Bosniak Cultural Community changes name and logo: 'Preporod' removed, Kodrić and Filandra behind decision

(Patria) - The Assembly of the Bosniak Cultural Community "Preporod", the fundamental and oldest cultural organization of Bosniaks, i.e., the Bosniak cultural matrix and the world cultural community of the Bosniak people with a tradition dating back to 1903, at its session held on September 28, 2024, in Travnik, passed a Decision on the modification of the name Bosniak Cultural Community "Preporod" to Bosniak Cultural Community. Sanjin Kodrić is the president of the former Preporod, while Šaćir Filandra was the president of the Assembly of the abolished Preporod.

The decision was made with plebiscitary support from the members of the Assembly with the aim of further institutional development of the Bosniak Cultural Community, commensurate with the achieved level of institutional development and in line with the further needs of institutional development of the Bosniak Cultural Community, as well as the overall culture and identity of Bosniaks and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. By adopting this decision, the name of the Bosniak Cultural Community has been refined in a way that clearly defines its actual, generic name and explicitly expresses the essence of the historical and contemporary existence of this institution – institutional belonging to the Bosniak people, community as a form of institutional organization, and an institutional relationship to the entirety of Bosniaks as a people, as well as institutional engagement with the culture of Bosniaks as a fundamental identity content. The decision, after several similar previous efforts over the past 20 years, has resolved the issue of adequate naming of the Bosniak Cultural Community as an institution, taking into account its 121-year-long and complex history, all its transgenerational achievements to date, as well as the necessity of its further institutional profiling in the present and future.

The Bosniak Cultural Community is the legal successor to a series of its institutional predecessors and legal predecessors – first the society "Gajret", founded in 1903, the society "Narodna uzdanica", founded in 1924, and the unified Muslim Cultural Society "Preporod", established in 1945 by the merger of the societies "Gajret" and "Narodna uzdanica", but also several other cultural, educational, and similar organizations of the then Muslim people, which were united into the then Muslim Cultural Society "Preporod" as a comprehensive and umbrella cultural organization of Muslims/Bosniaks of that time. In the specific socio-political circumstances of the given historical moment, the work of the Muslim Cultural Society "Preporod" was banned and interrupted in 1949, and resumed with the democratic changes in 1990, then under the name Cultural Society of Muslims "Preporod". In accordance with the decision of the First Bosniak Congress of September 28, 1993, on the restoration of the national name Bosniak, which the Cultural Society of Muslims "Preporod" advocated for, the Cultural Society of Muslims "Preporod" was officially renamed Cultural Society of Bosniaks "Preporod" in 1995, and in 1997 to Bosniak Cultural Community "Preporod", as a more appropriate name at that moment for the fundamental and oldest organization of Bosniak culture, or as an expression of the development of the institution achieved up to that point.

In accordance with the above, the name Bosniak Cultural Community, as a generic and essential name, encompasses all previous names of this institution, from "Gajret", through "Narodna uzdanica" to "Preporod", including all other cultural, educational, and similar organizations that were united into the then Muslim Cultural Society "Preporod" after 1945. Just like the names "Gajret" and "Narodna uzdanica" and all other names of organizations that are institutional predecessors and legal predecessors of today's Bosniak Cultural Community, the name "Preporod" remains legally protected in both domestic and international legal transactions, whereby to ensure continuity and visibility where necessary, the name "Preporod" will be retained and continue to be used in all cases where there are justified reasons for it (e.g., Choir "Preporod", Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances "Preporod", Folklore Ensemble "Preporod", etc.), as well as in the names of individual organizational units of the Bosniak Cultural Community (Gallery "Preporod", RTV "Preporod", Mountaineering Society "Preporod", etc.). Therefore, the name Bosniak Cultural Community is simultaneously comprehensive both in a historical sense and in terms of the possibility of further expansion of the institutional capacities and frameworks of the Bosniak Cultural Community.

An integral part of the process of modifying the name Bosniak Cultural Community "Preporod" to Bosniak Cultural Community is also the change of the institution's logo, as the existing logo (the name "Preporod" written in the stylized image of a peacock) becomes inapplicable due to its verbal content. Instead of the current logo, the logo of the society "Gajret", as the oldest institutional predecessor and the first legal predecessor of the Bosniak Cultural Community, is being renewed, with necessary modifications, i.e., adaptations, considering the new name and modern design-graphic standards. With the modern renewal of this symbolically very significant logo and visual identity, the history of the Bosniak Cultural Community is fully rounded off institutionally, and the institutional tradition from the founding of the society "Gajret" in 1903 onwards is further established. In this regard, also to ensure continuity and visibility where necessary, the former logo with the name "Preporod" is retained in all cases where there are justified reasons for it (e.g., Choir "Preporod", Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances "Preporod", Folklore Ensemble "Preporod", etc.), as well as in the names of individual organizational units of the Bosniak Cultural Community (Gallery "Preporod", RTV "Preporod", Mountaineering Society "Preporod", etc.).

In addition to representing a substantial step towards the further institutional development of the Bosniak Cultural Community, the modification of the name has also resolved several practical issues (such as, for example, the often present confusion and equating of the Bosniak Cultural Community "Preporod" and the Islamic Information Newspaper Preporod, the organ of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.), as well as other important issues.

The modification of the name was symbolically carried out on the anniversary of the First Bosniak Congress, held on September 28, 1993, in Sarajevo, thus highlighting the historical significance of the decision to restore the national name Bosniak, which was made precisely at the First Bosniak Congress, with full awareness of the fundamental importance of adequate naming, which has been consistently applied to the naming of the Bosniak Cultural Community as such.

The Bosniak Cultural Community will inform the public, competent authorities, and all other relevant institutions about the modification of the name, whereby the transition process related to the modification of the name will be carried out within the foreseen timeframe, including branches and other organizational units of the Bosniak Cultural Community at home and abroad, it was announced from BZK.