Tuzla
Tuzla is the third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inhabitants.
Tuzla is the economic, cultural, educational, health, and tourist center of northeast Bosnia. It is an educational center and home to two universities. It is the main industrial machine and one of the leading economic strongholds of the country with a wide and varied industrial sector including an expanding service sector thanks to its salt lake tourism. Panonsko Lake, Europe's only salt lake and part of its central park has more than 350,000 people visiting each year and it is in Tuzla.
Tuzla's history is as old as the 9th century; the modern city dates back to 1510 when it became an important garrison town in the Ottoman Empire. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tuzla is also regarded as one of the most multicultural cities in the country and has managed to keep the pluralist character of the city throughout the Bosnian War and after, with Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and a small minority of Bosnian Jews living in Tuzla.
Etymology
The name Tuzla is the Ottoman Turkish word for salt mine, tuzla, and refers to the extensive salt deposits found underneath the city, mined for export as a large source of Ottoman tax revenue. Leveraging on their shared name, the city is twinned with Tuzla, a district in Istanbul, Turkey.History
Early history
Archaeological evidence suggests that Tuzla was a rich Neolithic settlement. Being inhabited continuously for more than 6,000 years, Tuzla is one of the oldest European sustained settlements. During the period of the Roman Republic, Tuzla was ruled by the Illyrian tribe Breuci.Middle Ages to 20th century
The city was first mentioned in 950 by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his De Administrando Imperio as a fort named Salines. The name Soli was used in the Middle Ages. It means "salts" in Bosnian and the city's present name means "place of salt" in Ottoman Turkish. During the Middle Ages it belonged mostly to the medieval Kingdom of Bosnia.After the fall of the kingdom to the Ottoman Empire in 1467, the region was controlled by the House of Berislavić before the Ottomans occupied the villages of "Gornje Soli" and "Donje Soli" around 1512, and took control of the entire Usora in the 1530s. It remained under Ottoman rule for nearly 400 years, where it was administered as part of the Sanjak of Zvornik. In 1878 it was occupied by Austria-Hungary. After the dissolution of the monarchy it became the part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Husino uprising took place in 1920.
File:Čajniče 1943.jpg|thumb|left|Shortly before Operation Kugelblitz, in November 1943 German troops of the 1. Gebirgs-Division mounted on half-tracks in front of the former partisan HQ in Tuzla after the city's re-capture from partisan forces. The partisan slogan "Death to fascism – freedom to the people" is written on the hotel facade.
During World War II, Tuzla was included in the puppet Independent State of Croatia and controlled by the mainly Muslim Hadžiefendić Legion of the Croatian Home Guard.
Tuzla was among the first areas in Europe to be liberated, when Tito's Yugoslav Partisans freed it from the German occupiers on 2 October 1943. Many members of the Legion deserted to the Partisans at this time. In December 1944, the city was unsuccessfully attacked by Chetnik forces of Draža Mihailović along with the Serbian State Guard. After the war it developed into a major industrial and cultural center during the Communist period in the former Yugoslavia.
Bosnian War
In the 1990 elections the Reformists won control of the municipality, it being the only municipality in Bosnia where non-nationalists won. During the Bosnian War of Independence between 1992 and 1995 the town was the only municipality not governed by the SDA party-led authorities. After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence and was recognized by the United Nations, the city was besieged by Serbian forces. A few days later Serbian forces attacked Tuzla. The town was not spared the atrocities of the Bosnian War.On 15 May 1992, troops of the 92nd Motorised Brigade of the Yugoslav People's Army were ambushed by units of Bosnia's Territorial Defence Force, while attempting to withdraw from the city. During the incident, 54 Yugoslav troops were killed and 44 were wounded. In 2009, Ilija Jurišić, a former Bosnian Croat officer, was sentenced to 12 years by a Serbian court for the attack before an appeals court acquitted him in 2015 citing a lack of evidence. On 25 May 1995, an attack on Tuzla killed 71 people and injured 200 persons in what is referred to as the Tuzla massacre, when shells fired from Serb's positions on the Ozren mountain hit the central street and its promenade. The youngest civilian who died in that massacre was only two years old. After the Dayton Peace Accords, Tuzla was the headquarters of the U.S. forces for the Multinational Division during Operation Joint Endeavour IFOR and subsequent SFOR.
Post-war independence
In February 2014, the city was the scene of the beginning of the 2014 unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which quickly spread to dozens of cities and towns throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a couple of days of calm protests, the protests started to become violent and people started burning cars in front of the canton government building, and later the building itself. More recently the city has had economic growth as well as an increase in tourism.Geography
Tuzla is in the northeastern part of Bosnia, settled just underneath the Majevica mountain range, on the Jala River. The central zone lies in an east–west oriented plain, with residential areas in the north and south of the city located on the Ilinčica, Kicelj and Gradina Hills. It is above sea level. The climate is moderate continental. There are abundant coal deposits in the region around Tuzla. Six coal mines operate in the city area. Much of the coal mined in the area is used to power the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant, which is the largest power plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Salt deposits
Extractions of the city's salt deposits, particularly in the 20th century, have caused sections of the city center to sink. Structures in the "sinking area" either collapsed or were demolished, and there are few structures in the city that predate the 20th century, despite the fact that the city was founded over 1000 years ago. In the northeastern part of the town is an area known as Solina, named after the salt deposits.Pannonian Lakes
Tuzla is the only city in Europe which has a salt lake in its center. The ancient Pannonian Sea dried up around 10 million years ago, but work by researchers and scientists has now enabled a level of saline water to be kept stable at the surface, and in 2003 the Pannonian Lake was opened. A second lake which includes artificial waterfalls was inaugurated in 2008. An archaeological park and replica Neolithic lake dwellings were also incorporated into the scheme, providing information about the different cultures which left their material and spiritual mark here. The site has become an international tourist destination.A third lake was completed in August 2012. Construction expenses for this were nearly 2 million Bosnian marks. This third lake also contains 2 water slides which are an attraction for the younger population. The summer season of 2013 recorded approximately 5,000 visitors per day.
Climate
Tuzla has a temperate oceanic climate with warm summers which have 100.6 days annually with maximum temperature above 36.3 days above. Tuzla has cold and chilly winters, with 85.8 days having minimum temperature below, as well as 14.9 days in which the maximum temperature is also below freezing.There are 38.7 days per year with thunder and 2.1 days with hail, both of them being more common in spring and summer than other seasons. The highest recorded temperature is on 22 July 2007.
Administration
Tuzla is the seat of the Tuzla Canton, which is a canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as of Tuzla Municipality, which is one of the 13 municipalities that together constitute the Tuzla Canton. Administratively, Tuzla is divided into 39 mjesne zajednice.Apart from Tuzla, the municipality incorporates several other adjacent settlements, including the town of Gornja Tuzla, as well as the villages of Husino, Par Selo, Simin Han, Obodnica, Kamenjaši, Plane, Šići and others.
The current mayor of Tuzla is Zijad Lugavić, of the Social Democratic Party. He succeeded long-time mayor Jasmin Imamović in 2022.
The City council of Tuzla has 30 members, of the following parties:
- Independent – 12 members
- Social Democratic Party – 8 members
- Platform for Progress – 2 members
- Tuzla alternative – 2 members
- Party of Democratic Action – 1 member
- Social Democrats – 1 member
- Our Party – 1 member
- Croatian Democratic Union – 1 member
- Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1 member
- Movement of Democratic Action – 1 member
Demographics
1971 census
Total: 107,293Total: 121,717
- 52,400 – Muslims
- 24,811 – Croats
- 20,261 – Serbs
- 19,059 – Yugoslavs
- 5,186 – others and unknown
1991 census
- 62,669 – Muslims
- 21,995 – Yugoslavs
- 20,398 – Croats
- 20,271 – Serbs
- 6,285 – others and unknown
2013 census
- 80,774 – Bosniaks
- 15,396 – Croats
- 3,378 – Serbs
- 11,431 – others and unknown
Culture
Arts
One of the most influential writers in the Balkans, Meša Selimović hails from Tuzla, and Tuzla hosts an annual book festival in July, where the "Meša Selimović award" for the best novel written in the languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro is presented. The first professional theater in Tuzla, the Tuzla National Theatre, was founded by the brothers Mihajlo and Živko Crnogorčević in 1898 during Austro-Hungarian rule, and is the oldest theatre in the country. The theatre is working continuously since 1944.The Portrait Gallery has continuous exhibitions of work by local and international artists. The Ismet Mujezinović Gallery is mainly dedicated to Ismet Mujezinović, a painter from Tuzla. The Eastern Bosnia Museum exhibits archaeological, ethnological, historical and artistic pieces and artifacts from the whole region. An open-air museum at Solni Trg, opened in 2004, tells the story of salt production in Tuzla.