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The Role of Religion

in the Yugoslav War


Mohamed Elzarka
POL3062: Global Religion and Politics
Dr. Laura Jenkins

Background to the War


1 NATION

7 NATIONS
Slovenia declared independence in 1991
Croatia and Bosnia followed suit
War in Croatia from 1991-1995 and in Bosnia from 1992-1995

Kosovo declares independence, leading to fighting from 1998-1999

Widespread attacks on civilians, population expulsions, systematic rape, ethnic


cleansing, and the use of concentration camps
Approximately 140,000 people killed (over 4 million displaced)

(International Center for Transitional Justice, 2009)

Spotlight: Srebrenica Massacre


More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men
and boys systematically massacred and
buried in mass graves
Thousands of women, children and
elderly people were forcibly deported
Large number of women raped
Worst atrocity in Europe since World
War II
(Remembering Srebrenica)

Relationship Between
Religion and Ethnicity
Slavonic and East European Review (Dyker, 1972)
Serbs Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Croats Roman Catholic
Bosniaks Muslim
Austro-Hungarian Census (1879): Ethnic Moslem as
racial identifier
Religion was not so much a matter of private conscience
as of one's public identity. In some cases, the identification
between religion and nationality was so great that a
religious conversion automatically entailed a change of
nationality, in the eyes of others if not in those of the
convert himself (Petrovich, 1967).

History: Bosniaks and Serbs


Battle of Kosovo Polje:
14th century Serbian king
ousted by Ottomans
(Bieber 13).
Serb national perceive as
the beginning of unjust
Ottoman conquest of their
lands (Dorich, 1999)
Battle has taken on national
symbolism as Vidovdan
(Djordjevich, 1999)
Serbian nationalistic cults
during Ottoman rule to
avenge Kosovo

History: Bosniaks and Serbs


Hatred of Ottomans led to hate of Islamic religion
Turcin and Muslim synonymous (Dyker, 239)
Little evidence linking Bosniak Muslims to Turkish
ancestry

Bogomiles previously perceived as heretics by


Catholic and Orthodox Churches for differences in
belief
Conversion en-masse angered church leaders

History: Croats and Serbs


North (Croatia and Slovenia)
Latinic Alphabet and Education
Catholicism
Close ties to contemporary industrial powers like Italy
Highly industrialized (economic powerhouse)
South (Serbia)
Cyrillic Alphabet
Orthodox Christianity
Close ties to antiquated agrarian Russia
Underdeveloped
(Slack, 141)

History: Croats and Serbs


Croatia significantly more economically
successful than Serbia (Bertsch 94).
Perhaps the primary source of political conflict
in Yugoslavia [in the time of war] results from
regional and, hence, ethnic inequalities in the
goods and services produced and consumed by
the different peoples (Radu, 1998)
Not only was the split of Croatia and Slovenia
from the rest of Yugoslavia politically damaging,
but it also endangered Serbian economic success

World War I

After the Ottomans were driven


out from the Balkans, an
independent Serbian state was
created
Bosnia and Croatia were
incorporated into the AustroHungarian Empire
Austro-Hungary was favorable to
Croats, as the Empire was 90%
Catholic (Bloy, 2013)
Serbian nationalists in Bosnia felt
wronged because they worked to
drive out the Turks but still did
not control Bosnia
Gavrilo Princip famously started
World War I by shooting Austrian
Archduke Franz Ferdinand

World War II
Ustae
Ultranationalist political group that
blended elements of Fascism with
Catholic Fundamentalism to
empower the Croats against their
perceived Serbian oppressors
Never accepted the legitimacy of the centralized, Serb-dominated Yugoslav
state and campaigned continually for greater autonomy
Emphasized need for a racially pure Croatia
Promoted persecution and genocide against Serbs, Jews, and gypsies
Interestingly promoted Islam as a religion of Croats alongside
Catholicism (Jelic-Butic, 1977)
After gaining autonomy from the Yugoslav Kingdom in 1939, Croatia joined
World War II on the side of the Axis Powers in hopes that their coalition
would grant Croats the chance to take vengeance on the Serbs
Killed approximately 400,000 ethnic Serbs
(Ferraro, 2011)

World War II
etniks
Resistance movement fighting against
Nazi Germany and the Independent
State of Croatia
Notorious for committing war crimes
Focused on establishing a Greater
Serbia
Concentrated violence against Croats
who were Ustae or Ustae followers
and Muslims from Bosnia, Kosovo, and
Albania
Collaborated extensively with a variety
of different groups to achieve their goals
Using the enemy
(Ferraro, 2011)

Post World War II: Communism


Communist Party
Led by Josep Broz Tito (Half-Croatian / Half-Slovenian)
Initially focused exclusively on producing a comprehensive
Yugoslav identity among the populace
People of all the republics were from the same nation
Nationalism was a capitalist construct

Eventually began to lose touch with incorporating the different


groups together
Did not foster travel between republics nor cultural exchange
(Djilas, 1995)

Inciting Violence
Slobodan Milosevic
"At home and abroad, Serbia's enemies are massing against us. We say to
them 'We are not afraid'. 'We will not flinch from battle' (Percy, 1995)
Took on a political campaign to limit autonomy of Kosovo, which made him
popular among Serbs
1989 Kosovo Miners Strike

In March 1989, the crisis in Yugoslavia deepened after the adoption of


amendments to the Serbian constitution that allowed the Serbian republic's
government to re-assert effective power over Kosovo (New World
Encyclopedia, 2014)

Gazimestan Speech (June 1989)

Located at Kosovo Polje on the 600th Anniversary of Vidovdan


Nearly 2 million Serbs from around the world were present
Milosevic was surrounded by ornately-robed Orthodox bishops
"After six centuries we are again waging struggle and confronting battles.
These are not armed struggles, though that cannot yet be excluded. Milosevic
He identified with a holy cause and invoked a spirit of violence (Branson &
Doder, 1999)

Reaction to Milosevic
Croatian and Slovenian leaders supported the Miners Strike
Milosevic countered that these leaders were endorsing Slovene and
Kosovar separatism

Communist Parties for each republic met to discuss voting


Croatian and Slovenian delegates left early because of a lack of
cooperation by the Serbs, leading to multiparty systems

Franjo Tuman elected in Croatia on the promise to protect Croatia


from Milosevic
Serbian separatists in the south of Croatia demanded to join with
Milosevic
Milosevic claimed that this was necessary because otherwise they would
have been treated as they were by the Ustase government of WWII

As warmongering continued, Slovenia and Croatia held referendums


on declaring independence, and then proceeded to do so.
(New World Encyclopedia, 2014)

Works Cited
Beiber, F., & Daskalovski, Z. (2003). Understanding the War in Kosovo . Portland: Frank Cass Publishers.
Bertsch, G. K. (1977). Ethnicity and Politics in Socialist Yugoslavia. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Bloy, M. (2013). Austria-Hungary 1870-1914. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from A Web of English History:
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/aus-hun.htm
Coffey, J., & Matthews, C. T. (2002). Religion, law, and the role of force: a study of their influence on conflict and on conflict resolution. Ardsley, NY:
Transnational Publishers.
Djilas, A. (1995, July/August). Tito's Last Secret: How Did He Keep the Yugoslavs Together? Foreign Affairs.
Djordjevich, D. (1999). The Role of St. Vitus's Day in Modern serbia. Retrieved November 2, 2014, from Kosovo:
http://www.kosovo.net/history/dorich_kosovo/kosovo18.htm
Doder, D., & Branson, L. (1999). Milosevic. The New York Times.
Dorich, W. (1999). The Role of St. Vitus's Day in Modern Serbia. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from Kosovo.net:
http://www.kosovo.net/history/dorich_kosovo/kosovo18.htm
Dyker, D. A. (1972). The Ethnic Muslims of Bosnia--Some Socioeconomic Data. The Slavonic and East European Review.
Ferraro, V. (2011). Historical Preconditions of the Serbo-Croat Conflict. Retrieved October 17, 2014, from The Yugoslav Wars of 1991-1995:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~leu20c/worpol/hist.html
Hayden, R. M. (1996). Imagined Communities and Real Victims: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in Yugoslavia. American Ethnologist, 783801.
International Center for Transitional Justice. (2009). Transitional Justice in the Former Yugoslavia.
Jeli-Buti, F. (1977). Ustae i Nezavisna Drava Hrvatska: 1941-1945. kolska Knjiga.
Johnston, D., & Eastvold, J. (n.d.). Religion in the Bosnian Conflict. Retrieved October 17, 2014, from International Center for Religion and
Diplomacy: http://icrd.org/rp24/
Monnesland, S. (2013). National Symbols in Multinational States. Oslo: Sypress Forlag.
New World Encyclopedia. (2014). Yugoslavia. Retrieved October 17, 2014, from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/yugoslavia#Collapse
Omer, A., & Springs, J. A. (2013). Religious Nationalism. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Perica, V. (2002). Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Petrovich, M. (1967). Austrian History Yearbook, 217.
Radu, M. (1998). The burden of Eastern Orthodoxy. Orbis, 283.
Ramet, S. (2002). Balkan babel: the disintegration of Yugoslavia from the death of Tito to the fall of Milosevic. Boulder: Westview Press.
Remembering Srebrenica. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2014, from http://srebrenica.org.uk/
Shriver, D. (2001). Bosnia in Fear and Hope. World Policy Journal.
Slack, J. A., & Doyon, R. R. (2001). Population Dynamics and Susceptibility for Ethnic Conflict: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journal of
Peace Research.
Percy, N. (Producer). (1995). The Death of Yugoslavia [Motion Picture].
Thomas, R. G. (2003). Yugoslavia unraveled: sovereignty, self-determination, intervention. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Velikonja, M. (2003). Religious separation and political intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.
Vrcan, S. (1998). Transition, War, and Religion. Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 153-172.

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