Осман Ђикић и његов Гајрет
Osman Đikić and his Struggle

Summary/Abstract: The second half of the 19th century was shaped by a number of historical and political changes in the Balkan South Slavic area. Muslim Ottoman Empire was increasingly retreating before the national movements of the Balkan Christians, leaving them to create their own future within their new nation-states. Besides those new nation-states, the empire left behind the numerous indigenous Balkan populations that have been forced for centuries to live under the sultan’s turban. Although the greater part of these people, especially Christians, could hardly wait for a new life in their own national states, there were also those who saw their own downfall in empires’ withdrawal and ending of common traditions and the way of life. That was also indigenous population of South Slavic origin in the Balkans which, during the Ottoman rule, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, took the Islamic faith and became Muslim. Their main problem was continuation of identification of their religious and national identity even after the withdrawal of Turks. However, the younger generations of Muslims who didn’t remember the Ottoman period, sought to break this tradition and started to identify themselves with the Serbian, Croatian and later the Yugoslav national identification, based on a common language and origin. The most famous among them was Osman Đikić who dedicated his whole life to the struggle for the unification of the Orthodox and the Muslims. He fought this fight through his patriotic poetry and later also through political engagements.

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