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This page is about a region in Serbia and Montenegro; for districts of the Ottoman Empire, see Sanjak.
Sandžak is a region of Serbia and Montenegro. Occasionally Serbs refer to it as Raka-Polimlje or simply Raka. It derives its name from the former Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman administrative district that covered a portion of what is referred to as the Sandzak today. It roughly corresponds to an amalgamation of, what are today, three mostly Muslim Serbian counties (Novi Pazar, Tutin, Sjenica) and three Orthodox (Nova Varos, Prijepolje and Priboj), two Montenegrin Muslim counties (Plav and Rozhaje) and three more Orthodox (Bijelo Polje, Pljevlja and Berane). It stretches from the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohia on an area of 8,686 square kilometers.
The Sandžak has the largest population of Bosniaks outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 1991 census, it was inhabited by 440,000 people of whom 228,000 (52%) were Muslims and 198,000 (45%) Serbs or Montenegrins.
Until the First Balkan War, the Sandžak was a part of the Ottoman Empire. During the centuries of Turkish rule the Sanjak of Novi Pazar was a part of the Province of Bosnia before coming under the Vilayet of Kosovo. In October 1912, the Sandžak was conquered by Serbian and Montenegrin troops and subsequently absorbed into the independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro, with its territory divided between the two states. In 1918, Serbia and Montenegro united before creating the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Many Bosniak inhabitants of the Sandžak emigrated to Turkey and the Middle East as muhajirs. According to Sandzak Bosniaks, over a million Turks have Sandžak origins or ancestry. Although emigration to Turkey was present, and several notable Turks have some Sandzak roots, these figures are highly unlikely.
The Yugoslav wars of the 1990s left the Sandžak largely unscathed, although the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo led to ethnic tensions and (in the latter case) bombing by NATO forces. According to Sandžak Bosniak political parties, some 60,000-80,000 Bosniaks emigrated from the region during this period. Census data shows a general exodus of all nationalities from this underdevelopped region.
The Muslim National Council of Sandžak represented the region at the UNPO since 1993. This political pressure group organized a referendum in October 1991 where 98% of the voters opted in favour of autonomy. The Council claims a 69% turnout although this is fairly unlikely and has not been verified by an independent body.
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