Jovanovic: First Serbian Uprising and the Sretenje Constitution symbolize freedom and rights – two pillars of the Serbian state

Sretenje represents a spiritual and national holiday of the Serbian people and state, celebrating two historically significant events: the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising on February 15, 1804, and the adoption of the Sretenje Constitution on the same day in 1835, historian Luka Jovanovic from the Faculty of Philosophy in North Mitrovica reminds.

On the Statehood Day of Serbia, Jovanovic emphasizes to Kosovo Online that the First Serbian Uprising of 1804 and the Sretenje Constitution of 1835 symbolically represent the two most significant pillars upon which the Serbian state rests – freedom and law.

"The First Serbian Uprising, initiated in 1804 by Karadjordje and his insurgents in the Maricevic Gully, was precisely a call for freedom. The Sretenje Constitution, adopted during that time and with the blessing of Prince Milos Obrenovic, represented a call for rights. In those two events, we had what Serbs had been striving for throughout the entire modern history – freedom and laws, or rather, knowledge and rule of law," Jovanovic noted.

He recalls that the Sretenje Constitution was a phenomenon in the Balkans at that time, as there was no state with a constitution in this part of Europe.

"Serbia found itself in the heart of the Balkans, surrounded by three great empires, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian, which did not have their own constitutions at the time when Serbs adopted their first, the Sretenje Constitution," Jovanovic points out.

He explains that the Constitution was short-lived because it was extremely liberal, especially for the "territory" where both Turkey and Austria-Hungary feared that the peoples settled around the Principality of Serbia would demand the same freedoms Serbs fought for.

He emphasizes that the greatest achievement of the Sretenje Constitution was the famous provision that "anyone who sets foot on Serbian soil becomes a free person, regardless of their faith or nationality."

"Serbs fought for freedom and did not allow other nations, who found themselves on their territory, to become slaves. Everyone aspired to be part of that Serbia, which, in fact, in 1804 and 1835 on Sretenje (Meeting of the Lord), proclaimed and initiated a great process of its liberation and unification, not only of the Serbian people but also of all South Slavic nations," Jovanovic said.

He says that the process was completed only in 1918 with the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, with which Serbs finally closed the circle, started on Sretenje in 1804, and gained freedom for the entire Serbian nation on the Balkan Peninsula, as well as other South Slavic nations.

Jovanovic adds that Serbs in Kosovo will certainly mark the Statehood Day of Serbia, as it is the only statehood day they know.

He points out another event that took place precisely on Sretenje in 1909 – the first Assembly of Ottoman Serbs in the Ottoman Empire.

"At that time, Serbs from the territory of old Serbia and Macedonia, as it was called then, or Serbs who were still under Turkish slavery, began to organize politically and formed their political party, the Serbian Democratic League. Therefore, this holiday should be specially celebrated and revered in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as among all Serbs who, until 1912, lived outside the borders of the Kingdom of Serbia," Jovanovic concluded.