Dear Friends,
We are sending You letter of Slavenko TERZIC, Ph.D. director of Historical
institute of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, one of the leading
historians in Europe, and with no doubt the firs one for the history and
questions concerning Kosovo and Metohija. Please post Your comments at
terzic@aic.org.yu, and visit our sites www.aic.org.yu and www.barw.org.yu to
read more papers of Mr. Terzic concerning history of Kosovo and Metohija.
Sincerely Yours,
Belgrade Academic Association for Equal Rights in the World
Slavenko TERZIC, Ph.D.
Historical institute of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
WHO ARE THE SERBS
THE VICTIMS OF NATO AGGRESSION AS A WHOLE NATION
Today NATO is massively and brutally destroying everything existing on
Serbian soil. Who is actually the victim of this most horrendous war crime?
By their overall identity the Serbs belong to the European Christian
civilization. They settled in South-East Europe, including Kosovo and
Metohia, in the 6th century, during the period of massive population
resettlement in Europe and Asia called the Great Migration. Social
development in Serbia was influenced by different environing cultures and as
of the 18th century predominantly under that of Central and Western Europe.
The Serbs had their kingdom already in the 11th century and at the beginning
of the 13th century they had a developed legal system as a frame work for
the civic and church life within, at that time, a developed medieval
civilization. The most outstanding document in this regard is Nomocanon by
Saint Sava from the beginning of the 13th century, in its time a very modern
set of rules governing the civic and religious life. The Serbian Orthodox
Church became independent in 1219. The Codex of Emperor Dusan from 1349.
ranks very high in European legislature of that time and reflects a high
level of legal and social awareness. As such it is one of the most
outstanding cultural assets of the Serbian Middle-Ages.
In the 13th, 14th and the 15th century the Serbs had a many developed
medieval society with results in cultural and economic field equal to the
achievements of the developed European environing countries. Serbian
aristocrats possessed numerous medieval palaces, castles and fortresses,
most of which were built on the territory of todayís Raska, Kosovo, and
Metohia (Svrcin, Pauni, Nerodimlja, Stimlje, Petric, Novo Brdo, Zvecan,
Ribnik). Serbian mediveal aristocy had family relaton with many European
imperial and royal dynasties, as Byzantin, Bulgarian, French, Italian,
German, Russian, Hungarian, Turkish and others. Only in Kosovo and Metohia
as a center of Serbian medieval state and society there are over 1.500
Serbian monasteries, churches and other cultural monuments. At that time the
Serbs have a developed literature. Their economy is also prosperous (Novo
Brdo is the main mining center of the Balkans in the 15th century). Painting
was particularly fostered in monasteries, from the 12th to the 14th century.
It is in the monasteries of Studenica, Zica, Sopocani, Mileseva, Gracanica,
Decani, Patriarchy of Pec, and many others that we have outstanding examples
of wall paintings called frescoes. Most of the above mentioned monasteries
are under UNESCO`s protection as a part of the world cultural heritage.
Turkish invasion of the South-Eastern Europe had destroyed the Serbian
society and its civilization. The same applies to the surrounding Christian
societies. The Battle of Kosovo in 1389 means a decisive organized
resistance of the Serbian elite to the Turkish invasion. Both the Turkish
Sultan Murat and the Serbian Prince Lazar were killed in that battle. In the
collective conscience of the Serbs the battle of Kosovo had acquired
mythical dimensions as a sacrifice of all Serbs for the freedom of their
native country. This aspect has reinforced the Kosovo tradition in Serbian
culture as a whole. Since the Turks had destroyed their state during several
forthcoming centuries, the Serbs were forced to live under the rule of
several Empires: the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Republic
of Venice. During the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century the Serbs
organized two state and political centers: Serbia and Montenegro. During the
19th and 20th century, the Serbian social thought and Serbian
parliamentarism were developing under a decisive influence of the West
European liberal democracy.
After two and a half centuries of interruption in the first place due to
the Turkish invasion, during the three subsequent centuries the Serbian
society was in all respects open to the European influence in the political,
cultural and social spheres, providing its own contribution to the overall
European civilization. The first Serbian magazine Slaveno-serbski magazin
was published in 1768 in Venice and following the example of the European
cultural institution Matica Srpska one of the oldest Serbian cultural
institutions was founded in 1825. In 1839 the foundation was laid for the
University of Belgrade, and in 1842 for Serbian Academy of Sciences and
Arts. The Constitution of Kingdom of Serbia from 1888 guaranteeing equal
civic rights to the Jews, was one of the most democratic constitutions in
Europe, based on the Belgium constitution.
In all creative spheres the Serbs have outstanding representatives: the
great reformer of Serbian culture Vuk St. Karadzic, the famous botanist
Josif Pancic, the well-known physicists Mihajlo Pupin, Nikola Tesla, Milutin
Milankovic, the famous professor in the USA Paja Radosavljevic, eminent
writers Petar Petrovic Njegos, Ivo Andric, Milorad Pavic, the philosopher
Brana Petronijevic, geographer and anthropo-geographer Jovan Cvijic,
painters Paja Jovanovic, Nadezda Petrovic, Ljuba Popovic, Vladimir
Velickovic, film directors Aleksandar Petrovic, Dusan Makavejev, Emir
Kusturica, composers, singers and musicians Stevan Mokranjac, Biserka
Cvejic, Radmila Bakocevic, Goran Bregovic, Stefan Milenkovic, sport
champions Vlade Divac, Aleksandar Djordjevic, Sinisa Mihailovic, Predrag
Pedja Mijatovic, Jasna Sekaric.
Along with gradual liberation from the Turks, the Serbian territories
became increasingly attractive for the appetites of the European powers,
Austria-Hungary in the first place. The efforts of the Serbs to create a
modern national state, following the example of the national movements of
the Italians and Germans was against the interests and political plans of
the Great Powers regarding the Balkans. In order to more easily jeopardize
it the Serbian movement was labeled ìGreat Serbianî. Obstinate efforts of
Austria-Hungary and Nazi Germany in the first place to completely govern
South-Eastern Europe resulted in a horrendous genocide against Serbian
people in the First and the Second World War. The balance of Serbian
sufferings in both World wars, when they opposed the aggression of the
Central Powers in World War I and the Fascist Powers in World War II amount
to 2.5 million assassinated Serbs. For a small people it is an enormous
disaster from which the Serbs had not recovered to date. In 1991 he Serbs
were for the third time victims of massive crimes. The most intensive ethnic
cleansing after World War II was the ethnic cleansing of the Serbs in
Croatia in 1995, accompanying the destruction of Republika Srpska Krajina.
To blame the Serbs of today to be the aggressors on the territory which
>from the early Middle Ages has been the very heart of their political,
cultural and spiritual life is more than cynical. The Serbian environment
has always been, as is the case today, an example of a multi-cultural and
multi-ethnical society, the proof being and exceptionally high development
of the political and cultural elite of the Albanian ethnic minority in
Serbia and Yugoslavia, which is in all respects above its co-nationals in
Albania.