Calm in Gazimestan, police presence increases

Police patrols have been stationed at the entrance to Gazimestan, where they are awaiting Serbian citizens arriving from Graçanica to mark the so-called “Vidovdan” holiday.

Police officials on the ground said that the situation has so far been calm and that the same situation is expected to continue through to the end.

KosovaPress has meanwhile learned that police forces have already been increased in order to monitor the situation and guarantee security for citizens.

The date of June 28 is linked to the Battle of Kosovo, in which the coalition of Balkan peoples’ armies was defeated by the Ottoman Empire. After this defeat, the peoples of the Balkans either fell under Ottoman occupation or were forced to become vassals of the sultan. Albanian princes continued the resistance, and the best known among them was Skanderbeg. Serbia was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.

The Battle of Kosovo took place on June 28 (June 15 according to the old calendar), 1389, in the Kosovo Field, between the coalition of Balkan peoples’ armies led by Prince Lazar and the Ottoman forces led by Sultan Murad I (reigned 1360–89). The clash was fierce, and both leaders, Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad, as well as many other princes, were killed during it. Both armies were almost completely wiped out.

However, the Ottoman Empire had the means and resources to raise a new army in a shorter period of time. The peoples of the Balkans, on the other hand, were unable to recover quickly, and most of them ended up under Ottoman rule.

There is not much data on the Battle of Kosovo, and in fact a large part of it contradicts one another.

For this reason, this event today is known more for the myths surrounding it than for the historical facts.

Under the rule of Sultan Murad I, the Ottomans expanded their power from Anatolia toward the Balkans. In the summer of 1389, Sultan Murad arrived in Kosovo, where he confronted the coalition of princes.

Although this battle is often presented as a confrontation between Serbs and Turks, or between Christians and Muslims, the facts show the opposite.

On one side were the Ottomans, whose army also included soldiers from their subject peoples and vassal princes, including Christians.

On the other side stood a coalition of princes of the Balkan peoples, which also included many Albanian princes.

It is known that Prince Lazar was killed in the battle, but the circumstances of his killing are not known. Another Serbian prince, Vuk Branković, when he saw that the battle could not be won and that as many soldiers as possible had to be saved, withdrew from the confrontation. In Serbian accounts, Branković is described as a traitor, and his betrayal is considered the cause of Prince Lazar’s death.

Sultan Murad I was also killed in this battle, and it is believed that he was killed by Miloš Obilić, one of the main figures in the stories and legends related to the Battle of Kosovo.

After Murad I, his son Bayezid I came to the throne, and for a period he continued the campaign to expand the Ottoman conquest in the Balkans, but in 1403 he was defeated near Ankara by the Mongol troops of Tamerlane.

This created an opportunity for Albanian lords to strengthen their positions. It was precisely in this period that families such as the Balshaj, the Dukagjini and the Zaharia in Northern Albania; the Kastrioti, Topia, Arianiti, Muzaka and Gropa in Central Albania; as well as the Shpata and the Zenebishi in Southern Albania emerged.

At the same time, Venice managed to take the coastal cities, from the Bay of Kotor to Arta. Budva, Ulqin, Shkodra, Lezha, Durrës and Parga, which were important trade and exchange centers with the country’s inland regions, became part of what is known in history as Venetian Albania.