Bosna-Hersek’te Türkçe
Turkish Language in Bosnia-Hercegovina

Summary/Abstract: Bosnia is one of the countries located in Balkans where Muslim and Christian societies lived together and Slavic, Turkish and European cultures were involved in power struggles throughout centuries. Despite the bloody war that lasted from 1992 to 1995, Bosnia has been trying to preserve the Turkish-Islamic cultural heritage which was deeply affected by the Ottoman Empire. As an important element of the Turkish-Islamic cultural heritage, the existence of Turkish language in Bosnia is elaborated in the present paper. The argument is that although the Turkish language brought to Bosnia by the Ottomans was used less and less when it was a part of first Austria-Hungarian Empire and then I. and II. Yugoslavia, due to being one of the tools of Turkey’s soft power towards the Balkans, there have been positive developments concerning the use of the language after the Bosnian War.

• Details
• Contents