The Bosnian Muslims and Albanians: Islam and nationalism

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Notes

The author would like to thank Bogaziçi University Research Fund (project no. 04Z102) for funding this project.

Leo Tindemans, Lloyd Cutler and Bronislaw Geremek, Unfinished Peace. Report of the International Commission on the Balkans (Washington: Automatic Graphic Systems, 1996).

For the sake of simplicity, the Muslims of Bosnia‐Hercegovina (Bosniaks) will be referred to as “Bosnian Muslims.”

Bejlerbeylik was the largest administrative unit and included many sandzaks (districts).

Avdo Sućeska, “Neke specifičnosti istorije Bosne pod Turcima,” Prilozi, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1968, p. 47.

The reasons for the conversions among the South Slavs and the Albanians are beyond the scope of this paper.

W. G. Lockwood, “Living Legacy of the Ottoman Empire: The Serbo‐Croatian Speaking Muslims of Bosnia‐Hercegovina,” in A. Ascher, T. Halasi‐Kun and B. K. Kiraly, eds, The Mutual Effects of the Islamic and Judeo‐Christian Worlds: The East European Pattern (Brooklyn: Brooklyn College Press, 1979), p. 209.

Millet means “nation” in Arabic and Turkish. In the beginning, there were officially only the Orthodox and Armenian millets.

Bericht über die Verwaltung Bosnien und der Hercegovina (Vienna: K. und k. Gemeinsame Finanzministerium, 1906), p. 119. This is not to say that the Bosnian Muslim national development was constructed completely on a millet basis or on religion itself but rather that religion could act as a badge or marker that could take on ethnic or national connotations. Peter Mentzel, “Conclusion: Millets, States, and National Identities,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2000, p. 202; For the Islamic and Bosnian aspects of the identity of the Bosnian Muslims in Socialist Yugoslavia see Tone Bringa, Biti Musliman na Bosanski način. Identitet i zajednica u jednom srednjobosanskom selu (Sarajevo: Dani, 1997).

The Archive of Bosnia‐Hercegovina‐Sarajevo ABH (Department of Bosnia‐Hercegovina) ABH ZMF Pr BH 825/1901; ABH ZMF Pr BH 1670/1900, pp. 2–5.

ABH ZMF Pr BH 825/1901, p. 4, 6.

Landowners, who had military obligations to the state in case of war. They had a right to cultivate the state‐owned lands assigned to them.

There were also some other social classes in the cities. Sućeska, “Neke specifičnosti istorije Bosne,” p. 49.

Ibid., p. 43.

Avdo Sućeska, Ajani. Prilog izučavanju lokalne vlasti u našim zemljama za vrijeme Turaka (Sarajevo: Naučno Društvo SR Bosne i Hercegovine, 1965), p. 169.

Avdo Sućeska, “O nasljeđivanju odžakluk timara u Bosni i Hercegovini,” Godišnjak pravnog fakulteta u Sarajevu, Vol. 15, 1967, p. 503. However, in recent research, some doubt has been expressed concerning the existence of these hereditary land holdings (ocaklik timari). Michael Robert Hickok, Ottoman Military Administration in Eighteenth Century Bosnia (Leiden: Brill, 1997), p. 53, cited in Fikret Adanir, “The Formation of a ‘Muslim’ Nation in Bosnia‐Hercegovina: A Historiographic Discussion,” in Fikret Adanir and Suraiya Faroqhi, eds, The Ottomans and the Balkans. A Discussion of Historiography (Leiden: Brill, 2002), p. 297.

Sućeska, “Neke spečificnosti istorije Bosne,” p. 51.

Srecko Džaja, Konfessionalität und Nationalität Bosniens und der Herzegowina. Voremanzipatorische Phase 1463–1804 (Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1984), p. 100.

Halil Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire. The Classical Age 1300–1600 (London: Phoenix, 1997), p. 27.

Stavro Skendi, The Albanian National Awakening 1878–1912 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), pp. 4, 5.

As warlike people the Albanians served the Ottoman Empire in different ways. The Christian Albanian families provided the best janissaries (the Ottoman ground troops) through the devshirme (child levy) system. The Albanian sipahis and the mercenary troops were known for their effectiveness. Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, p. 21.

Nathalie Clayer, Der Bektaschi‐Orden in Albanien. Zwischen Kreuz und Halbmond (Munich: Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, 1998), p. 153.

The Bektashi order had strong links with the janissary troops.

Nathalie Clayer, “The Myth of Ali Pasha and the Bektashis. The Construction of an Albanian Bektashi National History,” in Stephanie Schwandner‐Sievers and Bernd J. Fischer, eds, Albanian Identities. Myth and History (London: Hurst, 2002), pp. 130, 131. Actually Ali Pasha gave greater support to the Halveti and Sa'di orders than to the Bektashi. Clayer, “Bektaschi Orden,” p. 153.

It was an eclectic sect composed of elements from different sources. Basically, it revealed relicts of old Turkish folklore and customs, particularly relicts of shamanism. Bektashism did not compel the observance of some Islamic rites like ritual prayer and fasting and permitted wine drinking. It was not forbidden for women to mix socially with men and to go unveiled. Inalcik, Ottoman Empire, p. 197.

Nathalie Clayer, L'Albanie, pays des derviches, pp. 5–225, cited in Isa Blumi, “The Commodification of Otherness and the Ethnic Unit in the Balkans: How to Think about the Albanians,” East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 12, No. 3, 1998, p. 555.

Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, pp. 12, 13.

For social life among the northern tribes see Edith Durham, High Albania. A Victorian Traveller's Balkan Odyssey (London: Phoenix Press, 2000). For Albanian customs see, Renzo Falaschi, The Memoirs of Ismail Kemal Vlora and His Work for the Independence of Albania (Tirana: Toena, 1997), pp. 357–360.

Among the Gegs urban/rural boundaries were more fluid while the Tosks were higly stratified along class and production lines. This seems to be one of the important factors that shaped the relations of these tribes with the Ottoman state. See Blumi, “Commodification of Otherness,” pp. 547, 548.

Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 83.

Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, pp. 19, 21.

Jelavic, History of the Balkans, p. 84.

Steven L. Burg, The Political Integration of Yugoslavia's Muslims: Determinants of Success and Failure (Pittsburgh: Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies, 1983), pp. 6,7.

Aydin Babuna, Die nationale Entwicklung der bosnischen Muslime. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der österreichisch‐ungarischen Periode (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1996), p. 198. For the pan‐Islamic policy of the Ottomans see also Aydin Babuna, “The Emergence of the First Muslim Party in Bosnia‐Hercegovina,” East European Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, 1996, pp. 133–136.

ABH ZMF Pr BH 1085/1901, p. 42. This demand of the Muslims was to be accepted by the Austro‐Hungarian government with the recognition of the religious autonomy of the Muslims in 1909 (after the annexation of Bosnia‐Hercegovina by Austria‐Hungary in 1908).

Tenants were called kmets in Bosnia‐Hercegovina.

Die Ergebnisse der Volkszählung (Sarajevo: Landesregierung für Bosnien und Hercegovina, 1910), p. LXVIII.

“Inteligencija i naši pokreti,” Ogledalo, 7 June 1907, p. 1; ABH ZMF Pr. BH 1068/1900.

Kasim Suljević, Nacionalnost Muslimana. Između teorije i politike (Rijeka, Yugoslavia: Otokar Keršovani, 1981), p. 15.

Burg, Political Integration, pp. 6, 11.

In 1907 the language of Bosnia‐Hercegovina was officially referred to as Serbo‐Croatian. It marked the end of the policy of Bošnjaštvo of the Austro‐Hungarian government. Dževad Juzbašić, Jezičko pitanje u austrougarskoj politici u Bosni i Hercegovini pred prvi svjetski rat (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1973), p. 10.

Muhamed Hadžijahić, Od tradicije do identiteta: geneza nacionalnog pitanja bosanskih Muslimana (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1974), p. 131; Mustafa Imamović, “O historiji bošnjačkog pokušaja,” in Atif Purivatra, Mustafa Imamović and Rusmir Mahmutćehayić, eds, Muslimani i Bošnjaštvo (Sarajevo: Muslimanska bibliotheka, 1991), p. 51.

Babuna, Nationale Entwicklung, p. 315.

Though this League was originally supported by the Ottomans and did not aim at an independent Albania it marked an important step in the development of Albanian nationalism.

Peter Bartl, Albanien. Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart (Regensburg, Germany: Südosteuropa‐Gesellschaft, 1995), p. 95; Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, p. 36.

Ibrahim Temo, İbrahim Temo'nun İttihad ve Terakki Anilari (Istanbul: Arba, 1997), p. VIII. Mainly the Tosks were involved in the Young Turk activities. For the relations between the Albanians and the Young Turks see M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, The Young Turks in Opposition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Preparation for a Revolution—The Young Turks, 1902–1908 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Bartl, Albanien, p. 111.

For the Albanian perception of the 1908 Ottoman constitution see Durham, High Albania, pp. 223, 231; Edith Durham, Albania and the Albanians. Selected Articles and Letters 1903–1944, ed. Bejtullah Destani (London: Center for Albanian Studies, 2001), pp. 7–15.

Bartl, Albanien, p. 114.

Falashi, Memoirs of Ismail Kemal Vlora, p. 368.

The Ottomans had already made some important concessions regarding the Latin alphabet, military recruitment and taxation issues after the visit of the Ottoman Sultan to Kosovo in 1911. However, they did not accept the unification of the four vilayets inhabited by the Albanians. Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans. Twentieth Century (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 88, 89.

Joseph Swire, Albania: The Rise of a Kingdom (New York: Richard R. Smith, 1930), pp. 52, 53.

For a different view on the role of education during the early Albanian nation‐building process see Isa Blumi, “The Role of Education in the Formation of Albanian Identity and Its Myths,” in Stephanie Schwandner‐Sievers and Bernd J. Fischer, eds, Albanian Identities. Myth and History (London: Hurst, 2002), pp. 49–59.

Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, pp. 464– 466, 469. The most important contribution was made by the Italo‐Albanians. In time, the majority of the Italo‐Albanians would join the uniate church.

Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, p. 171.

Wassa Effendi, The Truth on Albania and the Albanians. Historical and Critical Issues (London: Centre for Albanian Studies, 1999 [1879]), p. 40.

Falaschi, Memoirs of Ismail Kemal Vlora, p. 369.

Ibid., pp. 361, 362.

Bartl, Albanien, p. 177.

Clayer, “Bektaschi‐Orden,” p. 154

For the influence of this tribal structure on the political culture of the Albanians see Blumi, “Commodification of Otherness,” pp. 527–569.

Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, p. 464.

Ibid., p. 467.

T. Zavalani, “Albanian Nationalism,” in Peter Sugar and Ivo J. Lederer, eds, Nationalism in Eastern Europa (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1971), p. 67.

Jelavich, History of the Balkans (Twentieth Century), p. 85.

Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, p. 45.

Ibid., p. 186.

Jelavich, History of the Balkans (Twentieth Century), p. 84.

The importance of the sentiment of race for the Albanians at that time was also observed by some foreign representatives in Albania. See for example the report of the Italian Consul General at Corfu cited in Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, p. 470.

For example, Vasa Pasha, a Catholic from north Albania, advocate of the Latin alphabet, had stressed that the faith of Albanians was Albaniandom.

Skendi, Albanian National Awakening, p. 468.

For the language question see Durham, Albania and the Albanians, pp. 71–73.

During the Congress of Berlin the existence of the Albanian nation was rejected. The Albanians were considered by the European statesmen to be Turks. Bartl, Albanien, p. 94.

H. T. Norris, Islam in the Balkans. Religion and Society between Europe and the Arab World (London: Hurst, 1993), p. 166. Naim Frasheri tried to promote Bektashism as the national creed of Albania.

After the proclamation of the royal dictatorship by the Serbian King Alexander in 1929 the name of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was changed to “Yugoslavia.”

Only 30 of the 2,492 officials were Bosnian Muslims. See Suljaga Salihagić, Mi bosansko‐hercegovački Muslimani u krilu jugoslovenske zajednice (Banja Luka: Štamparija Zvonimir Jović i Co., 1940), p. 59.

For the violence committed upon the Muslims and the position of the Muslims in this state see Salim Ćerić, Muslimani srpskohrvatskog jezika (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1968), pp. 184–192; Atif Purivatra, Jugoslovenska muslimanska organizacija u političkom životu kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1977), pp. 34–47.

Alexander Popović, “Islamische Bewegungen in Jugoslawien,” in Andreas Kappeler, Gerhard Simon and Georg Brunner, eds, Die Muslime in der Sowjetunion und in Jugoslawien (Cologne: Markus Verlag, 1989), p. 275.

Purivatra, Jugoslovenska muslimanska organizacija, pp. 383–389.

Mehmed Spaho, “Jugoslovenska muslimanska organizacija,” Nova Evropa, Vol. 4, No. 17, 1923, p. 506.

Burg, Political Integration, pp. 18, 19.

For the Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia in the inter‐war and socialist periods see also Aydin Babuna, “The Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia: Ethnic Identity Superseding Religion,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2000, pp. 68–73.

Miranda Vickers, Between Serb and Albanian. A History of Kosovo (London: Hurst, 1998), pp. 101–102.

On Cemiyet see Ivo Banac, Nacionalno pitanje u Jugoslaviji. Porijeklo, povijest, politika (Zagreb: Durieux, 1995), pp. 310–311.

Noel Malcolm, Kosovo. A Short History (London: Macmillan Press, 1998), p. 269.

Ivan Mužić, “Islamska vjerska zajednica u kraljevini Jugoslaviji,” Islamsko Misao, May 1984, p. 21.

Fikret Karčić, “Nastanak i oblikovanje savremene muslimanske vjerske administracije u jugoslovenskim zemljama,” Glasnik, Vol. 54, No. 4, 1991, p. 382.

Ferhat Šeta, “Vjersko‐prosvjetne prilike Muslimana pred drugi svjetski rat,” Glasnik, Vol. 54, No. 4, 1991, p. 462.

Burg, Political Integration, pp. 16–19.

Hugh Poulton and Miranda Vickers, “The Kosovo Albanians: Ethnic Confrontation with the Slav State,” in Hugh Poulton and Suha Taji‐Farouki, eds, Muslim Identity and the Balkan State (London: Hurst, 1997), p. 145.

Malcolm, Kosovo, p. 268; Banac, Nationalno pitanje, p. 241.

Ibid., p. 244; Poulton and Vickers, “ Kosovo Albanians,” pp. 146–147.

Denisa Kostovicova, “Shkolla Shqipe and Nationhood. Albanians in Pursuit of Education in the Native Language in Interwar (1918–1941) and Post‐autonomy (1989–98) Kosovo,” in Stephanie Schwandner‐Sievers and Bernd J. Fischer, eds, Albanian Identities. Myth and History (London: Hurst, 2002), pp. 160–163.

Ibid., p. 171;

The last religious statistics of Albania date from 1942. Nathalie Clayer, “Islam, State and Society in Post‐Communist Albania,” in Hugh Poulton and Suha Taji‐Farouki, eds, Muslim Identity and the Balkan State (London: Hurst, 1997), pp. 117, 118.

Raymond E. Zickel and Walter R. Iwaskiw, Albania: A Country Study (Washington: Federal Research Division, 1994), p. 26.

Ibid.

Anton Logoreci, The Albanians. Europa's Forgotten Survivors (London: Victor Gollancz, 1977), pp. 54–58.

Swire, Albania, p. 413. The first Islamic journal after the independence of Albania, Zani i Naltë (High Voice), was published in 1923. Ismail Ahmedi, “Islamska publicistika kod Albanaca,” Glasnik, Vol. 5, 1990, p. 39.

Since it stopped the Hellenization process, this event marked the real end of the millet system for the Orthodox Albanians. See Stavro Skendi, “The Millet System and Its Contribution to the Blurring of Orthodox National Identity in Albania,” in Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis, eds, Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire. The Functioning of a Plural Society (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982), p. 255. The new status of the Albanian Orthodox Church was recognized by the Istanbul Patriarchate in 1937.

Zickel and Iwaskiw, Albania, pp. 26–27.

For the reorganization of the Sunni Islamic Community see Aleksandre Popovic, Balkanlarda İslam (Istanbul: İnsan yayinlari, 1995), pp. 27–30.

Zachary T. Irwin, “The Fate of Islam in the Balkans: A Comparison of Four State Policies,” in Pedro Ramet, ed., Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics (Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1989), p. 384.

Joseph Swire, Zog's Albania (London: Robert Hale, 1936), p. 244.

Clayer, “Bektaschi Orden,” pp. 154, 155.

When the Turkish Republic closed down the Bektashi monastries in 1925 the order's headquarters was moved to Tirana and the former grand dede Salih Niyazi took over the same post in Tirana.

Clayer, “Bektaschi Orden,” p. 156.

Clayer, “Islam, State and Society,” pp. 118, 119.

Clayer, “Bektaschi Orden,” p. 157.

Popovic, Balkanlarda İslam, p. 32.

Logoreci, Albanians, p. 65.

Nathalie Clayer, “The Issue of the Conversion to Islam in the Restructuring of Albanian Politics and Identity,” in Nathalie Clayer, ed., Religion Et Nation Chez Les Albanais. XIXe–XXe Siecles (Istanbul: Isis, 2002), pp. 399, 400.

El‐Hidaje was dominated by members of the organization of Mladi Muslimani (Young Muslims). This pan‐Islamic organization, established in Sarajevo in 1941, gradually developed a network throughout Bosnia‐Hercegovina. They supported the activities of the Muslims for the autonomy of Bosnia‐Hercegovina during the war. Alija Izetbegović, the later president of Bosnia‐Hercegovina, was also a former member of this organization. For the Mladi Muslimani see Sead Trhulj, Mladi Muslimani (Zagreb: Globus, 1992).

Xavier Bougarel, “From Young Muslims to Party of Democratic Action: The Emergence of a pan‐Islamist Trend in Bosnia‐Herzegovina,” Islamic Studies, Vol. 36, Nos 2–3, 1997, p. 537.

Ivo Banac, “Bosnian Muslims: From Religious Community to Socialist Nationhood and Postcommunist Statehood, 1918–1992,” in Mark Pinson, ed., The Muslims of Bosnia‐Herzegovina (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), p. 141. The Croatian propaganda stated that the Muslims were the flowers, the best part, of the Croatian nation. Enver Redžić, Bosna i Hercegovina u drugom svjetskom ratu (Sarajevo: Grafičko‐izdavačka kuća, 1998), p. 328.

Paul Shoup, Communism and the Yugoslav National Question (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), p. 64.

Wolfgang Höpken, “Die jugoslawischen Kommunisten und die bosnischen Muslime,” in Andreas Kappeler, Gerhard Simon and Georg Brunner, eds, Die Muslime in der Sowjetunion und in Jugoslawien (Cologne: Markus Verlag, 1989), p. 192.

For the Muslim policy during World War II see Redžić, Bosna i Hercegovina, pp. 299–375.

For the Mufti of Jerusalem see Joseph B. Schechtman, The Mufti and the Fuehrer. The Rise and Fall of Haj Amin el‐Husseini (New York: A. S. Barnes, 1965).

The leader of the religious hierarchy.

For the position of the Bosnian Muslims in the federal structure of Socialist Yugoslavia see Georg Brunner, “Die Stellung der Muslime in den föderativen Systemen der Sowjetunion und Jugoslawiens,” in Andreas Kappeler, Gerhard Simon and Georg Brunner, eds, Die Muslime in der Sowjetunion und in Jugoslawien (Cologne: Markus Verlag, 1989), pp. 155–179.

However, the orders remained active. Some of the tekkes were reopened during the 1960s as centers for religious instruction. The tekkes in Sarajevo were closed down again in 1972 but their members went to Kosovo and Macedonia, where the tekkes had been more numerous and had never been closed down by the Islamic authorities.

A headquarters was established in Sarajevo for Bosnia‐Hercegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, in Prishtina for Serbia (including Kosovo) and in Titograd for Macedonia.

Burg, Political Integration, pp. 29– 32.

For the Reis‐ul‐ulemas of Bosnia‐Hercegovina between 1882 and 1991 see Ferhat Šeta, Reis‐ul‐uleme u Bosni i Hercegovini i Jugoslaviji od 1882 do 1991 godine (Sarajevo: PGD ISKRA:Visoko, 1991).

Ger Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo (London: Hurst, 2000), p. 129.

Ibid.

Interview, 6 November 1987, p. 22, cited in ibid.

For the Sufi orders in Socialist Yugoslavia see Alexandre Popovic, “The Contemporary Situation of the Muslim Mystic Orders in Yugoslavia,” in Ernest Gellner, ed., Islamic Dilemmas: Reformers, Nationalists and Industrialization (Berlin: Mouton, 1985). By 1986 there were 70 monastries in southern Yugoslavia. Fifty‐three of them were in Kosovo, ten in Macedonia and seven in Bosnia‐Hercegovina. Radio Free Europa Research, 30 June 1986, p. 21, cited in Sabrina P. Ramet, Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the War of Kosovo (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), p. 123; For the Sufi orders in Bosnia‐Hercegovina see Mustafa Prljaca, “Razgovor sa hadzi Fejzulahom ef. Hadzibajricem. Tarikat kao zaboravljeni dragulj,” Islamsko Misao, Vol. 11, No. 129, 1989, p. 22. Though the majority of the tekkes were in the small towns there were also many of them in the countryside. Popovic, “Muslim Mystic Orders,” p. 247.

Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 112.

For the establishment of the Community of Dervish Orders see Prljaca, “Razgovor sa hadzi Fejzulahom ef. Hadzibajricem,” p. 22.

There are some important differences between the dervish orders in Bosnia and those in Kosovo. The sheikhs in Kosovo enjoy greater social prestige. Their influence is not only religious but can also be political or economical. Popovic, “Muslim Mystic Orders,” p. 247.

Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 118.

See for these polemics ibid., pp. 118–120.

Ibid., p. 127.

See Hugh Poulton, “The Muslim Experience in the Balkan States 1919–1991,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2000, p. 55.

Marie‐Paule Canapa, “L' islam et la question des nationalités en Yougoslavie,” in Olivier Carré and Paul Dumont, eds, Radicalismes islamiques (Paris: L'Harmatta, 1986), Vol. 2, pp. 102–103, 123, cited in Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 128.

This trend was very evident in the social circles of the white‐ and blue‐collar workers as well as among some young people in their teens and twenties. C. Sorabji, “Islam and Bosnia's Muslim Nation,” in F. W. Carter and H. T. Norris, eds, The Changing Shape of the Balkans (London: UCL Press, 1996), p. 55.

Kosovar Muslims were considered by the Bosnian Muslims to be lazy, ungrateful and undisciplined and therefore somehow not truly Muslim; Western Europe was civilized and akin to the Muslims. Sorabji, “Islam and Bosnia's Muslim Nation,” p. 56.

In the early 1990s, the majority of the Bosnian Muslims considered religious activities and freedoms to be intimately associated with Western values. Ibid., pp. 55–60.

Atif Purivatra, Nacionalni i politički razvitak Muslimana (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1970), p. 32.

Ibid., p. 30.

Höpken, “Bosnischen Muslime,” p. 199.

Mark Baskin, “The Secular State as Ethnic Entrepreneur: Macedonians and Bosnian Muslims in Socialist Yugoslavia,” Michigan Discussions in Anthropology, Fall 1984, p. 124.

Tito wanted to show the open‐mindedness of his regime to the other members of the non‐aligned bloc. Francine Friedman, “The Muslim Slavs of Bosnia and Hercegovina (with Reference to the Sandžak of Novi Pazar): Islam as National Identity,” Nationalities Papers, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2000, p. 174.

For the rationale of the recognition of the Bosnian Muslims as an independent nation see also Francine Friedman, The Bosnian Muslims. Denial of a Nation (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996), pp. 164–168.

Mojzes Paul, The Yugoslavian Inferno: Ethnoreligious Warfare in the Balkans (New York: Continuum, 1995), p. 128, cited in Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 130.

Atif Purivatra, “O nacionalnom fenomenu bosanskohercegovačkih Muslimana,” Pregled, Vol. 64, No. 10, 1974, p. 1019.

Ibrahim Bakić, Nacija i religija (Sarajevo: Bosna Public, 1994), p. 112; Mitja Velikonja, Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia‐Herzegovina (Texas: Texas A& M University Press, 2003), p. 232.

For example, in the late 1980s the Bosnian Croats seemed to be more religious than the Bosnian Muslims. See Bakić, Nacija i religija, p. 72; Velikonja, Religious Separation and Political Intolerance, p. 230.

Bringa, Biti Musliman na Bosanski način, p. 52.

Enver Redžić, “O posebnosti bosanskih Muslimana,” Pregled, Vol. 60, No. 4, 1970, p. 488.

The 1963 constitution elevated Kosovo to the level of an autonomous province (pokrajina) like Vojvodina but reduced its real autonomy by eliminating its constitutional status at the federal level.

Elez Biberaj, Albania. A Socialist Maverick (Boulder: Westview Press, 1990), pp. 116–117.

Malcolm, Kosovo, p. 324

Hugh Poulton, The Balkans: Minorities and States in Conflict (London: Minority Rights Group, 1993), p. 57.

The constitution of 1963 and the reforms of 1965 contributed to the increase of nationalism and regionalism in the 1960s.

Branko Horvat, Kosovsko pitanje (Zagreb: Globus, 1988), pp. 100–101.

Poulton and Vickers, “Kosovo Albanians,” p. 152.

Horvat, Kosovsko pitanje, p. 131.

Biberaj, Albania, p. 9

Vickers, Between Serb and Albanian, pp. 110–111, 186.

Horvat, Kosovsko pitanje, pp. 101–103.

Some of the clandestine groups that were involved in the riots of 1981 were: the Group of Marxist‐Leninists in Kosovo, the Communist‐Marxist‐Leninist Party of Albanians in Yugoslavia, and the Voice of Kosovo. George Joffe, “Muslims in the Balkans,” in F. W.Carter and H. T. Norris, eds, The Changing Shape of the Balkans (London: UCL Press, 1996), p. 92.

In the protests carried out in 1989 and 1990 against the abolition of the autonomy of Kosovo more than ninety Albanians were killed and hundreds of them were wounded. In the 1990s Kosovo witnessed the worst human rights violations in Europa. IHF press release, Vienna, 12 April 1996, cited in Gazmend Pula, “Modalities of Self‐Determination—The Case of Kosovo as a Structural Issue for Lasting Stability in the Balkans,” Südosteuropa, Vol. 45, Nos 4–5, 1996, p. 384.

Poulton, The Balkans, pp. 82, 83.

Clayer, “The Issue of the Conversion to Islam,” pp. 365–369.

A. Novo, “Razgovor sa direktorom medrese u Prištini Resulom Rexhepijem. Hvala Islamskog Zajednici u Sarajevu,” Preporod, Vol. 22, No. 2/489, 1991, p. 8.

Sorabji, “Islam and Bosnia's Muslim Nation,” pp. 57, 58; Poulton, “The Muslim Experience in the Balkan States,” p. 55.

Bernd J. Fischer, Albania at War 1939–1945 (London: Hurst, 1999), p. 71.

At least 173 Albanian‐language elementary schools were established. Malcolm, Kosovo, p. 292.

There was to be no drastic change in the organization of the Sunni Muslim and Bektashi hierarchies during the German occupation after 1943. Popovic, Balkanlarda İslam, p. 36.

Fischer, Albania at War, pp. 55, 56; Popovic, Balkanlarda İslam, p. 35.

Biberaj, Albania, p. 9

Popovic, Balkanlarda İslam, p. 39.

It even seems that some orders such as the Halvetis, Kadiris and Sa'dis were recognized as independent religious communities. See ibid., p. 47.

Logoreci, Albanians, p. 154.

Albania: Political Imprisonment and the Law (London: Amnesty International, 1984), p. 12.

James S. O'Donnell, A Coming of Age: Albania under Enver Hoxha (Boulder: East European Monographs, 1999), p. 140.

Albania: Political Imprisonment and the Law, p. 13.

Clayer, “Bektaschi Orden,” p. 157; Robert Elsie, A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture (London: Hurst, 2001), p. 124.

Popovic, Balkanlarda İslam, p. 40.

After the dissolution of the Albanian Bektashi community there were two Bektashi centers outside Albania. One of them was the Bektashi tekke in Djakovica (Kosovo) and the other was in Taylor near Detroit, founded in 1954. See Elsie, Dictionary, p. 29.

Albania: Political Imprisonment and the Law, p. 13.

Zickel and Iwaskiw, Albania, p. 87. For the suppresssion of organized religion see Albania: Political Imprisonment and the Law, pp. 12–15. For the persecution of the Muslim clergy see Bajro Perva, “Islam i Muslimani u Albaniji: Život pun iskušenja,” Preporod, Vol. 22, No. 10/497, 1991, p. 12.

Biberaj, Albania, p. 43.

Zickel and Iwaskiw, Albania, pp. 82, 85–87.

Wilma Löhner, “Religiöse Kultur in Albanien,” in Hans Dieter Döpmann, ed., Religion und Gesellschaft in Südosteuropa (Munich: Südosteuropa Gesellschaft, 1997), p. 177.

O'Donnell, Albania under Enver Hoxha, p. 139.

Stephanie Schwandner Sievers, “Narratives of Power. Capacities of Myth in Albania,” in Stephanie Schwandner‐Sievers and Bernd J. Fischer, eds, Albanian Identities. Myth and History (London: Hurst, 2002), p. 23.

In 1968, the mainly Tosk‐based standard language of Albania was adopted as the official language of the Geg‐speaking Kosovars. This paved the way for the infiltration of Albanian culture into Kosovo. Vickers, Between Serb and Albanian, p. 182.

Miranda Vickers and James Pettifer, Albania. From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity (New York: New York University Press, 1997), p. 144.

Clayer, “The Issue of the Conversion to Islam,” pp. 368, 369.