Kulović was born to an old and prominent Bosniak family of Janissaries in the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, while it was part of the Ottoman Empire.

[2] Kulović was raised in the neighborhood which bore his father's name, and where he eventually built a large house.

[3] Kulović was well-educated; in addition to his native Bosnian, he spoke Turkish, Arabic, Persian and French.

He was the mayor during the 1908 Bosnian crisis, when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire.

[4] Kulović won a third term in office in the 1910 election by an "overwhelming" majority, but refused post, thus the position was handed over to 44-year-old Fehim Čurčić.