Sandžak
Sandžak is a historical and geo-political region in the Balkans, located in the southwestern part of Serbia and the eastern part of Montenegro. The Bosnian/Serbian term Sandžak derives from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman administrative district founded in 1865. Sandžak is inhabited by a majority of ethnic Bosniaks.
Various empires and kingdoms have ruled over the region. In the 12th century, Sandžak was part of the region of Raška under the medieval Serbian Kingdom. During the Ottoman territorial expansion into the western Balkans in a series of wars, the region became an important administrative district, with Novi Pazar as its administrative center. Sandžak was under Austro-Hungarian occupation between 1878 and 1909 as a garrison, until an agreement between Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire resulted in the withdrawal of Austro-Hungarian troops from Sandžak in exchange for full control over Bosnia. In 1912, it was divided between the Kingdom of Montenegro and the Kingdom of Serbia.
Novi Pazar serves as Sandžak's economic and cultural center and is the region's most populous city. Sandžak has a diverse and complex ethnic and religious composition, with significant Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Sunni Muslim populations. Bosniaks comprise ethnic majority in this region.
Etymology
The Serbo-Croatian term Sandžak is the transcription of Ottoman Turkish sancak ; the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, known in Serbo-Croatian as Novopazarski sandžak. Historically, it is known as Raška by the Serbs. The region is known as Sanxhak in Albanian.Geography
Sandžak stretches from the southeastern border of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the borders with Kosovo and Albania at an area of around 8,500 square kilometers. Six municipalities of Sandžak are in Serbia, and seven in Montenegro. Sometimes the Montenegrin municipality of Andrijevica is also regarded as part of Sandžak.The most populated municipality in the region is Novi Pazar, while other large municipalities are: Pljevlja, and Priboj. In Serbia, the municipalities of Novi Pazar and Tutin are part of the Raška District, while the municipalities of Sjenica, Prijepolje, Nova Varoš, and Priboj, are part of the Zlatibor District.
History
Ottoman rule
The Serbian Despotate was invaded by the Ottoman Empire in 1455. Apart from the effect of a lengthy period under Ottoman domination, many of the subject populations were periodically and forcefully converted to Islam as a result of a deliberate move by the Ottoman Turks as part of a policy of ensuring the loyalty of the population against a potential Venetian invasion. However, Islam was spread by force in the areas under the control of the Ottoman sultan through the devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which indigenous European Christian boys from the Balkans were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army, and jizya taxes.The Islamization of Sandžak was otherwise caused by a number of factors, mainly economic, as Muslims didn't pay the devşirme tributes and jizya taxes. The Muslims were also privileged compared to Christians, who were unable to work in the administration or testify in court against Muslims, as they were treated as dhimmi. The second factor that contributed to the Islamization were migrations; a large demographic shift occurred after the Great Turkish War. Part of the Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christian population was expelled northwards, while other Christians and Muslims were driven to the Ottoman territory. The land abandoned by the Eastern Orthodox Serbs was settled by populations from neighbouring areas who either were or became Muslim in Sandžak. Large migrations occurred throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The third factor of Islamization was the geographical location of Sandžak, which allowed it to become a trade centre, facilitating conversions amongst merchants. The tribal migrations to Sandžak had contributed a large role to its history and identity along with culture.
The second half of the 19th century was very important in terms of shaping the current ethnic and political situation in Sandžak. Austria-Hungary supported Sandžak's separation from the Ottoman Empire, or at least its autonomy within it. The reason was to prevent the kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia from unifying, and allow Austria-Hungary's further expansion into the Balkans. Per these plans, Sandžak was seen as part of the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while its Muslim population played a significant role, giving Austrian-Hungarians a pretext of protecting the Muslim minority from the Eastern Orthodox Serbs.
Sandžak was an administrative part of the Sanjak of Bosnia until 1790, when it become a separated Sanjak of Novi Pazar. However, in 1867, it become a part of the Bosnia Vilayet that consisted of seven sanjaks, including the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. This led to Sandžak Muslims identifying themselves with other Slavic Muslims in Bosnia.
Albanian speakers gradually migrated or were relocated to the Ottoman provinces of Kosovo and North Macedonia, leaving a primarily Slavic-speaking population in the rest of the region.
Some members of the Albanian Shkreli and Kelmendi tribes began migrating into the lower Pešter and Sandžak regions at around 1700. The Kelmendi chief had converted to Islam, and promised to convert his people too. A total of 251 Kelmendi households were resettled in the Pešter area on that occasion, however five years later part the exiled Kelmendi managed to fight their way back to their homeland, and in 1711 they sent out a large raiding force to bring back some other from Pešter too. The remaining Kelmendi and Shkreli converted to Islam and became Slavophones by the 20th century, and as of today they now self-identify as part of the Bosniak ethnicity, although in the Pešter plateau they partly utilized the Albanian language until the middle of the 20th century, particuarily in the villages of Ugao, Boroštica, Doliće, and Gradac. Since the 18th century, many people originating from the Hoti tribe have migrated to and live in Sandžak, mainly in the Tutin area, but also in Sjenica.
Balkan Wars and the World War I
In October 1912, during the First Balkan War, Serbian and Montenegrin troops seized Sandžak, which was then divided between the two countries. This led to the displacement of many Slavic Muslims and Albanians, who migrated to Ottoman Turkey as muhajir.After the war, Sandžak became a part of the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The region acted as a bridge between the Muslims in the West in Bosnia and Herzegovina and those in the East in Kosovo and North Macedonia. However, the Slavic Muslims of Sandžak suffered economic decline due to the defeat and collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which had been their primary source of economic stability. Additionally, the agrarian reform implemented in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia worsened their economic situation, leading to the emigration of Muslims from Sandžak to the Ottoman Empire.
During World War I, Sandžak was occupied by Austria-Hungary. In 1919, an Albanian revolt, which later came to be known as the Plav rebellion rose up in the Rožaje, Gusinje, and Plav districts, fighting against the inclusion of Sandžak in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. As a result, during the Serbian army's second occupation of Rožaje, which took place in 1918-1919, seven hundred Albanian citizens were slaughtered in Rožaje. In 1919, Serb forces attacked Albanian populations in Plav and Gusinje, which had appealed to the British government for protection. About 450 local civilians were killed after the uprising was quelled. These events resulted in a large influx of Albanians migrating to the Principality of Albania.
World War II
In World War II, Sandžak was the battleground of several factions. In 1941, the region was partitioned between the Italian governorate of Montenegro, the Italian protectorate over the Kingdom of Albania, and the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. The Muslim population was in general anti-partisan. They were organized in small formations known in historiography as the Sandžak Muslim militia. These formations depending on their location and regional politics were affiliated to Albanian nationalist groups linked to Balli Kombëtar in central and south Sandžak or to Muslim Ustaše groups in the north. Many Orthodox Serbs organized in the Serbian nationalist Chetniks. The stance of these factions towards the Nazi forces ranged from armed resistance to open collaboration. Smaller groups of both Orthodox Serbs and Muslims organized after 1943 in the Yugoslav Partisan Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Sandžak. Each faction sought the inclusion of Sandžak in the post-war period into separate states. Albanian militia fought for inclusion in Greater Albania, while Ustaše formations wanted at least part of Sandžak to join the Independent State of Croatia. Amonge these factions, the Yugoslavs, Slavic Muslims, Serbs, and Montenegrins adopted different strategies. Muslims wanted either unification with Bosnia under a federal Yugoslavia or the establishment of an autonomous Sandžak region. Serbs and Montenegrins wanted the area to either pass entirely to Serbia or Montenegro.The formal partition of Sandžak between Italian and German spheres of influence was largely ignored as local politics shaped control over the area. Prijepolje which formally was within the Italian area of rule in Montenegro was in fact under the NDH-affiliated Sulejman Pačariz, while Novi Pazar in the German sphere was led by the Albanian nationalist Aqif Bluta. Clashes between Albanians and Serbs in south Sandžak began in April 1941. In other cities of Sandžak similar battles between different factions played out. Otto von Erdmannsdorf, the special envoy of Germany to Sandžak mentioned in his correspondence that up to 100,000 Albanians from Sandžak wanted to be moved from Serbia under the jurisdiction of Albania. The Italian and German forces considered to enact population exchange from Sandžak to Kosovo to stop interethnic violence between Serbs and Albanians. Peter Pfeiffer, diplomat of the Foreign Office of Germany warned that relocation plans would cause a great rift between the German army and Albanians and they were abandoned. In November 1941 as clashes continued Albanians defeated the Chetniks in the battle of Novi Pazar. The battle was followed by reprisals against the Serbs of Novi Pazar. In 1943, Chetnik forces based in Montenegro conducted a series of ethnic cleansing operations against Muslims in the Bihor region of modern-day Serbia. In May 1943, an estimated 5400 Albanian men, women and children in Bihor were massacred by Chetnik forces under Pavle Đurišić. In a reaction, the notables of the region then published a memorandum and declared themselves to be Albanians. The memorandum was sent to Prime Minister Ekrem Libohova whom they asked to intervene so the region could be united to the Albanian kingdom. It has been estimated that 9,000 Muslims were killed in total by the Chetniks and affiliated groups during the war in Sandžak. The Jewish community of Novi Pazar was initially not harassed because the city didn't have any considerable concentration of German forces, but on March 2, 1942 the city's Jews were rounded up by the German army and killed in extermination camps.
1943 year saw the creation of the SS-Police "Self-Defence" Regiment Sandžak, being formed by joining three battalions of Albanian collaborationist troops with one battalion of the Sandžak Muslim militia. At one point around 2,000 members of the SS regiment operated in Sjenica. Its leader was Sulejman Pačariz, an Islamic cleric of Albanian origin.
The Anti-Fascist Council of People's Liberation of Sandžak had been founded on 20 November 1943 in Pljevlja. In January 1944, the Land Assembly of Montenegro and the Bay of Kotor claimed Sandžak as part of a future Montenegrin federal unit. However, in March, the Communist Party opposed this, insisting that Sandžak's representatives at AVNOJ should decide on the matter. In February 1945, the Presidency of the AVNOJ made a decision to oppose the Sandžak's autonomy. The AVNOJ explained that the Sandžak did not have a national basis for an autonomy and opposed crumbling of the Serbian and Montenegrin totality. On 29 March 1945 in Novi Pazar, the AVNOS accepted the decision of the AVNOJ and divided itself between Serbia and Montenegro. Sandžak was divided based on the 1912 demarcation line.