Serb gathering in Gazimestan for “Vidovdan” concludes

The Serb celebration in Gazimestan ended with songs and religious rites. Hundreds of Serbs from Kosovo gathered there to mark the holiday known as “Vidovdan.”

The gathering in Gazimestan, located near Obiliq, caused long lines of vehicles on the Prishtina-Mitrovica highway.

During this time, police carried out checks to verify whether participants were carrying symbols that incite interethnic hatred.

According to police officials on the ground, the situation was calm.

The date of June 28 is linked to the Battle of Kosovo, in which the coalition of the armies of the peoples of the Balkans 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. The Albanian princes continued their resistance, the best known among them being Skanderbeg. Serbia became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Battle of Kosovo took place on the Kosovo Field on June 28 (June 15 according to the old calendar), 1389, between the coalition of the armies of the peoples of the Balkans, 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 there. Both armies were almost completely destroyed.

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 were unable to recover quickly, and most of them ended up under Ottoman rule.

There are not many records of the Battle of Kosovo, and most of them even contradict one another.

It is precisely for this reason that today this event is known more for the myths surrounding it than for the historical facts.

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

Although the battle is often portrayed as a clash between Serbs and Turks or between Christians and Muslims, the facts indicate otherwise.

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

Facing them was a coalition of princes from the peoples of the Balkans, among whom were also many Albanian princes.

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

Sultan Murad I was also killed in this battle, and he is believed to have been killed by Miloš Obilić, one of the main heroes in the stories and legends about the Battle of Kosovo.

After the death of Murad I, his son Bayezid I became sultan and for a time 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 opportunities for Albanian lords to strengthen their positions. During this period, families such as the Balshaj, the Dukagjini and the Zahariaj in Northern Albania; the Kastrioti, Topiaj, Arianiti, Muzakaj and Gropaj in Central Albania; as well as the Shpataj and Zenebish in Southern Albania came to the fore.

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