Markušica Explained

Markušica
Official Name:Municipality of Markušica
Općina Markušica
Општина Маркушица
Native Name:[1]
Settlement Type:Municipality
Flag Size:120px
Pushpin Map:Croatia Vukovar-Srijem County#Croatia#Europe
Pushpin Label:Markušica
Coordinates:45.3738°N 18.7062°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Croatia
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Name1:Slavonia
Subdivision Type2:County
Leader Party:SDSS
Leader Title:Municipal mayor
Leader Name:Tihomir Kolarević
Area Footnotes:[2]
Area Total Km2:73.8
Area Urban Km2:22.2
Population As Of:2021
Population Total:1773
Population Density Km2:auto
Population Urban:733
Population Density Urban Km2:auto
Population Demonym:Markušičanin () Markušičanka ()
(per grammatical gender)
Timezone:CET
Utc Offset:+1
Blank Name Sec1:Official languages
Blank Info Sec1:Croatian, Serbian[3]

Markušica (Serbian: Маркушица,[4] Hungarian: Márkusfalva, German: Sankt Markus) is a village and a municipality in Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. Markušica is located south of the river Vuka and northwest of the town of Vinkovci. The landscape of the Markušica Municipality is marked by the Pannonian Basin plains and agricultural fields of wheat, maize, common sunflower and sugar beet.

The modern day municipality was established in 1997 by the UNTAES administration as one of new predominantly Serb municipalities in order to ensure access to local self-government to Serb community in the region. Alongside Markušica it includes the villages of Gaboš, Karadžićevo, Ostrovo and Podrinje. Before the United Nations administrator implemented anty-gerrymandering reorganization, Markušica and Podrinje were a part of the Tordinci Municipality, while Karadžićevo, Ostrvo and Gaboš were linked to Jarmina Municipality making Serb community minority in both of them.

Markušica Municipality is connected with the surrounding area via D518 road and L209 Vinkovci–Gaboš–Osijek railway, with local stations in Gaboš and Ostrovo.

Geography

The municipality has a total area of .[5] River Vuka flows through the municipality and territory of the municipality is completely flat, very fertile black soil. It is connected by D518 highway with the rest of the country.

History

One Scordisci archaeological site in Markušica dating back to late La Tène culture was excavated in the 1970s and 1980s as a part of rescue excavations in eastern Croatia.[6] Archaeological site was a part of the settlement network of Scordisci in the area of Vinkovci.[6]

Markušica was one of the feudal villages that existed in the region before the Ottoman rule in Hungary.[7] After the end of Great Turkish War the village was settled by Eastern Orthodox Vlachs from surrounding areas and the eastern Bosnia.[7] In 1736 there were 40 inhabited houses in Markušica.[7] In 1866 this number increased at 192 houses and 1003 inhabitants out of which 902 were Eastern Orthodox.[7]

The modern day Municipality of Markušica was established by the decision of the United States diplomat and at the time Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium Jacques Paul Klein. As the region was directly governed as an UN protectorate Transitional Administrator was the highest authority responsible for administrative affairs. Markušica Municipality was established as one of new predominantly Serb municipalities in order to ensure access to local self-government to Serb community in the region. Prior to the decision, the international community expressed concerns over the perceived gerrymandering, disenfranchisement of refugees and minority representation.[8]

Demographics

Population

There are 2 555 inhabitants, the majority of the population which are Serbs, who make up 90.10% of the population according to the 2011 population census.

Languages

See also: Minority languages of Croatia. Due to the local minority population, the Markušica municipality prescribes the use of not only Croatian as the official language, but the Serbian language and Serbian Cyrillic alphabet as well.[9] [10]

Religion

Most of the population are Serbian Orthodox that are practicing their religion in the church that was built in 1810 and re-built in 1989.

Politics

Joint Council of Municipalities

The Municipality of Markušica is one of seven Serb majority member municipalities within the Joint Council of Municipalities, inter-municipal sui generis organization of ethnic Serb community in eastern Croatia established on the basis of Erdut Agreement. As Serb community constitute the majority of the population of the municipality it is represented by 2 delegated Councillors at the Assembly of the Joint Council of Municipalities, double the number of Councillors to the number from Serb minority municipalities in Eastern Croatia.[11]

Municipal government

The municipality assembly is composed of 13 representatives, plus additional seats for municipality minority groups if they don't get the proportional number of seats. Assembly members come from electoral lists winning more than 5% of votes. The dominant party in the municipality since the reintegration of eastern Slavonia in 1998 is Independent Democratic Serb Party. 681 or 33,32 % out of 2.044 voters participated in 2017 Croatian local elections with 93,69 % valid votes.[12] With 92,80% and 632 votes, Budimir Brača from Independent Democratic Serb Party was elected as municipality major.[12] As of 2017, the member parties/lists are:

|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center!colspan=2|Party!Votes!%!Seats|-| bgcolor=#C50200||align=left valign=top|Independent Democratic Serb Party||638||100,00||13 |-|align=left colspan=2|Invalid/blank votes||43||6,31||—|-|align=left colspan=2|Total||681||100||—|-|align=left colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout||2.044||33,32||—|-|align=left colspan=8||-|align=left colspan=8|Source[12] page 57-58 |}

Minority councils

Directly elected minority councils and representatives are tasked with consulting tasks for the local or regional authorities in which they are advocating for minority rights and interests, integration into public life and participation in the management of local affairs.[13] At the 2023 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives elections Serbs of Croatia fulfilled legal requirements to elect 10 members minority councils of the Markušica Municipality.[14]

Economy

Markušica is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia.[15]

Culture

Points of Interest

Markušica Municipality is famous for a monument dedicated to a soldier killed in World War II. The village has a unique monument to a female Soviet pilot from the Red Army, who fought against the Nazis and whose plane was shot down here. The village also has an Eastern Orthodox Church from 1810, which was damaged in

Associations and Institutions

The village has a volunteer fire department.[16]

Settlements

The municipality consists of the following settlements:

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Peto izvješće Republike Hrvatske o primjeni Europske povelje o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima . October 2013 . Government of Croatia . . 36 . hr . PDF . 30 November 2016.
  2. cs1.
  3. Četvrto izvješće Republike Hrvatske o primjeni Europske povelje o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima, page 61., Zagreb, 2009
  4. Web site: Minority names in Croatia:Registar Geografskih Imena Nacionalnih Manjina Republike Hrvatske . PDF . 2013-03-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131029211333/http://www.nipp.hr/UserDocsImages/Registar%20geografska%20imena%20nacionalnih%20manjina%20RH.pdf . 2013-10-29 .
  5. Web site: Archived copy . 2016-01-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160128192219/http://markusica.hr/images/uploads/PPUO_markusica_usvojen_plan_16_01_2007.pdf . 2016-01-28 . dead .
  6. Dizdar . Marko . 2016 . Late La Tène Settlements in the Vinkovci Region (Eastern Slavonia, Croatia): Centres of Trade and Exchange. . Boii - Taurisci: Proceedings of the International Seminar, Oberleis-Klement, June 14th-15th, 2012 . 31–48 . . 22 January 2019 .
  7. Marković, M. (2003). Istočna Slavonija: Stanovništvo i naselja. Naklada Jesenski i Turk. Zagreb.
  8. Benjamin Ward . December 1999 . Croatia's Democracy Deficit: A Pre-electoral Assessment . . 29 August 2020 .
  9. Izvješće o provođenju ustavnog zakona o pravima nacionalnih manjina i o utošku sredstava osiguranih u državnom proračunu Republike Hrvatske za 2008. godinu za potrebe nacionalnih manjina, Zagreb, 2009.
  10. Web site: Archived copy . 2013-03-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131029211333/http://www.nipp.hr/UserDocsImages/Registar%20geografska%20imena%20nacionalnih%20manjina%20RH.pdf . 2013-10-29 .
  11. News: 1 August 2017 . Konstituisan 6. saziv Zajedničkog veća opština l . sr . Zagreb . Privrednik .
  12. Web site: Informacija o izborima članova predstavničkih tijela jedinica lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave i općinskih načelnika, gradonačelnika i župana te njihovih zamjenika - 2017 (Vukovarsko-srijemska županija) . PDF . 15 January 2018 . hr . https://web.archive.org/web/20180116081246/http://www.izbori.hr/izbori/ws.nsf/54F87B28512ED1B6C12581460039375B/$FILE/Z16_VUKOVARSKO_SRIJEMSKA_ZUPANIJA.pdf . 16 January 2018 . dead .
  13. Web site: Manjinski izbori prve nedjelje u svibnju, kreću i edukacije . 13 March 2023 . . 2 May 2023.
  14. Web site: Informacija o konačnim rezultatima izbora članova vijeća i izbora predstavnika nacionalnih manjina 2023. XVI. VUKOVARSKO-SRIJEMSKA ŽUPANIJA . 2023 . Državno izborno povjerenstvo Republike Hrvatske . 17 . hr . PDF . 3 June 2023.
  15. Web site: AREAS OF SPECIAL STATE CONCERN IN CROATIA- REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENCES AND THE DEMOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS . Lovrinčević . Željko . Davor . Mikulić . Budak . Jelena . Ekonomski pregled, Vol.55 No.5-6 . June 2004 . 25 August 2018 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180818150557/https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?id_clanak_jezik=24709&show=clanak . 18 August 2018 .
  16. Web site: Archived copy . 2011-10-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120430133216/http://www.vukovarsko-srijemska-zupanija.com/upload/paragrafi_upload/2009-4-17_31616186_prilog9popisvatrogpostrnovi.pdf . 2012-04-30 .