Jahja Fehratović (; born 29 March 1982) is a Serbian politician and academic. He is a prominent figure in the country's Bosniak community.
Fehratović was the leader of the Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandžak (BDZ Sandžak) from the party's formation in 2013 until December 2017, when it was reconstituted as the Justice and Reconciliation Party (SPP) under the leadership of Chief Mufti Muamer Zukorlić. He was a vice-president of the SPP from 2017 to 2023, when he left the party. Fehratović served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2016 to 2024 and has been a member of the Bosniak National Council.
Early life and academic career Fehratović was born in Novi Pazar, in the Sandžak region of what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He attended elementary and secondary school in the city, earned a bachelor's degree in Bosnian literature and the Bosnian language at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007), and later received a master's degree (2012) and a Ph.D. (2013) from Zukorlić's International University of Novi Pazar. His master's thesis was on the poetics and politics of revolutionary poetry, and his Ph.D. was on the literary-historical and poetic characteristics of Sandžačkobošnjačke literature. He began working at the International University of Novi Pazar's department of philology in 2009, is a published poet and novelist, and is an active publisher of historical Bosniak literature.JAHJA FEHRATOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 4 October 2017.PREDSJEDNIK: Jahja Fehratović , Bošnjačka demokratska zajednica Sandžaka, accessed 21 April 2017.Jahja Fehratović, Justice and Reconciliation Party, accessed 24 September 2022.
Politician Fehratović was a leading member of the Bosniak Democratic Union (BDZ) in the early 2010s.
In 2010, Serbia organized its first direct elections for the country's national minority councils. The electoral list of Zukorlić's Bosniak Cultural Community group won seventeen seats in the election for the Bosniak National Council, as against thirteen for the Bosniak List led by Sulejman Ugljanin and five for the Bosniak Renaissance list of Rasim Ljajić. The results were extremely contentious, and the legitimacy of the Bosniak Cultural Community's victory was contested by both the Serbian government and Ugljanin's party. Zukorlić's group held a constituent session for the council on 7 July 2010, which was also attended by two delegates from Bosniak Renaissance. This iteration of the council continued to meet afterward but was not recognized by the Serbian government.Gordana Andric, "Serbia Reshuffle Fuels Bosniak Council Vote Confusion", Balkan Insight, 17 March 2011, accessed 21 April 2017.Izvještaj o formiranju Bošnjačke kulturne zajednice i izborima za Bošnjačko nacionalno vijeće, Bosniak Cultural Community, accessed 9 October 2022. Fehratović, who had not been a candidate in the 2010 election, was appointed as chair of the breakaway council's language and letters committee in December 2010. Later in the same month, he was chosen as president of the Bosniak Cultural Community.Izvještaj o formiranju Bošnjačke kulturne zajednice i izborima za Bošnjačko nacionalno vijeće, Bosniak Cultural Community, accessed 9 October 2022.
Zukorlić ran for president of Serbia as an independent candidate in the 2012 presidential election, and Fehratović ran his campaign headquarters.JAHJA FEHRATOVIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 21 April 2017. The following year, the BDZ split into two rival factions, respectively led by Zukorlić and party leader Emir Elfić. The pro-Zukorlić wing of the party held a convention in early 2013 that deposed Elfić and elected Fehratović in his place. Elfić rejected the convention as illegitimate, describing it as constituting an act of "aggression" against the BDZ."Serbian paper looks at rifts in Bosniak party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 April 2013 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 1 Apr 13). These events ultimately led to party split, and in late 2013 Zukorlić's supporters coalesced as the BDZ Sandžak with Fehratović as party leader.BDZ Sandžaka – Sa novom snagom i novim ljudima spremna za izbore, Elektronske Novine Sandžak Press, 25 December 2015, accessed 21 April 2017. Note: the author of this article was strongly aligned with the BDZ Sandžak.
The Serbian government held a new election for the Bosniak National Council in 2014. Fehratović appeared in the lead position on Zukorlić's For Bosniaks, Sandžak and the Mufti list; the only other list to appear on the ballot was Ugljanin's For Bosniak Unity. Ugljanin's list won the election, nineteen seats to sixteen.Избори за чланове националног савета бошњачке националне мањине, одржани 26. октобра и 2. новембра 2014. године (непосредни избори), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 18 May 2024. Fehratović charged electoral fraud, saying that all of the overseers for a special second ballot in Tutin had been members of Ugljanin's Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak (SDA)."Bosniak party chief declares election victory in minority councils elections," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 November 2014 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0000 gmt 3 Nov 14). Ultimately, however, he accepted his list's defeat and agreed to serve in opposition."Serbia's new ethnic council to resolve disputes among Bosniaks - chairman," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 December 2014 (Source: Politika website, Belgrade, in Serbian 27 Nov 14).
Fehratović condemned the physical threats made against Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić at a 2015 commemoration for the victims of the Srebrenica massacre and said that those who threatened Vučić did a disservice to the Bosniak community. In making this statement, he urged a full and lasting reconciliation between Serbs and Bosniaks.Reagovanja na napad na premijera, protestna nota BiH, Radio Television of Serbia, 11 July 2015, accessed 21 April 2017.
Parliamentarian After participating in multi-party alliances for the previous two Serbian elections, the BDZ Sandžak ran its own list in the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election. Fehratović appeared in the second position, after Zukorlić, and both men were elected when the list won two mandates.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 24. април 2016. године – Изборне листе (8 МУАМЕР ЗУКОРЛИЋ / MUAMER ZUKORLIĆ - БОШЊАЧКА ДЕМОКРАТСКА ЗАЈЕДНИЦА САНЏАКА / BOŠNJAČKA DEMOKRATSKA ZAJEDNICA SANDŽAKA), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 7 April 2024. Fehratović also appeared in the second position on the party's list for the Novi Pazar city assembly in the concurrent 2016 Serbian local elections and was elected when the list won ten mandates, finishing third against Ljajić's Sandžak Democratic Party (SDP) and the SDA.Službeni List (Grada Novog Pazara), Volume 23 Number 2 (12 April 2016), p. 29.Službeni List (Grada Novog Sada), Volume 23 Number 4 (27 April 2016), p. 3.
The SPP gave outside support to Serbia's coalition government led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the 2016–20 parliament. Fehratović did not have any committee assignments in this sitting of the assembly, although he was a member of parliamentary friendship groups with Austria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, and Switzerland.JAHJA Prof. Dr FEHRATOVIC, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 24 September 2022. As religious fundamentalists opposed to the public recognition of LGBT rights, Zukorlić and Fehratović absented themselves from the assembly during the confirmation vote for the openly lesbian Ana Brnabić to become Serbia's prime minister in June 2017."Kako stoji Brnabić...", Radio-televizija Vojvodine, 18 June 2017, accessed 4 October 2017; "Srbija dobila novu Vladu: Premijerka Brnabić i članovi kabineta položili zakletvu," Sandžačka novine, 29 June 2017, accessed 4 October 2017; S.J.M., "Zukorlić: Bićemo deo vlasti, očekujemo mesta državnih sekretara", Novosti, 4 July 2017, accessed 4 October 2017.
Fehratović appeared in the second position on Zukorlić's list in the 2018 elections for the Bosniak National Council and was re-elected when the list won thirteen mandates.Избори за чланове националних савета националних мањина 2018. године, 4. новембар 2018. године – Проглашене изборне листе (Национални савет БОШЊАЧКЕ националне мањине), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 17 May 2024.Избори за чланове националних савета националних мањина 2018. године, 4. новембар 2018. године – Укупни резултати избора за националне савете националних мањина (Национални савет БОШЊАЧКЕ националне мањине), , Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 20 October 2024. Ugljanin's list once again narrowly defeated Zukorlić's, while a list affiliated with Ljajić finished third. After the election, the parties of Ugljanin and Ljajić formed a coalition administration while Zukorlić's followers remained in opposition.Filip Rudić, "Election Sees Power Shift in Serbia’s Bosniak Council", Balkan Insight, 26 November 2018.
The SPP won four seats in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election against the backdrop of a boycott by several opposition parties. Fehratović, who appeared in the fourth position on the party's list, was elected to a second term.ИЗБОРИ ЗА НАРОДНЕ ПОСЛАНИКЕ НАРОДНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, 21. ЈУН 2020. ГОДИНЕ – Изборне листе (8 Академик Муамер Зукорлић – Само право – Странка правде и помирења (СПП) – Демократска партија Македонаца (ДПМ)/ Akademik Muamer Zukorlić – Samo pravo – Stranka pravde i pomirenja (SPP) – Demokratska partija Makedonaca (DPM)/ Академик Муамер Зукорлић – Само право – Странка на правда и помиреније (СПП) – Демократска партија на Македонците (ДПМ)), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 27 October 2021. He was also re-elected to the Novi Pazar city assembly in the 2020 Serbian local elections, although he resigned his seat in the local assembly on 21 December 2020.Fehratović received the sixth position on the SPP list, which won eleven mandates. See Službeni List (Grada Novog Pazara), Volume 27 Number 7 (8 June 2020), p. 2.Službeni List (Grada Novog Pazara), Volume 27 Number 9 (23 June 2020), p. 2.Službeni List (Grada Novog Pazara), Volume 27 Number 16 (23 December 2020), p. 4 In the 2020–22 parliament, Fehratović was a deputy member of the education committee, a deputy member of Serbia's delegation to the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA), and a member of the friendship groups with Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States of America.JAHJA Prof. Dr FEHRATOVIC, , National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 24 September 2022. Muamer Zukorlić died in November 2021 and was replaced as SPP leader by his son Usame Zukorlić.