DESTRUCTION AND USURPATION OF BAKIR-BEG TUZLIC'S PROPERTY

The paper discusses the probate and the procedure of liquidation of debts, and the usurpation of peasant settlements of deceased Bakir-beg Tuzlic. The process of liquidation of debts was conducted before the District Sharia Court in Tuzla. Bakir-beg Tuzlic was the last descendant of the captain and bey family Tuzlic, who as a landowner played a significant role in the economic and political life of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Austro-Hungarian rule. This is a time with many temptations for the entire population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially for Bosniaks, who did not accept the fact that they fell under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. For this reason, a number of other problems arose. Bosniak landowners were particularly dissatisfied with their status, although they were politically privileged to some extent by the Austro-Hungarian authorities. The biggest problem, however, was the constant attack on their estates by the peasants, who sought the opportunity to occupy peasants and bay's lands, to which the bey's landowners opposed. Nevertheless, the process of buying and usurping the lands took place throughout the Austro-Hungarian administration, which greatly weakened the bey's class economically. The attempt to economically stabilize the beys required taking loans that were unfavorable from the aspect of high interest rates, which additionally brought this class into an unenviable economic and political position. Such was the case with Bakir-beg Tuzlic, one of the largest landowners in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a representative of Bosniaks in political life during that period. Such a situation was especially visible, after his death in 1910, and the conduct of the procedure of liquidation of debts and redemption of the cift (land) of the deceased Bakir-beg Tuzlic. The stated debts and the decline of the property of Bakir-beg Tuzlic are a confirmation of the economic weakening and unsustainability of the landowner, bey class in the Austro-Hungarian period. After the death of Bakir-beg Tuzlic, his property and lands were decimated, which brought his heirs to an unenviable economic position and status.