Diet of Bosnia
The Diet of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbo-Croatian: Bosansko-hercegovački sabor, Босанско-херцеговачки сабор[1][2] or Sabor Bosne i Hercegovine, Сабор Босне и Херцеговине,[3] German: Landtag von Bosnien und der Hercegovina) was a representative assembly with competence over the Austro-Hungarian Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Upon the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina in the wake of the 1878 Congress of Berlin, the Bosniak, Croat and Serb people of the country were given the chance to surrender peacefully, and accept new government without a fight.
Nevertheless, the reinforced troops of the 13th Austro-Hungarian Army corps led by Lieutenant General Josip Filipović could not be stopped.
In 1908 Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his rule, in response to the Young Turks movement ordered the official annexation, sparking the Bosnian crisis which lasted until 1909.
To pacify the public of Bosnia, on February 8, 1909 the new government called for the election survey that was introduced by Baron Benko.
The first principle of the Diet was in the Emperor's letter which was the part of the annexation agreement and which described the ways of constituting the future council.
The constitution was intended to guarantee basic human rights, and thus its authority did not include the common affairs of Austria-Hungary, such as diplomatic, martial, monopolistic, and the Emperor's missions.
All the members criticized the regulations on tariffs and railroads, and they requested that Bosnian Diet have the authority over customs, indirect taxes and monopoly.
The main condition for this meeting posed by MSN was allowing for public elections, agreements and political activism.
After declaring the annexation by Gligorije Jeftanović, the fight for autonomy ended and the Bosnian-Serbian alliance quickly fell apart.
When annexation was declared and the MNO moved to the opposition, the MNS saw the opportunity to impose themselves as political representatives of the Bosnian people.
Only after a year and a half of work, when the constitution was almost ready, did the MNO declare annexation and loyalty to the governing Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.
This legal subjectivity was partly reflected by the Bosnian Council but direct participation on the level with Austria and Hungary was never allowed.
However, almost all four of the meetings they had included Serbian and Croatian nationalist arguments of their right over Bosnia and Herzegovina, which started even with the first bill concerning the opening of a postal savings bank.
This together with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914 finally led to the cessation of the meetings on July 9.
But even after the Bosnian Council was abolished, the country still had special legal and political status that was often discussed among the highest representatives of the monarchy.
Stjepan Sarkotić, the governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina during World War I, suggested forming an administrative senate instead of a Bosnian Council that would function as a sort of representative body.
The legal status of Bosnia was seriously considered with an effort to prevent the possible destruction of Austro-Hungary and to obstruct the solution of the Yugoslav question.
This failed when the Yugoslav orientated politicians of Bosnia and Herzegovina, mainly Serbs and Croats, on September 20, 1918 requested that Bosnian people be allowed to choose their own status.
