Travel Guide Brčko

Brčko/Брчко (pronounced "beurtchko") has a population of about 38,000, of which 49% are Bosnian-Serbs and 44% are Bosniaks. It is the capital of the district of Brčko (82,000 inhabitants). The city is located along the Croatian border, 32 km southeast of Županja (Croatia), 40 km northwest of Bijeljina and 55 km north of Tuzla. Bus connection: see bus station.Placed along the Sava River, opposite Croatia, Brčko is a rather wealthy town thanks to its large river port. Although it is not very interesting, except for a nice little renovated center from the Austro-Hungarian period, it is a city apart in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Occupying 1.5% of the country's territory, Brčko District is one of the three political entities of the country along with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb Republic. With its own institutions (police, judiciary, administration, education), it is the only municipality in Europe to be fully autonomous. This situation is the result of a deadlock during the Dayton Agreement in 1995. Brčko occupies a strategic position that no one wanted to let go of: it is on the borders of Serbia (20 km to the east as the crow flies) and Croatia, but also on the border between the other two entities of the country. By force of circumstance, the district has become a laboratory of mixity in the Balkans. Of the 82,000 inhabitants of the entity, 42% are Bosnian, 35% Bosnian-Serb, 21% Bosnian-Croat. And all are obliged to live together.