The claims in which I am willing to make regarding BiH are regarded objectively as dubious, however this does not phase my interests. The modern characterization for the geo-political construct of "Bosnian Croats" is fundamentally rooted in those which are practitioners of the Catholic faith. This, indeed accurately portrays those of the Croatian cultural recension within BiH while on the contrary it does not by-fact encompass the entire Croatian national consciousness in BiH as it is overlapped with that in which is artificially created. That for which is artificially created can be deemed as Bosnjakism or the belief that the Bosniak people have succeeded the old Bosnian civic identity present in the region. I have addressed this in the following video which will be linked, as it is out of my interest to repeat my claims. Here I would like people to rate that for which I have presented and apply criticism to it, I will respond accordingly. If anybody is curious regarding the sources I have used for any sort of claim then I will elaborate on them.

https://youtu.be/BdBdxSP3Z-8

Speaking of artificial, I am not a fan of AI narration for videos.

Having said that, I think we all agree that the people in Sarajevo are trying to push the idea that somehow they are the successors of the old kingdom of Bosnia and that the idea of say Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a foreign concept and that these people should really be considered ethnic Bosnian Catholics.

The main argument used is that in the 19th century the term Croatian spread into Bosnia and Herzegovina and that before that they considered themselves Bosnian. The problem with that argument is that we don't know to what degree any one in 1800 identified themselves be it in Bosnia and Herzegovina or the rest of Croatia. They may have identified more with the location they lived than anything else. Also, the other problem with this argument is that Sarajevo forgets that during the 1800s people across Europe were trying to define themselves in modern terms. The modern idea of being German or French date from this time and local identities were absorbed into the new nation. Bavarians and Saxons became German, Normans became French. You get the idea.

The idea of Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina becoming Croatian is really not all that unusual or unprecedented at that time, especially when compared to the unification of Italy in 1871 where areas that did not even speak the same languages became part of a new Italian state. At that time, noted Italian politician Massimo d'Azeglio stated “We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians." Croatians in BiH are linguistically the same as the rest of Croatia with different local traditions. Also Croatia is culturally diverse and we would all agree someone from Ilok would be culturally closer to someone in Derventa than either of them would be to anyone in Istria and that someone in Dubrovnik would be culturally closer to someone in Stolac than either would be to someone from Hrvatsko Zagorje. Yet, the persons from Zagorje, Dubrovnik, Istria and Ilok all identify as the same - Croatian - so why not someone from Derventa and Stolac?

Let's also not forget what kind of shape the Catholics in BiH were in during the 19th Century. In 1800 did Catholics in BiH have bishops in the country? No. Did they have political parties? No. Higher education? No. Own their land? No. The Catholics of Bosnia and Herzegovina were third class citizens of the Ottoman Empire. It is only after the Croatians started the Herzegovinian uprising in 1875 that things start catching up with the rest of Europe and the fortunes of Croatians in BiH start looking better.

Let's be clear on one thing here: Sarajevo did not liberate us. We did it ourselves.

We need to push back on a lot of this stuff that comes out from certain circles like this below. I see that a lot of this stuff keeps popping up in their media and mainstream. I sense that there is a desire to reduce Croatians in BiH to just Catholics that they can parade in front of the foreign press at Christmas and Easter to show people how tolerant and diverse BiH is.

https://m.facebook.com/bosanskiprijatelj/posts/1664381993811761/?refsrc=deprecated&_rdr

We don't owe Sarajevo that.

I agree with the vast majority of that in which you are claiming except I would like to make the point that the video's goal was not to address contemporary Croatians in BiH as foreign peoples but rather that THEY are the successors of the Roman Catholic population to a LARGER DEGREE Than those In which are Muslims today inhabiting BiH.

I also agree that contemporary Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the successors of the medieval, pre-Ottoman Roman Catholic population and have also preserved the memory of the old Kingdom of Bosnia better than people in Sarajevo claim to.

Anyone willing to do basic research about the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina will see that. Contemporary BiH Croats have preserved the history of the old kingdom of Bosnia in our monasteries, we have preserved old pre-Ottoman names for towns and areas like Usora, Soli, Uskoplje, Rama, Brotnjo...

Look at where contemporary Croatians live(d) in BiH, many places are of historical significance to the old Bosnian kingdom and part of its core: Rama, Jajce, Travnik, Kraljeva Sutjeska, Fojnica, Vareš, Kresevo, not to mention old towns like Livno or Tomislavgrad (Duvno) where the first Croatian king was crowned. Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić was born in Kotor Varoš. Bihać was never part of the old Bosnian Kingdom even at its maximum. The Ottomans take it in 1592 - over 100 years after the old Bosnian kingdom falls. Neum is given to the Ottomans almost 100 years after that.

The last thing you want to do when creating an identity is to let someone else - especially a group that's numerically smaller to lay claim to that. That's why we see the fight to claim the past. Sarajevo thinks that they are the rightful heirs to the old Bosnian kingdom. Contemporary Croatian in BiH know otherwise.

Hence the need by Sarajevo to try and strip Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina of their identity and turn them to being just ordinary Bosnian Catholics. Sarajevo basically would be able to the say that they alone dominate Bosnia and that the Catholics in Bosnia are a remnant link/bridge to the pre-Ottoman Bosnia...

I remember reading this somewhere on another forum and I am going to paraphrase it here, but I think it makes perfect sense in the context of this conversation. The Bosnians who ceased to exist when the Ottomans arrived, and the Bosnians who arose from the arrival of the Ottomans are not the same.

This quote which you have provided at the bottom is a great summary of our claims and I agree with you however I am less inclined to make Bosniaks in contemporary era submit to Croatdom. You possibly may have already have had been to Travnik, Vares, Bugojno or other parts of BiH which have derived their core historical value from Croats... these places are Salafist infested shitholes. I can make the same exact claim with Bosanska Krajina which in the past had been as we know Turska Hrvatska even in the 19th century, and even before such a time almost completely constructed by Croats like Babonici. Infact it is hard to claim such a region as "Bosnian" In of itself as such a region had been apart of Croatia proper hence its name Turska Hrvatska in the past.

In the video I am not so much claiming contemporary Bosniaks the same as the ones we have seen prior to Ottoman occupation, as the term Bosniak had been used for all inhabitants of Bosnia and according to Mustafa Aali synonymous with the term "Croat". With that being said I believe that the contemporary Bosniaks or really Bosnian Muslims which reject Croatdom can have their own Bosnjakistan that being the Tuzla-Zenica-Sarajevo triangle while Croats should create an entity encompassing all contemporary Bosnian Croat territory including some inhabited by ******.

I was not trying to suggest that anyone submit to Croatdom but rather the issues that contemporary Croatian identity in BiH poses to people in Sarajevo.

The thinking in Sarajevo is that the state and identity should be centralized and that everything should come from the top down. "We will decide what is best for you."

This, from a group that was dumb enough to let their capital city get surrounded...

Not to mention if you are trying to break down and assimilate contemporary Croatians under the banner of Bosnian-ism the last thing you want to see is anything that reinforces the position of Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Then people wonder why Sarajevo is against letting Croatians pick their own representatives, or against the creation of new majority Croatian municipalities or why they won't allow a federal Croatian TV channel. I'm sure they would have tried to stop the creation of the university in Mostar if they could. These are things that reinforce Croatian identity in the country and as we have seen the message from Sarajevo has been to marginalize Croatians and their contributions and vilify Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Having said that, Croatians are expected to forget the statement by Alija Izetbegovic "this is not our war" and the failure of Sarajevo to come to the aid of Croatians when the JNA and Serbs burned Ravno to the ground in 1991. Then people wonder why Croatians formed their own army in BiH, because they had no faith in the state that it would protect them.

Sarajevo has done very little since the war ended to try and restore the Croatian people's faith in the government and its institutions.

Speaking of the Croatian entity, we have a great discussion about it in English here: english/the-croatian-entity-t4470.html

Yes this thread you have suggested is one which is indeed great, Alija and those which succeeded him have it in their interests to torment a constituent people. We are reaching a boiling point, lets see what happens next. We Croats are always willing to serve our nation.