MUSLIM IDENTITY, ‘NEO-ISLAM’ AND THE 1992-95 WAR IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA S. OSMANOVIC Ph.D. 2015 ABSTRACT Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Yugoslavia was entangled in a fratricidal break-up. In none of the other former Yugoslav republics did the conflict turn as violent as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which suffered genocide, the greatest number of victims and the highest percentage of infrastructural destruction. Although its three ethnic communities – Muslims, Serbs and Croats – were previously well integrated, the break-up of Yugoslavia exposed Bosnia’s unique Islamic component, which both Serbs and Croats perceived to be the major impediment to the continuation of a pluralistic society. Islam, however, only turned into a divisive and decisive factor in the conflict when combined with ethnic nationalism. Previous research into the causes of the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the break-up of Yugoslavia has identified Bosnia’s long Islamic heritage and large Muslim population on the doorstep of Europe as specific features influencing both its rationale and resolution. Yet there has been no analysis of the role and impact of ‘neo-Islam’ (a term I explained below) in the conflict – an omission this thesis seeks to redress. The thesis uses historical analysis to demonstrate that Bosnia and Herzegovina was frequently subject to international intervention during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it explores whether the unique Islamic component was the reason behind this phenomenon, and seeks to comprehend why Bosnia and Herzegovina has always appeared to pose a problem for the international community, from the papal persecutions of the medieval Bogumils through to the present day. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations viii Acknowledgements ix Chapter One Introduction 1 1.1. Research questions 2 1.2. Methodology and data 3 1.3 Scope and limitations 5 1.4 Academic contribution 6 1.5 The research context: neo-Islamism and neoliberalism in the New World Order 7 1.6. Literature review 10 1.6.1. Literature review: travelogues of ‘ancient ethnic hatreds’ 14 1.7. The break-up of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian war 23 1.7.1. Bosnia and Herzegovina: the 1992-95 war 27 1.8. The peace settlement 37 1.9. The historical background to Bosniak nation and state building 41 iii 1.10. The structure of the thesis 46 Chapter Two Neo-Islam and Globalisation 49 2.1. Review of the relevant literature on ‘neo-Islam’ 51 2.2. The paradigm shift to neoliberalism 57 2.2.1. A Muslim chronology of globalisation 61 2.3. The state-globalisation relationship 67 2.3.1. Islam: the antecedent to globalisation 81 2.4. Conclusion 92 Chapter Three Neo-Islam and the New World Order: the Implication of the ‘Eastern Question’ for Bosnian Muslims 96 3.1. The historical context 97 3.2. Islam and the old concept of the ‘New World Order’ 101 3.3. The Bosniaks: between the Ottomans and the Europeans 107 3.4. The Tulip Reforms and the beginning of the ‘Eastern Question’ 119 3.5. Crushing the Bosnian independence movement 123 iv 3.6. The reform edict: en route to bankruptcy 127 3.7. Eliminating the ‘Muslim Question’ in Europe 138 3.8. Conclusion 147 Chapter Four Tanzimat ‘Turkification’ and Political Consciousness of Bosnian Muslim Identity 150 4.1. Towards a theoretical rationale for the inverted principle of Bosniak identity 152 4.2. The origins of Islam in Bosnia 157 4.2.1. The symbiosis between the Bogumils and Islam 163 4.3. The Austro-Hungarian annexation and occupation of Bosnia 171 4.3.1. Tanzimat ‘Turkification’ 177 4.4. Extended ‘Turkification’ in the international environment 1878-1914 182 4.5. The Bosniaks: between Serbs and Croats, 1918-40 186 4.6. The proclamation of a Yugoslav communist ‘Muslim’ nation 191 4.7. Conclusion 195 v Chapter Five The Role of Neo-Islam in the Conduct of Contemporary International Relations 198 5.1. Setting the scene for the neoliberal doctrine 199 5.1.1. Defining the new world 204 5.2. Digital cash makes the world go round 209 5.3. The Islamic socio-economic worldview 217 5.4. The Islamic response to neoliberalism 227 5.5. Conslusion: the symbiosis between neo-Islamists and neoliberals 237 Chapter Six The Role of Neo-Islam in the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina 241 6.1. The rationale behind the Islamic renaissance of the 1970s 242 6.2. Neo-Islamism in Yugoslavia, 1970-90 252 6.2.1. ‘Sarajevo Process’ 254 6.3. War and the Great Powers’ negotiated settlement for the protectorate of ‘Bosnistan’ 264 6.4. The symbiosis between the Great Powers and the neo-Islamists 268 6.4.1. The Saudi-Iranian feud by proxy in Bosnia and Herzegovina 271 vi 6.5. The Croatian arms pipeline and the ‘black flights’ 281 6.6. Conclusion 289 Chapter Seven Conclusion 295 Bibliography 303 Appendices 354 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HDZ Croatian Democratic Community IMF International Monetary Fund ICTY The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia IZ Islamic Community (Bosnia) NGO Non-Governmental Organisation OHR Office of the High Representative OIC Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (formerly Organisation of the Islamic Conference PIC Peace Implementation Council SDA Party of Democratic Action SDS Serb Democratic Party SFRJ Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia SK Savez Kominista (Communist Alliance) SKSRBiH Communist Alliance of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina SRBiH Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina TNC Transnational Coorporations TWRA Third World Relief Agency UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WB World Bank viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I was privileged to work with a number of fascinating people in the course of my research. Above all, I would like to thank my principal supervisor and director of studies, Professor Maja Korač. Her generous help and constant guidance made this thesis possible. She was the person most responsible for helping me structure the thesis. She encouraged me to challenge the research, taught me how to write academic papers, made me a better writer, exhibited confidence in me when I doubted myself, and elicited my best ideas. She was always there to listen to me and talk about my ideas, and her critical remarks benefited me beyond the proximity of this dissertation. Her support and friendship remain a continuous source of inspiration and a torch that will light my future academic path. A special thank goes to my other two supervisors Professor Stephen Hobden and Professor Peter Morey. They both showed me different ways of approaching a research problem and the need for persistence in accomplishing my goal. Their advice has been invaluable on both an academic and a personal level, for which I am extremely grateful. They proofread and marked up my papers and chapters, offering valuable and insightful comments. They asked me questions that helped me think through my problems. I thank them for being always available for me and agreeing to meet me even at short notice. I am grateful to all three of my supervisors for sharing with me their wealth of vast knowledge in their respective fields, and for their keen interest in the subject of Bosnian Muslims. Without their joint encouragement I could not have finished this thesis. I would like to thank the administrative staff at UEL, especially Phil Rees. Mr Rees offered me invaluable support throughout my studies; he was always ready to help me with letters and any other administrative concerns. His warm personality and efficiency made the UEL a good place in which to study and conduct research. I am also indebted to Dr Fran Cetti for her academic and technical help in improving the style and look of this dissertation. Besides the professionals, I would also like to thank to all my friends in England, Bosnia, America and Turkey for their help and support. I would especially like to mention my dear friend and loyal colleague Lenka Prokes, to whom I extend my deepest gratitude for playing with and amusing Emily, my eldest daughter, making bread and cakes, whilst I was struggling with deadlines. I would also like thank Mujesira and Željko, otherwise known as Grandma and Grandpa, for generously offering a helping hand, cooking and looking after my daughters, whenever I needed free time to concentrate. My parents and my brother have given me their unequivocal support throughout, as always, for which a mere expression of thanks does not suffice. I am immensely grateful to my Mum who came from Bosnia and stayed for nine months helping around the house and looking after my new baby girl, Melissa, who arrived in August 2012. I am also very proud ix of my father who – despite his fear of flying – boarded the plane to London and offered his much appreciated support whilst I was wrestling with the final revisions. I extend a big cuddle to both of my girls, Emily and Melissa, for being great babies and allowing mummy to finish her work. Finally, I would like to thank my husband Emir for his personal support and great patience at all times. I thank him for being – as always – wonderful. For any errors or inadequacies that may remain in this work, the responsibility is of course entirely my own. x CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This thesis provides a re-consideration of the Bosniaks’ identity (an ethnic name for Bosnian Muslims) and political consciousness in the period up until and during the 1992-95 war. Conducting historical analysis of related issues, this research explores the position of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosniaks in the context of the break-up of Yugoslavia, and the origins of Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its impact on the conflict.