BOSANSKI JEZIK U SRBIJI I NASTAVA NA BOSANSKOM JEZIKU U SANDŽAKU
THE BOSNIAN LANGUAGE IN SERBIA AND EDUCATION IN THE BOSNIAN LANGUAGE IN SANDŽAK

Summary/Abstract: The realization of the rights of smaller peoples and national minorities in the Republic of Serbia is consistently accompanied by periods of official and media-based contestation. This media contestation is most often followed by nationalist rhetoric and frequently by open insults. This is also the case with the Bosniak people and their right to use their mother tongue, the Bosnian language. The Bosniac National Council, as the umbrella institution of Bosniaks in the Republic of Serbia, has succeeded, in accordance with the Constitution and applicable legislation, and relying on international legal instruments ratified by Serbia, through considerable effort and commitment, in securing the fundamental rights of Bosniaks in Serbia: from the right to use the Bosnian language, to the right to education in their mother tongue, as well as the recognition of national holidays, the flag of the Sandžak Bosniaks, and other essential identity-related rights of a people. Much work still remains to be done. Foremost among the outstanding issues is the effective participation of Bosniaks in public life, as even the realization of the most basic rights continues to face periods of denial, contestation, and numerous obstacles, which are often not grounded in the legal framework, but rather represent attempts to prevent the exercise of rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws. This paper will further elaborate on the process of achieving recognition of the national name “Bosniaks” and the name of their mother tongue, the Bosnian language, as well as on the establishment of the education in the Bosnian language in the municipalities of Sandžak in Serbia.

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