Way back in 1804, the Orthodox religious holiday of Sretenje (Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple, or Candlemas), February 15, marked the beginning of the Serbian Revolution, the beginning of the liberation of the Balkan nations from the Ottoman Turkish rule.

Although the battle was being fought with varying success for years, eventually - decades later, thanks to the wisdom of Prince Milos Obrenovic - it was crowned with success.

All other national revolutionary movements of Balkan nations against Turkey, including the Greek Revolution that broke out in 1821, resulted from the encouragement they got from looking after the Serbs.

At a gathering of prominent Serbs from the territory of the Pashaluk of Belgrade (also known as the Sanjak of Smederevo), which took place at the Maricevica Jaruga site (Maricevic Trench) in Orasac near Topola in 1804, a decision was made to stage the uprising against the Turks, and the people's council elected Djordje Petrovic, soon to become known as Kradjordje (Black George), as Veliki Vozd (Grand Leader) of the Serbs.

The decision to stage the uprising was preceded by the so-called Slaughter of the Dukes, or the killing of hundreds of prominent national leaders by Turkish janissaries, the dahis, who did that as a preventive measure against alleged Serb disloyalty.

In its beginning, the First Serbian Uprising spread across areas west of Kolubara, and Sumadija and the Morava River Basin.
The entire Pashaluk of Belgrade was freed from the Turks in 1807, but the fate of this uprising was sealed by the outcome of the Russo-Turkish war, since Russia, which was an ally of Serbia's, and Turkey signed truce in Bucharest on May 28, 1812.

The collapse of the uprising was a result of the fact that Napoleon was getting ready to embark on his fatal Russian campaign at the very same time.

According to Leopold von Ranke, a leading German historian, Karadjordje's rebellion actually started the Serbian Revolution, which culminated in successful diplomatic achievements of Milos Obrenovic decades later.

One of the things Karadjordje did as part of the restoration of Serbian statehood during the First Serbian Uprising (1804-
1813) is forming a number of important institutions, such as Velika Skola (Great School), which was undoubtedly an indicator of his great vision and foresight.

A sermon by great Serbian educator Dositej Obradovic in Belgrade in September 1808 marked the beginning of the work of Velika Skola, the distant foundation for today's University of Belgrade.

Serbia's first constitutional document, the 'Sretenje Constitution' of the Principality of Serbia, which was drafted based on the
French and Belgian models of the time, was enacted in Kragujevac on Sretenje in 1835.
The text of the document, then held to be unusually liberal, was drawn up by Dimitrije Davidovic, a distinguished journalist and Serbian national worker.

The solution immediately met with the disapproval of Austria, Turkey and Russia, and the Sretenje Constitution was soon repealed. The major powers considered it to be too liberal: in comparison to the Constitutions of European countries of the age, it was such, save perhaps from rare exceptions such as those of France and Belgium.
The Principality and later, the Kingdom of Serbia, adopted several different constitutional decisions over time: in 1838, 1869, 1888, 1901 and 1903.

In the completely changed circumstances after the end of World War II in 1945, Serbia, as part of the federal Yugoslavia, adopted new constitutions four times, and the current one, the first Serbian Constitution after the collapse of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, was passed on October 30, 2006.
Given the importance of the day to Serbian history, starting from from this year, Statehood Day is celebrated as two non-working days, February 15 and 16.

source: tanjug news serbia

AIESEC Serbia, a branch of the world's largest student-run organization, will bring together young people from 113 countries in Belgrade on February 18 for an event dubbed “World to You”, where they will present their culture, customs and food.

AIESEC wants citizens of Serbia to see and meet young people from around the world and learn something more about their countries, UsaSerbs Net was told by AIESEC Serbia PR Andjel Boskovic, who announced a press conference on the coming event on February 14.

The conference dubbed “113 countries in Belgrade”, which will take place in Tanjug Press Center, will bring together Aleksandar Djalovic, AIESEC Serbia president, Florent Meiyi, AIESEC international president, and Nemanja Jovanovic, president of the Organization Team of the Global Leaders' Summit, Boskovic said.
“World to You” will be held in Belgrade shopping mall Usce, and the five-hour program will engage artistic groups, singers and performers from around the globe.

The audience will have a chance to enjoy Brazilian, Argentinean, and Japanese dances and music.
“World to You” is organized as part of the international project Global Leaders' Summit which comprises AIESAC presidents from all 113 countries where it exists.

AIESAC operates at over 2,400 universities, with 84,000 members, and it is recognized by the United Nations as the largest student-run organization in the world.

A 9-year-old Serb girl and her 3-year-old brother were injured on Monday in Kosovska Mitrovica, when an explosive device was thrown through their window.

According to reports, "an unidentified individual threw an explosive device at a Serb house in the Bosniak (Bošnjačka) Mahala neighborhood".

The children are not in a critical condition and were hospitalized in the Kosovska Mitrovica healthcare center sometime around 19:00 CET.

“We hospitalized two children suffering from injuries inflicted by an explosive device thrown in through the window of their family home. They suffered shrapnel injuries to their heads and necks and are out of mortal danger for now,” doctors told reporters in the local healthcare center.

“We are considering their transport to a specialized children's clinic in Belgrade for additional treatment because of the possibility of their wounds getting further aggravated. The injuries were inflicted to the area of cheek and neck and such wounds can be dangerous, which is we are discussing potential transfer,” the doctors said.

The explosive device was thrown at the house of Sneža and Steva Vučetić in the Bosniak Mahala, one of the mixed quarters in Kosovska Mitrovica which is a home to both Serbs and ethnic Albanians.

The police performed preliminary investigation at the scene. This is the second bomb attack in northern, mostly-Serb part of the ethnically divided town in as many days. The first incident late on Sunday did not cause any injuries.

Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor and Deputy Director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Krstimir Pantić reacted in a strongly worded statement, calling on the local Serbs to end all communication with NATO and EU missions, KFOR and EULEX, and referred to them as "the occupying forces".

"This terrorist attack reveals that the international community stands behind it - KFOR and EULEX. The greatest responsibility is with the commander of KFOR and the EULEX mission chief, without whose knowledge and consent this terrorist attack would not have taken place," Pantić stated.

In Belgrade, Kosovo Office Director Aleksandar Vulin spoke for media to say that he had asked the international community representatives in Kosovo to urgently state their position on the bomb attack, and find the perpetrators:

"How can you not condemn an act of violence that targeted a three-year-boy and his nine-year-old sister? We do not know who did this. But from the family's history we see that their only sin is that they are Serbs. They have not upset anyone in any other way."

Vulin also urged "the international community" to react and "stop treating Serbs as second-rate citizens".

Serbian PM Ivica Dačić also reacted, saying that he condemned the incident in the strongest terms, and stressing that it was the international forces who had the obligation to guarantee security for everyone.

"This, and similar attacks are jeopardizing peace in Kosovo and Metohija, to which Serbia is utterly dedicated, and the international forces should contribute so that this peace is maintained and safety of all who live in Kosovo and Metohija secured."

The prime minister also demanded that the perpetrators be discovered, and asserted that "this and other events of this kind are making the Belgrade-Priština dialogue more difficult".

Kosovska Mitrovica District chief Radenko Nedeljković said that the incident was aimed at intimidating and ethnically cleansing Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, and added:

"This should be a message to official Belgrade and the negotiating team: presidents of the state and government, and the chief technical talks negotiator should all be aware who it is that they are negotiating with, and what is actually happening here."

The Priština government's administrative office in northern Kosovska Mitrovica also on Sunday condemned the attack.

Thousands of Serbs gathered on Wednesday in northern Kosovska Mitrovica for a rally under the slogan, "Stop Brussels fraud and deceptions".

Beta news agency says that the rally was attended by some 10,000 people, while Tanjug puts the number at 5,000. The protest was organized by the leaders of the four municipalities in the northern, mostly Serb part of Kosovo. Mayors and local assembly speakers of Kosovska Mitrovica, Leposavić, Zvečan and Zubin Potok all attended.

Those gathered accepted by acclamation a declaration rejecting the establishment of Priština's institutions in their areas, and announced that they would undertake all forms of civil disobedience, including setting up new roadblocks, in order to express their opposition.

They also demanded that Belgrade withdraws from the Kosovo dialogue, held in Brussels, that the agreements reached so far not be implemented, and asked the Constitutional Court to appraise their legality and that of a relevant decree passed by the government in order to implement the deals.

The citizens were seen carrying banners against the EU-sponsored Kosovo dialogue, calls for the Constitution and UN Resolution 1244 to be respected, while others declared that "only traitors would give up on Kosovo", rejected once again "a Kosovo state" and Kosovo's institutions, and at the same time pledging "not to give away Serbian courts”.

Serbs are a majority north of the Ibar River and reject both the authority of the government in Priština, and the ethnic Albanian unilateral declaration of independence made five years ago.

Addressing the rally on Wednesday, Zubin Potok Mayor Slaviša Ristić said that messages were being sent from Kosovska Mitrovica's central, Šumadija Square for 13 years that Kosovo is a part of Serbia, and Serbs there citizens of Serbia:

"This message will be conveyed today as well, but in the name of the truth we are conveying a message to our authorities in Belgrade as well that the Brussels agreements are a Hague verdict for the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija, where they wish to force us to integrate into an independent Kosovo."

The mayor noted that Serbs in Kosovo cannot accept to be the price paid in order for Serbia to be given a date for the start of its EU accession talks.

"Independent Kosovo does not exist for us. It's an attempt at a state. We must remain united and work on not accepting to be integrated into an independent Kosovo," Ristić noted.

Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantić told the protesters that the willingness, morale, unity and readiness for self sacrifice in order to preserve Kosovo and Metohija has never been at a higher level.

"To the enemies of the Serb people we are saying that we will not surrender and allow them to steal Kosovo. We are not defending just he north, but all of Kosovo and Metohija," Pantić, who is also deputy chief of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, said, and stressed that Serbs in the northern parts would do everything to help their brethren in enclaves south of the Ibar survive.

Pantić also urged the Serbian government not to receive and talk to Deputy Kosovo PM Slobodan Petrović - a Serb who cooperates with the authorities in Priština - because otherwise, according to the mayor, "in the future he (Petrović) would be the only one they will be able to talk with".

Speaking ahead of the rally today, ruling SNS party MP and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun said that a resolution on Kosovo adopted in parliament "showed that it would not leave Serbian citizens in Kosovo to some para-state":

"In that sense, it is legitimate to remind the authorities in Belgrade of that fact, which is the goal of the rally. The authorities in Belgrade respect and will continue to respect that."

Asked about the effects of the protest and of the blockades of administrative line crossings in the north, Drecun said the effects "could be positive", as these forms of protest "express the direct will of the citizens who live in Kosovo".

At the same time, according to him, they could strengthen Serbia's position before the EU, "because it must care for the citizens of Kosovo of Serb nationality".

"Any deal between Belgrade and Priština, mediated by the EU, is worth nothing if Serbs do not wish to accept it. I think officials in Brussels are fully aware of this, too," Drecun concluded.

Rally adopts declaration

The rally adopted a declaration rejecting all the agreements reached so far in the Belgrade-Priština dialogue with the EU as the mediator, and called for the interruption of further talks and practices embodied in the acceptance of imposed and harmful agreements.

The declaration calls on the Constitutional Court to adopt decisions on constitutionality and legality of agreements reached in Brussels without delay and the decrees the Serbian government adopted concerning their implementation.

The document points out that there is no need for the shutdown of Serbian institutions which exist and act as the only legal and legitimate organizations in northern Kosovo and Metohija, adding that it is not possible for anyone to change the constitutional order against the citizens' will and set up borders and customs on the administrative crossings Jarinje and Brnjak.

The citizens and the local business community called for boycott and other modes of resistance and civil disobedience against all attempts at establishment of institutions of the so-called "Republic of Kosovo" in northern Kosovo and Metohija, including putting up roadblocks.

The declaration condemns the latest attacks staged by ethnic Albanians, targeting Serbs, Serb cemeteries, cultural heritage and institutions of Serbia, and it also calls on international representatives to reveal all relevant details concerning the events and pronounce legal sanctions.