AGRARIAN SITUATION IN SEMBERIA IN THE FIRST DECADE OF 20th CENTURY (based on the Memorandum-request of landowner Osman-bey Pašić from 1912, sent to the Minister of Finance Bilinski)

The paper presents the Memorandum-Request from 1912 by Osman-bey Pašić, a landowner from Bijeljina, addressed to the Minister of Finance of Bilinski. The Memorandum highlighted numerous irregularities and difficulties encountered by Bosniak landowners and Bosniaks in Semberia. Particularly pointed out was the problem of the relationship between serfs (čifčije) and landowners, where the expression of disregard for obligations by serfs, as well as the usurpation of property occurred. In this way, the economic status of landowners has largely diminished. In addition, the security, religious, political and social rights of Bosniaks in this area were significantly compromised. So, the relation of the agas - landowners and serfs was not only of a commercial nature, but also of a national-political one. In such procedures, the authorities of Bijeljina did not function adequately, and in the memorandum minister Bilinski was asked to intervene, in order for the government to start acting. This document is only one of documents confirming all the complexity and stratification of agrarian relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina during this period, which were particularly complex in the area of Semberija.