushland. The country has a moderate climate.

Mode of government: On 31 May 1994, a federal system called the Bosniak-Croat federation was introduced. According to the agreement signed between Bosnia-Herzegovina Croats and Bosniak Muslims, a provisional administration was established. In this administration, the president was elected from Croats and the prime minister from Bosniaks. A government consisting of 11 ministers, 6 Bosniaks and 5 Croats, was formed.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the UN.

Political Parties: The political parties organised before the civil war were the following: Party for Democratic Action (SDA): Led by Aliya Izzetbegovic, this party was supported by Muslims. Serbian Democratic Party: This Serbian nationalist party was supported by the Serbian element in the country. Croatian Democratic Union: Supported by Croats and is Croatian nationalist. Socialist Democratic Party: Advocates the ideology that dominated the former Yugoslavia.

History: Before the Ottoman conquest, Bosnia was under Byzantine and local dynasties. The first Turkish raids to the region began in 1386. Bosnia was a separate kingdom at this time. In the following years, raids against Bosnia continued and an agreement was made between the Ottoman administration and the Bosnian king Tvrtko II. However, he stopped paying the tribute after Fatih Sultan Mehmed II took the throne. Consequently, Fatih declared war against the Bosnian king. In this war, the king was captured and killed. In 1463, the whole of Bosnia was annexed to Ottoman territory. The emergence of an Islamic ethnic formation in Bosnia started with this event. With the annexation of the Duchy of Herzegovina to the Ottomans in 1483, Islam became even stronger in this region and the number of Muslims began to increase. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, there were mass conversions to Islam, which was unprecedented anywhere else in Europe under Ottoman rule. The Ottomans, who ruled Bosnia-Herzegovina for more than 400 years, brought great services to this region and built large mosques, madrasas, centres of knowledge, etc. Sarajevo, today's capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, was one of the most important centres of learning in Europe during the Ottoman period. Today, the city is still full of mosques and madrasas from the Ottoman period. However, after the Ottomans, Sarajevo was transformed from a centre of learning into a centre of tourism. In 1878, the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina was occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later, with the Treaty of Berlin, these territories were ceded to the aforementioned empire. After this occupation, many Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims emigrated to Anatolia or to European lands still in Ottoman hands. In 1900, Muslims from Bosnia-Herzegovina started a struggle against the occupation administration under the leadership of Ali Fehmi Cabic, the mufti of Mostar. As a result of this struggle, the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina gained an autonomous administration. However, after the Ottomans were forced to withdraw from the Balkans in 1912 and the outbreak of World War I, an administrative vacuum emerged in the Balkans. As a result, many small states were established in the region. In 1918, Serbia, Montenegro and the Slavic parts of the collapsed Austro-Hungarian Empire were united to form a state that brought together the Slavic communities in the region. The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was also included within the borders of this state. The king of Serbia was appointed king of this new state. This state was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

Yugoslavia was occupied by the Germans. During the years of the war and under German occupation, Serbian gangs committed a genocide against Muslims and martyred 100 thousand Muslims.

Recent History: After the war, the country regained its independence on 13 January 1946. However, since the Communist Party supporters played an important role in this independence movement, they took control of the country even after independence. They determined the official status of the country as a union of federal republics. Accordingly, Yugoslavia would consist of six republics and two autonomous regions, and one of these republics would be the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When the communists took over the government, the oppression against Muslims intensified. All properties of Islamic foundations were confiscated. Mosques, madrasas and tekkes were closed down. Demolished and destroyed mosques were not allowed to be repaired. Holidays on Islamic days and holidays were banned. In addition, an intensive propaganda of irreligion and Slavism was started against Muslims. Many Muslims were imprisoned under various pretexts. Many of them were subjected to severe torture. These repressive practices of the communist regime forced many Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims to seek refuge in Turkey or various European countries. After 1975, the government partially eased the pressure on Muslims and allowed some traditional Islamic institutions to function again. Upon this softening, some mosques and madrasas were reopened. The revitalisation of some religious institutions, albeit on a small scale, paved the way for a rapid Islamic awakening among Muslims. In the following years, the developments in the Eastern Bloc countries forced the Yugoslavian government to switch to a multi-party democratic system.

Muslims founded the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) under the leadership of Aliya Izzetbegovic, who had been imprisoned for years for his faith. This party won the general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina in December 1990 and its leader Aliya Izzetbegovic became president. With the beginning of the democratisation movement in Yugoslavia, independence movements also emerged. The peoples of the republics forming the union of Yugoslavia started to struggle for their independence. Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence after the referendum held on 1 March 1992. However, the Serbs immediately waged war against the Muslims who had a say in the administration of Bosnia-Herzegovina and started a new massacre movement. European countries and the USA, which had supported Croatia and Slovenia in their struggle for independence, left Bosnia-Herzegovina alone in the face of Serbian atrocities. What caused the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina the most trouble was that the Federal Army of Yugoslavia, the third largest army in Europe, acted together with the Serbian gangs and supported them. The Muslims, on the other hand, lacked any military support and were very weak in terms of weapons. As a result, the Serbs occupied the important cities of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This occupation forced nearly one million Muslims to migrate. Serbs were carrying out both massacres and destruction in the places they occupied. They were especially careful to destroy mosques and historical artefacts bearing Islamic traces. The negotiations and mediation efforts carried out on different dates for the solution of the Bosnia-Herzegovina issue did not yield any results.

On 9-11 July 1995, 8,372 Muslims were martyred by the Serbs in Srebrenica. Women were systematically raped. Bosniak civilians who were massacred in mass execution sites, on the roads and in the mountains were buried in mass graves.

While all this was going on, the Dutch soldiers of the UN, who were there on behalf of the UN and were responsible for protecting the innocents there, facilitated the work of the Serbs and turned a blind eye to the massacre. They became partners in the massacre by handing over the oppressed Bosniaks who took refuge to them for protection to the Serbs.

By 1994, the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina had claimed more than 250,000 lives and displaced more than 1 million people. In April 1994, a Bosniak-Croat Federation was established in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

External and internal problems: The country's external and internal problems are centred on the civil war that erupted as a result of the Serbs' refusal to recognise the independent administration of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Islamism in the country: During the socialist dictatorship in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Islam was practised in secret. Since the administration did not allow Islamic education, madrasah education was secretly continued in some places. There were a few mosques and courses under state supervision. The Mashihat (Religious Affairs) department was completely under the control of the state. After the transition to the multi-party era, the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) was founded under the leadership of Aliya Izzetbegovic in order to defend the rights of Muslims and to transform individual efforts into an organised form. In the first published programme of the party, it was emphasised that Muslims living in Bosnia-Herzegovina should be granted equal rights with other peoples, and it was stated that they would work in this direction, and that the aim was to ensure freedom of belief for members of all religions and to prepare an environment where everyone could easily fulfil the requirements of their religion. After the transition to a multi-party democratic system, the 'Office of the Mashihat' expanded its field of work and started various publishing activities. Gazi Hüsrev Beg madrasah in Sarajevo-Bosnia, which provides education at both high school and faculty level, was put into operation. In the same city, he started to repair some of the destroyed mosques and opened them for worship. In addition to this, an intensive work of preaching and education was started in mosques. A madrasah was opened next to all central mosques. Sufi communities resumed their activities. However, the civil war halted all these developments. After the start of the civil war. In addition to the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a militia called 'Muslim Forces' was formed to defend the homeland against Serb attacks. Those who fought in the ranks of the Muslim Forces were also given Islamic education at the front. Also in Bosnia-Herzegovina, various aid organisations organised by Muslims, especially the 'Society of Mercy', were established. In addition, despite the fact that all the countries of the world left Bosnia-Herzegovina alone against the Serbs, the volunteer Muslim youth from different countries rushed to the Bosnian front with a hamas given by their beliefs, which affected the Muslims living there.[2]

Economy: The civil war seriously shook the economy. Before the war, the country's economy was primarily based on industry, mining, agriculture and animal husbandry. The share of income from agriculture in the gross domestic product is 11% and 4% of the working population is employed in this field. In 1992, 1 million 350 thousand tonnes of cereals, 300 thousand tonnes of ground crops, 25 thousand tonnes of legumes, 170 thousand tonnes of fruits and 160 thousand tonnes of vegetables were produced. In the same year, there were 830 thousand heads of cattle, 1 million 300 thousand heads of sheep and 600 thousand heads of pigs. It is rich in forests.

Currency: Yugoslavian dinar.

National Income per Capital: 6,726 USD (2021)[3]

Industry: Before the war, the share of manufacturing industry was 56 per cent and about 51 per cent of the working population was in industry. The industrial establishments and factories, many of which have ceased to exist due to the civil war or are used for other purposes, are mainly related to the following sectors: Automotive, textile, leather, food, furniture, timber, paper, chemicals and construction materials, earth and metal production, mechanical machinery, electrical equipment, office equipment and some household goods.

Energy: In 1990, 14 billion 632 million kw/h of electricity was produced and 15 billion 201 million kw/h was consumed. 79 per cent of the electricity is obtained from thermal power plants and 21 per cent from hydroelectric power plants. Per capita electricity consumption averages 3,497 kw/hour.

Transportation: The only airport used for civilian transport is the airport open to international traffic in the capital Sarajevo. It has 1040 km. of railway and 21.170 km. of highways, 11.430 km of which are asphalted. In this country, there is one motorised transport vehicle for 9 people on average.

Health: Before the civil war, there were 6,930 doctors and 1,370 dentists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with one doctor for every 625 inhabitants.

Education: Before the civil war, there were 2,205 primary schools, 238 secondary schools and 44 higher education institutions. The literacy rate was 86 per cent.

Administrative Division: It is divided into 8 cantons and 100 administrative units.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is an OIC observer member.

[1]   ticaret.gov.tr (accessed April-2022)

[2]   Encyclopaedia of Islam, TDV.

[3]   ticaret.gov.tr (accessed September-2021)