Bosniak National Council (Serbia)
The Bosniak National Council is a representative body of the Bosniak ethnic minority in Serbia, established for the protection of the rights and the minority self-government of Bosniaks in Serbia.
The Bosniak National Council has 35 seats, and its representatives are elected concurrently with the elections for the national councils of recognized national minorities in Serbia. The last election was held in 2022. On this occasion, electoral slates affiliated with the Justice and Reconciliation Party and the Social Democratic Party of Serbia each won twelve seats, while a slate affiliated with the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak won ten.
History
1990s
It was founded as the Muslim National Council of Sandžak on 11 May 1991. Its first president and founder is Sulejman Ugljanin. Until 2003, the Bosniak National Council was called the Bosniak National Council of Sandžak, after which it took its current name.Throughout the 1990s, it actively sought autonomy for the Sandžak region and its eventual unification with the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following Montenegro's independence in 2006, it remained active only in Serbia.
The Muslim National Council of Sandžak was founded in Novi Pazar on 11 May 1991. Sulejman Ugljanin was elected its first president. The MNVS consisted of the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak and other Bosniak political parties, as well as other associations, the Muslim religious community and non-party individuals. On the same occasion, the MNVS declared that the governments of Serbia and Montenegro were pushing "Greater Serbian ideology" and seeking the "physical extermination" of the Sandžak Muslims so that "the border between Serbs in Serbia and Montenegro could be completely unimpeded". It claimed to be the only legitimate representative of the Sandžak Muslims. The MNVS sought autonomy for the Sandžak should Yugoslavia dissolve and called for Muslims to arm themselves in the case of a civil war. It announced the formation of an assembly, an executive council, public security services and the implementation of the compulsory military service, promising the suspension of every other Yugoslav state body in the case of a dissolution of Yugoslavia or a civil war.
Between 25 and 27 October 1991, the MNVS organised a referendum for the autonomy of Sandžak asking Muslims whether they were in favour of "full political and territorial autonomy" of the region and its "right to join one of the sovereign republics", presumably Socialist [Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia and Herzegovina]. Serbian government declared the referendum unconstitutional. The referendum was organised with the support from the Bosnian Party of Democratic Action, although the MNVS denied this. The MNVS claimed that 264,000 people in Sandžak, the rest of Yugoslavia and abroad asked to be included on the voter list. The turnout was 71 percent, and 98 percent voted in favour of the political and territorial autonomy of the Sandžak with the right of joining another one of Yugoslavia's republics. Ugljanin claimed that 97 percent of Sandžak Muslims and 33 percent of Albanians participated in the referendum, but hardly any Serbs. He also said that the MNVS would decide on which Yugoslav republic Sandžak would join, depending on further developments.
In November 1991, the MNVS selected a new administration for the region which acted as a shadow government. The secretary of the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak, Rasim Ljajić, was named the prime minister, while Ugljanin remained the president of the MNVS. The SDAS maintained a majority of seats in the new government, which also included the Liberal Bosniak Organisation and the Party of National Equity. In January 1992, the MNVS adopted a resolution calling the Sandžak Muslims to oppose the recruitment for the Yugoslav People's Army.
After the European Community recognized the secession of several former Yugoslav republics in December 1991, Ugljanin sent the results of the referendum to Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek asking for "the recognition and full international and legal subjectivity of Sandžak". In January 1992, the MNVS declared the creation of a "special status" for the Sandžak that would grant the region a far-reaching autonomy. The initiative wasn't recognised by the Serbian governments. In a follow-up letter to the European Ministerial Council of 5 April 1992, Ugljanin, under the impact of the imminent establishment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and referring to the Bosnian War, asked again for the recognition of Sandžak, as well as the deployment of UN troops and the establishment of an international presence in the region.
On 18 April 1992, a Conference of Muslim Intellectuals of Sandžak, Montenegro, and Serbia protested against the establishment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, saying it occurred against the will of the country's Muslim and calling for its non-recognition. The MNVS adopted a resolution on 28 April 1992 non-recognizing the existence of FR Yugoslavia and insisting that the Muslims of Sandžak be allowed to join the republic of their choice, which in this case was the Muslim-dominated Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 16 August 1992, the MNVS went a step further. Referring to their imminent participation in the 1992 London Peace Conference, the MNVS announced a total boycott of Serbia and Montenegro, including their parliaments, until the Sandžak was granted official status and "state terrorism" ended. The MNVS called for a boycott of the early parliamentary elections of May 1992, December 1992 and December 1993. Most Muslims did not participate in the elections, nor did the Albanians in Kosovo.
On 6 June 1993, the MNVS adopted the Memorandum on the Establishment of Special Status for Sandžak inside the FR Yugoslavia, which sought far-reaching autonomy. The Memorandum, which was envisaged as being signed by Yugoslavia, the MNVS, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, remained a dead letter.
In 1996, Sandžak Muslim parties and associations adopted the name "Bosniaks" instead of "Muslims" after the same decision of the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals held in Sarajevo in 1993. Therefore, the name of the MNVS was changed to the Bosniak Muslim National Council of Sandžak. After end of the Bosnian War, the Bosniak National Council of Sandžak adopted on 19 July 1999 the Memorandum on Autonomy of Sandžak and Special Relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the 2000 presidential election, the BNVS supported the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, calling Bosniaks to vote for a joint candidate of the opposition. The election culminated in the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević.
2000s
In these new circumstances, the status of ethnic minorities in Serbia and Montenegro was legally regulated. On 6 September 2003, the BNVS held an electoral assembly in Novi Pazar; Sulejman Ugljanin was re-elected president. During the Assembly, the Bosniak National Council of Sandžak was suspended, and, under the new law, the Bosniak National Council started functioning. The Statute of the Bosniak National Council, adopted on 13 September 2003, described the Bosniak National Council as the highest representative body of the Bosniak ethnic minority in Serbia. It had jurisdiction in the use of language and script, education, culture, and media on Bosnian language. Among the most important decisions of the Bosniak National Council were those determining the flag and the coat of arms of the Bosniak ethnic minority, its holidays, awards and acknowledgments and ethnic manifestations. Following Montenegro's independence in 2006, the Bosniak National Council remained active only in Serbia.In 2009, the Bosniak National Council participated in the creation of the draft of the Law on National Councils of Ethnic Minorities, which improved the protection mechanism of the ethnic minorities in Serbia. The Bosniak National Council issued the Declaration on Status of the Bosniaks of Sandžak in the Republic of Serbia on 27 June 2009. In the Declaration, the Bosniak National Council warned the Serbian state authorities about alleged halt in the process of the consummation of collective rights of the Bosniak ethnic minority. Later, the Bosniak National Council adopted the Decision on Determining Traditional Names of the Units of the Local Self-Administration, Populated Places, and Other Geographical Names in the Bosnian Language on the territory of Novi Pazar, Tutin, Sjenica, and Prijepolje. The Bosniak National Council created the Model for Education of the Bosniaks of Sandžak, the Strategy of Informing on Bosnian Language, and founded the Institute for Culture.
2010s
An unsuccessful election for the new composition of the Bosniak National Council was held on 6 June 2010, after which the old leadership continued to lead the Council. This led to the new halt in the relations between the Council and Serbian government, after which the Council adopted the Resolution on Status and Consummation of Rights of the Bosniak people in Serbia on 1 March 2012, and later the Declaration to the Bosniak People and Citizens of Sandžak as an instruction to the Bosniak political parties and associations to carry out a pressure on the Serbian government. On 6 April 2012, the Bosniak National Council adopted the anthem of the Bosniak ethnic minority called "Ja sin sam tvoj".The first elections for the national councils of various ethnic minorities in Serbia were held in October 2014. The turnout for the Bosniak National Council was 35.7 percent. Most of the seats were won by the coalition led by the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak, which gained 19 representatives, while the opposing coalition under Mufti Muamer Zukorlić won 16 seats.