International Treaties and the National Development of Bosnian Muslims: From Berlin to Saint-Germain

Year 2024, Volume: 29 Issue: 1, 134 - 159, 29.07.2024

Aydın Babuna

Abstract

The impact of international treaties and laws on the identities of nations is an under-researched subject. Although it is possible to obtain some information about the impact of different international agreements on the development of nations in a disconnected manner in different publications, it has so far been difficult to find a systematic and comprehensive study on the matter. The same gap also exists in the academic studies on the emergence of Bosniak identity and nationalism. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the impact of the international agreements signed over a period of more than forty years on the national development of the Bosnian Muslims who assumed an important position in the defense policies that the Ottomans began to follow from the 17th century onwards. However, in the first half of the 19th century, conflicts would erupt between the Ottoman government and the Bosnian ajans (local leaders). Istanbul’s centralization efforts created unrest in Bosnia and led the Bosnian Muslims to emphasize their Bosniak identity (Bošnjaštvo) to differentiate themselves from the Ottomans. On the other hand, in the late Ottoman period, the conflicts between the Serbs, the Montenegrins, and the Ottoman Empire and the Bosnian Muslims who sided with it were perceived as a struggle between Christianity and Islam. This process resulted in the strengthening of Bosnian Muslims’ Muslim identity (Muslimanstvo). After the Berlin Treaty of 1878, the Bosnian Muslims found themselves within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, creating disappointment and anger among them as they thought that they had been let down by the Ottomans, and ultimately bolstering their Bosniak identity. The Istanbul Convention of 1879, the Protocol of 1909 between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, the Istanbul Treaty of 1914, and the Minority Treaty of 1919, which regulated the rights of Muslims, all underlined their Muslim identity. The Protocol of 1909, which marked the end of Ottoman sovereignty in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a major trauma for the Bosnian Muslims. It not only underlined their Muslim identity by defining Muslims’ rights but also contributed to their Bosniak identity by severing their links with the Ottoman Empire indefinitely. However, the political conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the decades to come pushed Muslimhood as the identity of the Bosnian Muslims to the forefront.

Keywords

Bosnian Muslims, international treaties, identity, nationalism, Austro-Hungarian Empire

References

• References are indicated in the article.