Yugoslav Muslim Organization

Yugoslav Muslim Organization (Serbo-Croatian: 'Jugoslavenska Muslimanska Organizacija, JMO, Југославенска Муслиманска Организација) was a Bosnian Muslim political party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was founded in Sarajevo on 16 February 1919 and was led by Mehmed Spaho.^[1][2] The party was a successor of Muslimanska Narodna Organizacija (Muslim National Organization), an conservative Bosniak party during the Austro-Hungarian era. In election campaigns the JMO did mobilize on religious slogans rather than Bosniak nationality, calling failure of Muslims to vote for the party as a sin. The party had considerable influence in Islamic religious institutions, and JMO came to dominate the political life in Bosnia. The party appealed to Muslims throughout Yugoslavia, urging them not to migrate to Turkey.^[3]

In 1921 JMO aligned itself with the governing Serbian parties. JMO wanted to achieve territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and demanded religious authonomy as well as right for the Sharia law. Their demands were given to the Constitutional Assembly and as a compromise those demands were accepted and incorporated in the Vidovdan Constitution under the so-called "Turkish Paragraph".^[4] The support of JMO was important to pass the new constitution. This alliance became short-lived though. In 1922 a new Muslim party, Yugoslav Muslim People's Organization (JMNO), was formed and overtook the role as the Muslim ally of the Serbian parties. JMNO did however fail to attract any major section of the JMO vote-bank. In 1923 the party founded the cultural organization Narodna Uzdanica.^[3]

JMO entered into a short-lived alliance with the Slovenian People's Party and the Croatian Republican Peasant Party. After the alliance the broke down in 1925, JMO found itself politically isolated and came under attack from Serbian paramilitaries. At one time the paramilitaries attempted to kill Spaho.^[3]

In 1927 the party suffered some setback in the election. After the election JMO joined a Serbian-led government. At this time the profile of JMO shifted, as it began to stress that it was a Bosnian party, rather than Muslim or Yugoslav.^[3]

JMO was banned by Alexander I, along with other parties.^[3]

Election results

Elections results in Yugoslavia, 1920-1927^[1][5]

References