Brezovica pri Metliki () is a settlement in the

Municipality of Metlika The Municipality of Metlika (; sl, Občina Metlika) is a municipality in the traditional region of Lower Carniola in southeastern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Metlika. Metlika became a municipality in 1994. Settlements ...

in the

White Carniola White Carniola ( sl, Bela krajina; german: Weißkrain or ''Weiße Mark'') is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. Due to its smallness, it is often considered a subunit of the broader Lower Carniola region, alth ...

area of southeastern

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, right on the border with

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. The area is part of the traditional region of

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region. Geography Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the no ...

and is now included in the

Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region The Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region ( sl, Jugovzhodna Slovenija statistična regija) is a statistical region in southeast Slovenia. It is the largest statistical region. The development of this region is largely the result of industry (the au ...

. It surrounds the small Croatian enclave of

Brezovica Žumberačka Brezovica Žumberačka is a settlement in Croatia, part of the Town of Ozalj in Karlovac County. It is located along the Slovene-Croatian border, next to Brezovica pri Metliki, with which it de facto forms one settlement. De jure, it is a Croatia ...

Name

The name of the settlement was changed from ''Brezovica'' to ''Brezovica pri Metliki'' in 1953.

History

During the Second World War, the Partisans operated an underground mimeograph print shop in a vineyard cottage in Brezovica pri Metliki. The cottage was burned by

Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia The Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia ( it, Milizia Volontaria Anti Comunista, MVAC; sl, prostovoljna protikomunistična milica, also or , pejorative, meaning 'white guard'; sh, script=cyrl, italic=no, Добровољачка антикомун� ...

forces in 1942. On 1 May 1944 the Partisans held a political meeting in the village that was attended by the Allied liaison officer Major

William M. Jones Major William M. Jones (August 23, 1895 – 1969) was a Canadian soldier of World War I and World War II who served with distinction with the Yugoslav Partisans. Biography Jones was born in Bear River, Nova Scotia. His code name was "Lawrence ...

, who was also a speaker at the event.

Enclave border dispute

In 2015, the complex border line in this area attracted the attention of the Polish tourist Piotr Wawrzynkiewicz, who learned from

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

that there was a small unclaimed piece of land and claimed it for his micronation Kingdom of Enclava. The novelty attracted significant international media attention at the time. Later, the Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that this was Slovenia's territorial claim, also claimed by Croatia, to be resolved by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, in which a decision was rendered 29 June 2017. Therefore, the founder moved his micronation to the border between Croatia and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, in the vicinity of

Liberland Liberland, also known as the Free Republic of Liberland, is a micronation in Southeast Europe claiming an uninhabited parcel of disputed land on the western bank of the Danube, between Croatia and Serbia (locally known as Gornja Siga). It was p ...

. One

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

(

) belonging to Croatia had already existed at this location (see diagram). A second enclave was created on 29 June 2017 when the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...

decided that a disputed 2.4 ha parcel adjoining the enclave is part of Slovenia, thus completing the encirclement of the second Croatian enclave. It was this parcel that had been claimed as ''Enclava''. Croatia has stated that it will ignore the arbitration decision.

References

External links

*
Brezovica pri Metliki on Geopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brezovica Pri Metliki Populated places in the Municipality of Metlika