Erdut (Croatian pronunciation: [ěrduːt]; Serbian Cyrillic: Ердут; Hungarian: Erdőd [ˈɛrdøːd]) is a village in eastern Croatia, located some 37 km east of the major city of Osijek, lying on the border with neighbouring Serbia. The village of Erdut administratively belongs to the eponymous municipality, which also contains three other villages: Aljmaš, Bijelo Brdo and Dalj. The municipality is part of the Osijek-Baranja County in eastern Slavonia.
The municipality have total area of 158 km2 (61 sq mi) and is the largest member municipality of Joint Council of Municipalities. River Drava (5.6 km) and Danube (34.825 km) flows through the municipality. The territory of the municipality is completely flat very fertile black soil. The elevation of the village of Erdut is 158 m. It is connected by D213 road (Croatia) with rest of country.
There are 4 villages in municipality:
The settlement was first mentioned in 1335 under the Hungarian name Erdöd and then as a city in 1472. It was successively ruled by Ottoman Empire, Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Independent State of Croatia and Yugoslavia.
When Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, eastern Slavonia was soon overrun by the Yugoslav People's Army and Serb paramilitaries, led by the notorious warlord, Željko Ražnatović known by the name Arkan. The battle for Erdut quickly ended that summer as the entire Croatian population was expelled or killed along with other minorities including Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Ukrainians in an act of ethnic cleansing. Their homes were soon occupied by other Serbs. Many buildings and homes were destroyed, including the Roman Catholic Church.
Arkan soon set up a training camp for his Serb Volunteer Guard in Erdut, which became headquarters until the end of the war, when Croatian forces returned according to a peaceful Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium.
On November 12, 1995, officials signed what is commonly called the Erdut Agreement in which the part of eastern Slavonia still occupied by Serbs would be integrated back into Croatia, gradually allowing some of the exiled refugees to return to their homes. This agreement was the basis for the establishment of Joint Council of Municipalities. Erdut has been under Croatian control since 1998.
of Erdut municipality
|Source: Naselja i stanovništvo Republike Hrvatske 1857–2001, DZS, Zagreb, 2005|
The municipality population is 7,308 (census 2011), with 805 people in Erdut itself, 3,937 in Dalj, 1,961 in Bijelo Brdo and 605 in Aljmaš. The municipality population is consisted of Serbs (55%), Croats (38%) and Hungarians (5%).
The municipality assembly is composed of 13 representatives. As of 2009, the member parties/lists are:
|Party||Number of votes||Number of seats|
|Independent Democratic Serb Party||1.688||8|
|Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja||843||4|
|Croatian Democratic Union||380||1|
|Croatian Peasant Party||157||0|
|Social Democratic Party of Croatia||149||0|
|Independent list-Stevo Vujaklija||129||0|
|Independent list-Mijo Nemet||67||0|
This section is written like a travel guide rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. (March 2014)
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