"Kosovo is Serbia" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косово је Србија, Kosovo je Srbija) is a slogan that has been used in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
since the 1980s, later popularised as a reaction to
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
's
2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
History
The slogan was used by a crowd in Serbia in a funeral following the 1987
Paraćin massacre
The Paraćin massacre ( sh, Paraćinski masakr / Параћински масакр) was a mass shooting which targeted Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) soldiers in the military barracks in Paraćin, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia ...
.
Following Kosovo's
declaration of independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
on 17 February 2008 by Kosovar Albanian members of the Legislative Assembly, this was the marquee slogan used in the Belgrade demonstrations against it. The slogan has been used by a series of
protest
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.
Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...
s, and by the
Serbian Government
The Government of Serbia ( sr, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Government ( sr, ...
.
The slogan has appeared on T-shirts and in graffiti and was placed on the websites of Kosovar institutions by hackers in 2009. The slogan is used by Serbs across the world.
Protests
* A
''Kosovo je Srbija'' rally organised by the Serbian government was held on 21 February 2008 in
Belgrade in front of the Parliament, with around 200,000
–500,000 people attending. The US Embassy was set on fire by a small group of protesters. A small protest also occurred in London and 5,000 protesters demonstrated in
Mitrovica the following day.
[ Kosovo police were injured during a protest by 150 war veterans at a border crossing on 25 February.
*Violent protests using the slogan occurred in ]Montenegro
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after the government recognised the independence of Kosovo in October 2008.
Notable uses
*In March 2008, American-born Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić
Milorad "Milo" Čavić ( sr-Cyrl, Милорад "Мило" Чавић, ; born May 31, 1984) is a Serbian former professional swimmer. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Summer Olympics in a historic race with American ...
won the European championship in the 50 m butterfly, setting the new European record, a result briefly quashed when the European Swimming Federation (LEN) disqualified the swimmer for wearing a T-shirt at the medals ceremony that read “Kosovo is Serbia” in Serbian.
*On January 15, 2017, Serbian authorities sent a train (known as the Serbia–Kosovo train incident) from Belgrade destined for Kosovo, painted with the slogan and iconography inside, which was stopped at the border by Kosovar officials as it was considered to be provocative. Aleksandar Vučić
Aleksandar Vučić ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Вучић, ; born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as the president of Serbia since 2017, and as the president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) since 2012.
Vučić serve ...
ordered the train to be stopped at Raška as he believed the rail had been mined. The new train was intended for peace relations but was instead used by Tomislav Nikolić
Tomislav Nikolić ( sr-Cyrl, Томислав Николић, ; born 15 February 1952) is a Serbian retired politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2012 to 2017. A former member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), he di ...
to the "brink of conflict", according to Kosovar officials.
Serbian media campaign
Solidarity - Kosovo is Serbia ( sr, Солидарност - Косово је Србија) is a media campaign in Serbia launched by Petar Petković in the final months of the negotiations over Kosovo and organised with the participation of 25 notable Serbian public figures, among them: Bata Živojinović, Svetlana Bojković, Dragan Bjelogrlić
Dragan Bjelogrlić "Bjela" ( sr, Драган Бјелогрлић, ; born 10 October 1963) is a Serbian actor, director and producer.
Career
Bjelogrlić made his acting debut as a 15-year old, playing Sava Jovanović Sirogojno in ''Boško Buha'' ...
, Sergej Trifunović
Sergej Trifunović ( sr-cyr, Сергеј Трифуновић, ; born 2 September 1972) is a Serbian actor, comedian, singer, politician and citizen activist. , Dragan Jovanović, Bora Đorđević
Borisav "Bora" Đorđević ( sr-cyr, Борисав, Бора Ђорђевић; born 1 November 1952), also known as Bora Čorba ( sr-cyr, Бора Чорба), is a Serbian singer, songwriter, and poet. He is best known as the frontman of the ...
, Đorđe David, Miki Jevremović
Miki may refer to:
Places
*Miki, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
*Miki, Kagawa, a town in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
*Miki, Azerbaijan, a village in Astara Rayon, Azerbaijan
People
*Miki (given name)
*Miki (surname)
*Miki Núñez (born ...
, Slađana Milošević
Aleksandra Milošević Hagadone ( sr-cyr, Александра Милошевић Хагадон; born 3 October 1955), better known as Slađana Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слађана Милошевић, ) is a Serbian singer-songwriter, composer, ...
, Merima Njegomir
Merima Kurtiš ( sr-cyr, Мерима Куртиш; 9 November 1953 – 20 November 2021), known professionally as Merima Njegomir ( sr-cyr, Мерима Његомир), was a Serbian folk and sevdah singer.
Life
She began her career singing ...
and Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. He also has French citizenship.http://www.serbia.com/emir-kusturica-artist-builder-and-anti-glo ...
.
In 2000, more than 50 websites, including those of Adidas and Manchester United, were hacked with the message ''Kosovo je Srbija''.
Reception
Historians Noel Malcolm
Sir Noel Robert Malcolm, (born 26 December 1956) is an English political journalist, historian and academic. A King's Scholar at Eton College, Malcolm read history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and received his doctorate in history from Trinity Col ...
and Andrea R. Nagy controversially commented on the slogan. Malcolm claimed that "Kosovo was not the cradle of Serbia as it was held by Serbs only centuries after they invaded the Balkans and then only for 250 years before the Ottoman occupation". Kosovo was conquered by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912 and became part of Yugoslavia in 1918. Nagy states that In some sense this slogan is true, "but notes that Kosovo was administered by Serbia for only a short period".
See also
* " Bessarabia, Romanian land"
* International recognition of Kosovo
International recognition of Kosovo, since its declaration of independence from Serbia enacted on 17 February 2008, has been mixed, and international governments are divided on the issue.
, out of () United Nations member states, 22 out ...
* Serbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, u ...
Notes
References
External links
Kosovo je Srbija site
Kosovo is Serbia
Kosovo is Serbia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serbian Nationalism
Kosovo–Serbia relations
Independence of Kosovo
Mass media in Serbia
Serbian political phrases
Kosovo (region)
2000s neologisms