Kozarac

Kozarac Козарац
Settlement
Mutnik Mosque in Kozarac
Interactive map of Kozarac
Coordinates: 44°58′00″N 16°50′00″E / 44.96667°N 16.83333°E / 44.96667; 16.83333
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Entity	Republika Srpska
Region	Bosanska Krajina
City	Prijedor
Population  (2013 census)
• Total	4,397
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	79202
Area code	+387 52

Kozarac (Serbian Cyrillic: Козарац) is a settlement and small town in the City of Prijedor, in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the Bosanska Krajina region, near the south-western slopes of Kozara mountain and east of the urban centre of Prijedor. Administratively, Kozarac belongs to the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 2013 census data published on the Bosnia and Herzegovina census portal, Kozarac had 4,397 inhabitants.¹

Kozarac is also the centre of the local community of Kozarac. The official local-community area includes Kozarac itself and the surrounding areas of Brđani, Dera and Hrnići.²

Kozarac lies in north-western Bosnia, in the wider Potkozarje area below Kozara mountain. It is situated on the road corridor between Prijedor and Banja Luka, and serves as a local centre for nearby settlements in the eastern part of the Prijedor area. The nearby Kozara National Park is one of the best-known natural and recreational areas of Bosanska Krajina.

The settlement is part of the wider historical and geographical region of Krajina, an area of north-western Bosnia known for its hilly terrain, river valleys and proximity to the Sava basin. Kozarac is closely associated with the slopes and foothills of Kozara, which separate parts of the Prijedor area from the wider Banja Luka region.

The Kozarac area has a long history of settlement. Local historical accounts record Kozarac under older forms of the name and associate it with the medieval Sana region.³ During the medieval period, the wider Bosanska Krajina area was influenced by shifting regional powers before the Ottoman expansion into north-western Bosnia.

Under Ottoman rule, Kozarac developed as a local administrative and military centre. It was associated with the Kozarac captaincy, one of the Ottoman-era military-administrative units in Bosnia.³ Remains of older fortifications, including the tower commonly known as the Kozarac Kula, are among the settlement's historical landmarks.

After the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, Kozarac gradually lost some of its earlier administrative importance as Prijedor developed into the main urban centre of the area. During the twentieth century, Kozarac remained a local centre for the surrounding settlements of Potkozarje.

Kozarac was heavily affected during the Bosnian War. After Bosnian Serb forces took control of Prijedor municipality on 30 April 1992, non-Serb civilians in the municipality were removed from positions of authority and later subjected to persecution, internment, detention and expulsion. According to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), thousands of non-Serb civilians from Prijedor municipality were confined in the Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje camps, where prisoners were subjected to severe mistreatment, including beatings, torture, rape, sexual assault and executions.⁴

The ICTY identified Kozarac as one of the villages in Prijedor municipality where killings of Muslims took place during the 1992 campaign.⁴ In the Duško Tadić case, the Trial Chamber found that Tadić participated in the attack on Kozarac and the surrounding areas, and in the collection and forced transfer of civilians to detention camps.⁵

After the war, Kozarac became known as one of the most significant examples of refugee return and reconstruction by displaced people in north-western Bosnia. Research and reporting on the post-war period describe Kozarac as a community where former residents and members of the Bosnian diaspora played an important role in rebuilding homes, institutions and community life.⁶

According to the 1991 census, Kozarac had 4,045 inhabitants. The 2013 census recorded 4,397 inhabitants in the settlement.¹

The settlement forms part of the wider demographic and cultural area of Prijedor and Bosanska Krajina. Like many communities in north-western Bosnia, Kozarac was shaped by population movements during the Bosnian War and by post-war return from the diaspora.

Kozarac has a distinct local identity connected with Kozara mountain, the old town centre, religious buildings, post-war reconstruction and the wider Kozarac diaspora. The settlement is near Kozara National Park, which offers marked walking paths, cycling routes and other recreational activities.⁷

Local landmarks include mosques, the old Kozarac tower, older Ottoman-era remains and the surrounding rural landscape of Potkozarje.

• Eldin Jakupović, Bosnian-born Swiss footballer, born in Kozarac.⁸
• Vehid Gunić, Bosnian journalist, writer and television presenter, born in Kozarac.⁹