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Turkish Croatia (Template:Lang-hr), was a geographical term and period neologism, which can be viewed as hapax legomenon, invented by Austro-Hungarian military geographers sometime during 17th to 19th century Ottoman–Habsburg wars, for the part of the contested territory in present day Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically region of Bosanska Krajina (Krajina = Template:Lang-en; during Medieval Bosnia known as Donji Kraji (Template:Lang-en) and Zapadne Strane (Template:Lang-en)).

The territory of so-called "Turkish Croatia" was depicted as roughly comprising the land area between the rivers Vrbas in the east, Sava in the northeast, Una in the northwest, as well as Dinara mountain in the south, including the Cazinska krajina pocket in the far west. Parts of Lika, Banovina and northern Dalmatia were also parts of Turkish Croatia, when its borders went further west.

The term started appearing again in recent times, since 1990's, only in Croatian far-right nationalist political discourse, without any impact at all on mainstream politics or academic research.

History

In Austro-Hungarian military maps from the 16th to 19th century the so-called "Turkish Croatia" appeared as a borderland to Military Frontier, a Habsburg-controlled part of present-day Croatia, which was administered directly from Vienna's military headquarters. In the 19th century, following the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, and transfer of the Bosnia Vilayet to Austrian rule at Berlin Congress in 1878, the term "Turkish Croatia" became redundant, as it no longer served its purpose, and disappeared from official usage. The entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina came under a direct rule of the Viennese government, and since 1908 annexation became a new Crown land.

The term started appearing in unconventional, colloquial usage among some Austria-Hungarian military and political map-makers, in correlation to Ottoman retreat and Austria-Hungarian expansion, and subsequently in military and Geo-strategical maps. From here it found its way into narrative of peculiar Croatian far-right national movement based on a constructs, similar to one in Serbia with an expression "Srpske zemlje" (Template:Lang-en), here of so-called "Hrvatske zemlje" (Template:Lang-en) and "Hrvatsko državno pravo" (Template:Lang-en), propagated by a Party of Rights, and was typically exploited for the purpose of Geopolitical expression of territorial ambitions and expansionist aspirations of both Austria-Hungary and later Croatia, via transposition of these "rights" on Bosnia and Herzegovina and its historic territory.

Although rarely, it was used for romanticized historiography, as well as in the phantasmagoric politics of "National awakening" and "National integration" of late 19th to early 20th century Croatia. In first half of 20th century with a rise of nationalist fervor, up to the time and establishment of fascist NDH in 1940's, this term appeared again sporadically: with romantic sloganeering of Nedeljko Mihanović, in journalistic and political elaboration in regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina by Frano Milobar, in geopolitical contemplation by Ivo Pilar and Filip Lukas, while getting politically operationalized by Ante Starčević, and in 1940's Frank and Ante Pavelić.

In more recent times, with a rise of Franjo Tuđman and establishment of Republic of Croatia in 1990's, the term was revived only as part of Croatian far-right nationalist political discourse, with little if any impact on mainstream politics, political geography and historiography, or any other academic research for that matter. The term never took hold outside the scope of political extremism and academic fringes.

Maps

• "Turkish Croatia" (Türkisch Croatien) on a Austro-Hungarian military map from 1813.
• An 1827 map of the Ottoman conquest in Europe - A. Finley ("Turkish Croatia" in yellow).

See also

• Ottoman period in the history of Croatia
• Donji Kraji
• Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bosnia Eyalet

External links

• Fortresses in Turkish Croatia /page 56/ (in German)
• Geology books on Turkish Croatia from the 19th century (in Croatian)
• Cover of the August Kaznačić book „Bosnia, Herzegovina and Turkish Croatia“ from 1862 (in Italian)

• Ottoman period in the history of Croatia
• Ottoman period in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina