On Thursday, February 20th, 2014, at the International University of Sarajevo (IUS), Vjeran Kursar, a profesor in the Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy, at the University of Zagreb visited. Dr. Kursar held a lecture on the topic „Building a church in the reign of Sultan: Franciscan way of restoring the church during the Ottoman Empire in Bosnia.“
During the lecture, Profesor Kursar spoke of the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and mentioned Ahdnama as a very important document and proof of democracy during that time. When Sultan Mehmed II conquered Bosnia, a representative of the Bosnian Franciscans, Anđeo Zvizdović greeted Sultan Mehmed II Fatih at Milodraževo near Fojnica, admitted him as a new master of Bosnia and asked that his monks be given religious property and freedom of action.
Sultan Mehmed who had already been moved, released Ahdnama. Ahdnama, with a historical and legal point of view, was of great importance, because for the Bosnian Franciscans from the very beginning of Turskih rule provided not only basic human rights: freedom of personality, religion, property, movement and association, but also the freedom to visit Franciscan institutions by their elders from the outside -said Prof. Vjeran Kursar. In his presentation, Profesor Kursar commented on the activites of the Franciscans during the Ottoman rule.
The Franciscans during the Ottoman rule in Bosnia were the only true pastors and representatives of the Croation population in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Istanbul was frequently travelled to in order to obtain a firman (decree of the sultan) who was among other things, of that time a permit for construction and repair of church buildings -said Kursar. Vjeran Kursar completed his studies in history and turkology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. He received his MA in 2007 at Bilkent University in Ankara (Turkey), where he attended postgraduate studies in „Ottoman history.“ In 2008, he began his doctoral studies in „Croation history“ at the Department of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. Since 2004, he has been employed at the Department of Philosophy, University of Zagreb as a researcher on the project „Ethnic and Cultural Identities in Croatia and Construction of the Croatian nation.“
