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SandzakThis page is about a region in Serbia and Montenegro; for districts of the Ottoman Empire, see Sanjak.
Sandžak is a region of Serbia and Montenegro. It derives its name from the former Sanjak of Novibazar, a former Ottoman administrative district that covered a portion of what is referred to as the Sandzak today. It stretches from the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina to Kosovo on an area of 8,686 square kilometers. Six municipalities belong to Serbia (Novi Pazar, Sjenica, Prijepolje, Nova Varos, and Priboj), and five to Montenegro (Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, Berane, Rozaje, and Plav). Of the total population, the Bosniaks comprise 99% in Tutin, 98% in Rozaje, 87% in Plav, 86% in Novi Pazar, 84% in Sjenica, 57% in Prijepolje, 53% in Bijelo Polje, 51% in Priboj, 46% in Berane, 37% in Pljevlja, and 18% in Nova Varos. The Sandžak has the largest population of Bosniaks outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 1991 census, it was inhabited by 440,000 people of whom 228,000 (52%) were Bosniaks and 198,000 (45%) Serbs or Montenegrins. However, the results of the census undercounted the number of Bosniaks, assigning them to Serb and Montenegrin categories, hence the discrepancy. 70% of the Bosniaks of Sandzak derive ancestry from the areas of Montenegro and East Herzegovina, with 20% of Albanian Malesor origin, and 10% from elsewhere (Bosnia, Turkey, Slavonia, etc. Until the First Balkan War of 1912, the Sandžak was a part of the Ottoman Empire. During the centuries of Turkish rule the Sanjak of Novi Pazar was a part of the Province of Bosnia before coming under the Vilayet of Kosovo. In October 1912, the Sandžak was conquered by Serbian and Montenegrin troops. From 1914 to 1918, the Sandzak of Novibazar was under Austro-Hungary. In 1918, Serbia and Montenegro united before creating the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Between 1929 and 1941, Sandzak was part of the newly created Zetska Banovina, headquartered in Cetinje, present-day Montenegro. Most of Sandzak was under Italian occupation in World War II. At the end of the war, in the attempt to break up the cohesion of Bosniaks in Sandzak of Novibazar, the Communist administration divides Sandzak between Serbia and Montenegro, according to the initial division agreement between the two Orthodox Slavic states from 1912. Many Bosniak inhabitants of the Sandžak emigrated to Turkey and the Middle East as muhajirs, as a direct result of oppression by the new Serbo-Montenegrin lords. The emigration wave lasted from 1912 to 1970. Over a million of modern Turks have Sandžak origins or ancestry. There are numerous colonies of Sandzak Bosniaks in Turkey, in and around Edirne, Istanbul, Adapazari, Bursa, Samson, etc. The Yugoslav wars of the 1990s left the Sandžak largely unscathed, although the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo led to ethnic tensions and (in the latter case) bombing by NATO forces. According to Sandžak Bosniak political parties, some 60,000-80,000 Bosniaks emigrated from the region during this period. Census data shows a general exodus of all nationalities from this underdevelopped region. The Bosniak National Council of Serbia-Montenegro represented the region at the UNPO since 1993. This political pressure group organized a referendum in October 1991 where 98% of the voters opted in favour of autonomy. The Council claims a 69% turnout, although this has not been verified by an independent body.
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