[wzslider autoplay=”true”]Brčko started developing as a settlement near the old ferry on the Sava River. It is first mentioned in the 16th century, in Turkish documents.
One century later, Brčko is described as a settlement whose residents are bridge attendants and builders, boatmen and derbendžije – the so called paramilitary formation in the Ottoman Empire comprised of local population and in charge of protecting traffic in insecure places.
After the plague in the 17th and 17th century, after wars and desolation, Brčko flourished in the 19th and 20th century, when the city parts Stara (atik), Nova (džedid), Varoš and Karanfil are founded.
The city continued growing in the years that followed. At one time, Brčko was the most industrially developed city in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
However, in 1992 the terror strikes Brčko, as well. A camp was established in the city, where all those who were not Serbs or who did not support the ideology of the aggressor were taken. In the first months of the war, the aggressor removed all those “unsuitable”, all because of the significance that Brčko had in the plans for the Great Serbia, as a key part of territorial corridor.
After the war, this commercial and cultural center of the Bosnian Posavina becomes a traumatized, divided and petrified city around which all BiH parties began scrambling. The dispute of warring parties about the status of Brčko was so fierce that it was the only significant issue to which a solution could not be found during the peace negotiations in Dayton.
The hot potato called Brčko was thrown into the lap of the arbitrary tribunal and, as a temporary result, the Dayton Peace Agreement divided Brčko between the Republika Srpska (one third of the territory) and the FBiH (two thirds of the territory).
Neither the Tribunal could make an agreement about Brčko, so a special Office of High Representative and a position of supervisor for this area have been established.
Finally, on March 5, 1999 the Tribunal reaches a decision by which Brčko was declared an independent District, with powers beyond the RS and the FBiH.
Brčko District was officially declared a separated area on March 8, 2000.
Until today, a lot of work has been done in Brčko. Although more could be done, the co-existence that the people of Brčko managed to build from the ground up is immeasurable.
(Source: radiosarajevo.ba)
