Vitkovići (Goražde)

Vitkovići Витковићи
suburb
Vitkovići Location of Vitkovići
Coordinates: BA 43°38′N 18°58′E / 43.633°N 18.967°ECoordinates: BA 43°38′N 18°58′E / 43.633°N 18.967°E
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
municipality	Goražde
Elevation	351 m (1,152 ft)
Population (1991)
• Total	1,080
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area code(s)	+387 38

Vitkovići (Goražde) is a suburb in the city of Goražde,^[1] Bosnia and Herzegovina, around 5 kilometers south of the city centre.

Vitkovići was founded in 1953, a purpose built new town to serve the then-new FAJ Azot chemical works, one of the largest chemical factories in former Yugoslavia, specialising in nitrogen-based chemicals and with its own a water-purifying works.^[2] The original citizens were drawn from all over Yugoslavia and the suburb thus had a very mixed ethnic make-up (now totally changed).

During the Serb-offensive of March–April 1994 it was reported by Bosniak media that the complex's storage tanks of ammonia and ethanol had been booby trapped and would be exploded if attacks continued. Had the threat been carried out this would have been effectively a suicide bombing on an urban scale, but the threats were not eventually carried out.^[3]

After the civil war FAJ Azot Vitkovići was divided into five separate industrial complexes for privatisation.^[4]

Sports

Vitkovići's football team, Azot played at a stadium attached to the chemical complex. The stadium is reportedly in a state of serious deterioration having received no reconstruction since the 1992-1995 siege.^[5]

References

1. Official results from the book: Ethnic composition of Bosnia-Herzegovina population, by municipalities and settlements, 1991. census, Zavod za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine - Bilten no.234, Sarajevo 1991.
2. Consideration of Water Supply options in post-war Gorazde (on p31)
3. Not My Turn To Die, pp 169-170, a first hand account of the Goražde siege
4. Page 34 details the split of FAJ Azot
5. Page 46 has details the stadium as per 2008