Jahja Fehratović

Jahja Fehratović (Serbian Cyrillic: Јахја Фехратовић; born March 29, 1982), alternately spelled Yahya Fehratović, is a politician in Serbia from the country's Bosniak community. The leader of the Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandžak (Bošnjačka demokratska zajednica Sandžaka, BDZS), he has been a member of the National Assembly of Serbia since 2016 and is also a member of the Bosniac National Council.

Early life and career

Fehratović was born in the Sandžak community of Novi Pazar, Serbia, in what was then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. His party biography indicates that he attended elementary and secondary madrasa in Novi Pazar, studied Bosnian literature and the Bosnian language at the University of Sarajevo, and received a master's degree (2012) and a Ph.D. (2013) from the International University of Novi Pazar. His master's thesis was on the poetics and politics of revolutionary poetry, and his Ph.D. was on the literary-historical and poetic characteristics of Sandžačkobošnjačke literature. He has worked in the department of philology at the International University of Novi Pazar since 2009, is a published poet and novelist, and is an active publisher of historical Bosniak literature.[1]

Political career

Fehratović was a leading member of the Bosniak Democratic Union (Bošnjačka demokratska zajednica, BDZ) in the early 2010s.

In 2010, Serbia organized its first direct elections for the councils of the country's national minority communities. Fehratović contested the election for the Bosniac National Council at the head of a list called the "Bosniak Cultural Community," which was aligned with Chief Mufti Muamer Zukorlić. This list won seventeen seats, as against thirteen for the "Bosniak List" led by Sulejman Ugljanin and five for the "Bosniak Renaissance" list of Rasim Ljajić. These results proved to be extremely contentious, and the legitimacy of Zukorlić and Fehratović's victory was contested by both the Serbian government and Ugljanin's party. Fehratović was chosen as president of the Bosniac National Council's executive committee, but his leadership was not recognized by Serbia. The council's responsibilities were officially suspended, although it continued to meet in defiance of this decision.[2]

Zukorlić ran for president of Serbia as an independent candidate in the 2012 election, and Fehratović oversaw his campaign headquarters.[3] The following year, a branch of the BDZ that was aligned with Zukorlić held a special convention that deposed Emir Elfić as party leader and selected Fehratović in his place. Elfić contended that the decisions made at this convention were unlawful and constituted an act of "aggression" on the BDZ.[4] This controversy seems to have resulted in a party split; later in 2013, Fehratović was formally selected as leader of the breakaway BDZS group.[5]

A new election was organized for the Bosniac National Council in 2014, and Fehratović contested the election as the leader of a list called "For Bosniaks, Sandzak and the Mufti." This list was defeated, nineteen seats to sixteen, by Ugljanin's "For Bosniak Unity," the only other party on the ballot.[6] Fehratović alleged electoral fraud, charging that all of the overseers for a special second ballot in Tutin were members of Ugljanin's Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak.[7] Ultimately, Fehratović accepted his list's defeat and agreed to serve in opposition; in so doing, he said that Ugljanin would need to break his connections to Adem Zilkić, one of Zukorlić's rivals in the Islamic Community in Serbia, if the two rival groups were to cooperate in the assembly.[8]

Fehratović condemned the attack on Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić at the 2015 commemoration for the victims of the Srebrenica massacre, saying that those who threatened the prime minister did a disservice to the Bosniak community. He also used the occasion to urge a full and lasting reconciliation between the Serbian and Bosniak communities.[9]

The BDZS ran its own electoral list for the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election, and Fehratović received the second position, following Zukorlić.[10] The list won two parliamentary mandates, and Zukorlić and Fehratović were duly declared elected. While Fehratović remains leader of the BDZS, both he and Zukorlić serve in the assembly as independents and are not part of any parliamentary group. Fehratović is a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Austria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Russia, and Switzerland.[11]

References

  1. ↑ PREDSJEDNIK: Jahja Fehratović, Bošnjačka demokratska zajednica Sandžaka, accessed 21 April 2017.
  2. ↑ Gordana Andric, "Serbia Reshuffle Fuels Bosniak Council Vote Confusion", Balkan Insight, 17 March 2011, accessed 21 April 2017.
  3. ↑ JAHJA FEHRATOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 21 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Serbian paper looks at rifts in Bosniak party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 April 2013 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 1 Apr 13).
  5. ↑ BDZ Sandžaka – Sa novom snagom i novim ljudima spremna za izbore, Elektronske Novine Sandžak Press, 25 December 2015, accessed 21 April 2017. This source is strongly aligned with the BDZ-S.
  6. ↑ Избори за чланове националног савета бошњачке националне мањине, одржани 26. октобра и 2. новембра 2014. године (непосредни избори), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 21 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Bosniak party chief declares election victory in minority councils elections," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 November 2014 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0000 gmt 3 Nov 14).
  8. ↑ "Serbia's new ethnic council to resolve disputes among Bosniaks - chairman," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 December 2014 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 27 Nov 14).
  9. ↑ Reagovanja na napad na premijera, protestna nota BiH, Radio Television of Serbia, 11 July 2015, accessed 21 April 2017.
  10. ↑ Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (МУАМЕР ЗУКОРЛИЋ / MUAMER ZUKORLIĆ - БОШЊАЧКА ДЕМОКРАТСКА ЗАЈЕДНИЦА САНЏАКА / BOŠNJAČKA DEMOKRATSKA ZAJEDNICA SANDŽAKA), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
  11. ↑ JAHJA FEHRATOVIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 21 April 2017.
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