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Sandžak (Region, Serbia and Montenegro)

Last modified: 2005-02-19 by ivan sache
Keywords: sandzak | fleur-de-lys: 3 (yellow) | crescents: 3 (yellow) | stars: 3 (yellow) |
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Presentation of Sandžak

The region of Sandžak is a wide area on borders between Montenegro and Serbia, south eastern of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the region that has remained in Ottoman Empire for the longest time, and it is heavily Muslim populated.

The name of Sandžak means ... flag.
Looking into a dictionary of foreign words used in Croatian (Bratoljub Klaic Rijecnik stranih rijeci,NZMH, 1978, Zagreb), I found this definition for sandžak (my translation):

sandžak, Turkish,

  1. flag
  2. region, administrative unit during Turkish rule and its head (also sandžak-beg)
  3. military unit

Željko Heimer, 14 November 1995

The region was formerly named Sanjak of Novi Pazar. It is interesting that the name has been shortened to just Sandžak these days.

Josh Fruhlinger, 15 November 1995

Flag of Sandžak

The coat of arms of Sandžak is used by Sandžak separatists, and I have seen it on some unofficial stamps from the region.
However, I have still not seen the emblem used on a flag. It is certainly not used in Sandžak itself, still under Serbo-Montenegrine administration. So the emblem is used by Sandžaklias abroad, mostly in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany. I assume that it is used on white field in analogy with the former Bosnian flag, but this is not confirmed

Željko Heimer, 21 June 1999

I have read that this flag has been finaly suggested and adopted. This is the flag of Sandžak and Bosnian minority in Serbia and Montenegro. The flag is very similar to the former flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, white with the coat of arms in the middle.

Marko Vucić, 26 May 2004

Coat of arms of Sandžak

[Coat of arms of Sandzak]by Željko Heimer & Jorge Candeias

The cot of arms of Sandžak is similar to the former arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was derived from it. The difference is the upper triangle, which is replaced with a field of another colour (blue, black, green were reported), with fleurs-de-lys in it replaced with crescents (also reported with or without the stars). Several different crescent arrangements were reported, too.
The image above is the lattest redention of the Sandžak coat of arms I have received from Velid-aga Jerlagić from Sarajevo. He claimed that this is the right design used by Sandžaklias and that the other reported designs are erroneous.

Željko Heimer, 17 January 1998