Even during Austro-Hungarian rule, BiH's statehood was recognized

Authority over BiH was directly linked to the Ottoman Empire, not to Austria or Hungary – said historian Omer Ibrahimagić for the Bosnian news agency Patria, commenting on the 2010 Citizenship Law of the Hungarian parliament, which grants the possibility of Hungarian citizenship to all citizens of countries that were part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and who can prove Hungarian origin. This particularly applies to citizens of Croatia and Serbia. However, citizens of BiH do not have that right.

- When it comes to citizens of Serbia, it refers to Hungarians in Vojvodina. In Croatia, to Hungarians registered there as an autochthonous national minority. Croatia and Vojvodina were already part of Hungary several years before the creation of Austro-Hungary. BiH was not. And that could be the reason. – emphasizes Ibrahimagić.

This very fact proves the statehood of BiH even during the period of A-U occupation (1878-1918). By Article 25 of the Berlin Congress of 1878, BiH remained under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Another proof of BiH's statehood is that the A-U monarchy, by a decision in 1907, banned the name Bosnian language, which was in use during the Ottoman Empire.