Expulsion of the “Turk” - Contextualising Islamophobia in the Balkans: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

This article deals with the issue of Islamophobia in the Balkans, with a special emphasis on Bosnia and Herzegovina. The motive for discussing this topic is the analysis of political discourses and religious mythologies and the rise of nationalisms that arise from them, and which in the 90s of the 20th century led to a brutal civil war with a religious dimension. We do not claim that religious nationalisms alone ignited the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but they are certainly the key factors that contributed to the legitimisation and expansion of various aggressive interventions. The article exposes the issue of Islamophobic discourses as well as the construction of the “Other” in the specific socio-cultural and historical context in combination with the Eurocentric compression of racism that can be recognised in Orientalist discourses in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in certain cases and circumstances in Europe as such. In the second part, the article presents the Islamophobic actions that are the result of orientalist discourses, from the most exposed "expulsion of the Turk" to the fear of neo-Ottomanism, which is spread by some academic and political circles in Bosnia even today. The central motive of this article is to offer starting material for further steps in analysing causes and consequences of religio-political antagonisms and consequently the search for opportunities for creative and peaceful coexistence.

Keywords: Islamophobia, Racism, Europe, Orientalism, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Muslims, Turks, Neo-Ottomanism.