BOŠNJACI NA OTOKU KRKU I U GRADU BUZETU
BOSNIAKS ON THE ISLAND OF KRK AND IN THE TOWN OF BUZET

Summary/Abstract: First Muslims arrived to the island Krk during sixties in the twentieth century. Their arrival on the island was primarily associated with the need for searching jobs and better quality of life in Croatia compared to Bosnia and Hercegovina. In a similar way, Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina arrived in the Labin area, where they worked in the mines. They also settled in the area of Istrian town Pula, where they were employed in the Uljanik shipyard, and in Rijeka, where they worked in the shipyard 3rd May. In Buzet they were employed in various construction companies, which was also the case in some other parts of Croatia (Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Gunja and Kordun area) which are not studied in this paper. Their number has, during a period of a little more than twenty years (between 1948 and 1971), increased in the entire Croatia for few hundred times. In 1971 there exsisted only one single person who declared as a Muslim in the whole commune of Buzet, and that number rose to 12 persons in 1981, and in 1991 to 108 persons. In the island of Krk area in 1991, there were only 272 Muslims. In the new environment Muslims were not discriminated, and they entered into mixed marriages. The arrival of democratic movement changed the relationship of the majority (Croats) towards Muslims (which after 1993 became Bosniaks). Discrimination, problems with obtaining citizenship, employment dismissal based on ethnicity and religion are just some of the problems that occur in relations between Bosniaks and the majority population in Croatia during the 1990s war. In spite of following circumstances the Bosniaks participated in large numbers in the Croatian defense. In the after war period, the author concludes that Bosniaks on the Krk island and in Buzet became well organized in the political, religious and cultural spheres.

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