Islam Grčki is a village in the municipality of

Benkovac Benkovac () is a town and municipality in the Zadar County, Croatia. Geography Benkovac is located where the plain of Ravni Kotari and the karstic plateau of Bukovica, Croatia, Bukovica meet, 20 km from the town of Biograd na Moru and 30&n ...

, in the

Zadar County Zadar County ( ) is a county in Croatia, it encompasses northern Dalmatia and southeastern Lika. Its seat is the city of Zadar. Geography Among the largest towns in the county of Zadar are: Zadar, Benkovac, Bibinje, Biograd, Nin, Croatia, Nin ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Geography

Islam Grčki is located in the

Ravni Kotari Ravni Kotari (; ) is a geographical region in Croatia. It lies in northern Dalmatia, around Zadar and east of it. It is bordered by Bukovica to the northeast, lower Krka to the southeast, and the Adriatic Sea. The largest settlement in the region ...

area, away from

and away from

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

. The village is also only away from the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

but it does not play a major role in the villages economy.

Name

The original name of the village was ''Saddislam'', meaning "The wall of Islam" in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

which marked the final frontier of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. In the 18th century, when the village split in two, the name changed to Islam Grčki. While ''Islam'' stayed from the original name, the

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

(meaning "Greek") stands for the religion of the villagers -

Orthodoxy Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...

. The other part of the split up village, Islam Latinski, got its name from the religious belief of its settlers -

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

History

The history of Islam Grčki goes back to the Middle Ages. The village was an

Uskok The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (), better known as USKOK, is a body of the Croatian criminal justice system, attached to the State's Attorney Office and specializing in investigations related to corruption and ...

stronghold in the 16th and 17th century. The most notable Uskok leader

Stojan Janković Stojan Janković Mitrović ( sr-cyr, Стојан Јанковић Митровић; also known as ''Stoian Jancovich Mitrovich'', ''Stoian Mitrovich'', ''Stoiano Mitrovich''; about 1636 – 23 August 1687) was the commander of the Morlachs (Ven ...

got possession of the village after the Cretan War. He built the villages most notable object - the ''Janković Kula''. Jankovic-crkva Islam Grcki

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the village, a Serb enclave surrounded by Croatian villages, was a firm

Chetnik The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

militia stronghold. Some villagers also joined the Italian collaborationist

Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia The Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia (, MVAC) were paramilitary auxiliary formations of the Royal Italian Army composed of Yugoslav anti- Partisan groups in the Italian-annexed and occupied portions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the Second W ...

. After World War II the village became part of the

Socialist Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

. During the

Croatian war of independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

the village was one of the first areas under

Krajina Krajina () is a Slavic languages, Slavic toponym, meaning 'country' or 'march (territory), march'. The term is related to ''kraj'' or ''krai'', originally meanings ''land'', ''country'' or ''edge''Rick Derksen (2008), ''Etymological Dictionary of t ...

Serb control. The village was partly destroyed by shelling during the Croatian-led Operation Maslenica and was overtaken by the

n forces on 22 January 1993. A big part of the villages population fled during the war and the village itself suffered a lot material damage. Janković Kula, for instance, was destroyed in the shelling of 1993 but was being rebuilt as of 2012.

Demographics

The village is predominantly ethnic

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

, and as of 2011 has 150 inhabitants. This represents 13.17% of its pre-

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

population according to the 1991 census. The 1991 census recorded that 87.00% of the village population were ethnic

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

(991/1139), 9.39% were

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

(107/1139) while 3.61% were of other ethnic origin (41/1139).

Sights

* Orthodox Church of St. George * The Stojan Janković' Tower

Sources