Zvornik
| City Shield | Map |
|---|---|
| Zvornik City Shield | Municipality of Zvornik marked red |
  Zvornik | |
| General information | |
| Entity: | RS |
| Area: | 387 km² |
| Population: |
79.000 (Municipality, estimate) |
| Population density: | 204/km² |
| Elevation: | 146 m |
| Postal code: | 75400 |
| Area code: | +387 56 |
| Address of the City Hall: |
Opština Zvornik n/a, Zvornik |
| Website: | http://www.opstina-zvornik.org |
| e-mail: | zvornik@teol.net |
| Politics | |
| Mayor: | Budimir Aćimović (SP) |
| Council Speaker: | Vehid Kadrić (SDP) |
Zvornik (Serbian Cyrillic: Зворник) is a city on the Drina river in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, located southeast of Tuzla and north of Srebrenica. It is administratively part of Republika Srpska. The town Mali Zvornik lies directly across the river in Serbia, and not far north is Loznica.
Before the war in Bosnia, the Zvornik municipality was one of the largest in the country with a population of 81,111. The city of Zvornik itself had 14,852 inhabitants.
History
Zvornik is one of the oldest cities in Bosnia, being first mentioned in the year 1410, although it was known as Zvonik ("bell tower") at that time. The town's geographic location has made it an important trade link between Bosnia and the east. For instance, the main road connecting Sarajevo and Belgrade runs through the city. Zvornik has also the distinction of being the only city in Bosnia that directly lies on the border to Serbia.
During the Ottoman occupation, Zvornik was the capital of the Zvornik sanjak (an administrative region). This was primarily the case because of the city's crucial role in the economy and the strategic importance of the city's location.
Demographics
The city's demographic situation has changed drastically in the last 15 years. Up until 1992, the municipality had a population of 81,111 residents with a Bosniak majority and a large Serb minority. There were 48,205 Bosniaks (59.43%), 30,838 Serbs (38.02%), 1224 Yugoslavs (1.51%), 122 Croats (0.15%), and 722 others (0.89%).
However, during the Bosnian War, most of Zvornik's Bosniak population was expelled, and there was a massive intake of Serbs expelled from the Bosniak held areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the beginning of the war, there were some instances of mass killings in Zvornik and the surrounding villages. It is known that the suburbs of Karakaj and Celopek were places of concentration camps where hundreds of Bosniaks were brutally murdered. Recently, mass graves of victims killed in the massacre of Srebrenica were found in the village of Liplje, south of Zvornik.
After the war, the town's population consisted of only Serbs. With the help of the international community, there has been an effort to return refugees back to the municipality, but the process has been slow and will take many years to complete.
Climate
Just like most of Bosnia, Zvornik has very hot summers and cold winters. Except for the area near the river Drina, the city is surrounded by mountains with preserved forests, which creates a beautiful scenery with the town's location at the bottom a valley.