Kosovo je Srbija

"Kosovo je Srbija" (Serbian Cyrillic: Косово је Србија, English: Kosovo is Serbia) is a slogan used in Serbia since at least 2004, popularised as a reaction to Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008. The slogan has been used by a series of protests, and by the Serbian Government. The slogan has appeared on T-shirts and in graffiti, and was placed on the websites of Kosovan institutions by hackers in 2009.

Protests

Kosovo je Srbija demonstration in Vienna.

2008 Serbia protests, intersection on the way to the Cathedral of Saint Sava on February 21, 2008 in Belgrade

Posters supporting Kosovo as a part of Serbia at the Prešov Down-town Railway Stop in Slovakia

Kosovo je Srbija graffiti on the Berlin Wall.

• A Kosovo je Srbija rally organized by the Serbian government was held on 21 February 2008 in Belgrade in front of the Parliament, with around 200,000-500,000 people attending. The US Embassy was set on fire by a small group of protesters. A small protest also occurred in London and 5,000 protesters demonstrated in Kosovska Mitrovica the following day. Kosovo police were injured during a protest by 150 war veterans at a border crossing on 25 February.
• In March 2008, American-born Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić won the European championship in the 50m butterfly, setting the new European record, a result briefly quashed when the European Swimming Federation (LEN) disqualified the swimmer for wearing a T-shirt at the medals ceremony that read “Kosovo is Serbia” in Cyrillic.
• Violent protests using the slogan occurred in Montenegro after the government recognised the independence of Kosovo in October 2008.

Serbian media campaign

Solidarity - Kosovo is Serbia (Serbian: Солидарност - Косово је Србија) is a media campaign in Serbia launched by Petar Petković in the final months of the negotiations over Kosovo and organized with the participation of 25 notable Serbian public figures, among them: Bata Živojinović, Svetlana Bojković, Dragan Bjelogrlić, Sergej Trifunović, Dragan Jovanović, Bora Đorđević, Đorđe David, Miki Jevremović, Slađana Milošević, Merima Njegomir, and Emir Kusturica.

Alternative views

Historians Noel Malcolm and Andrea R. Nagy have commented on the slogan's assertion. Malcolm believes that Kosovo had been occupied by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912 and only incorporated into a Yugoslav state years later, thereby dismissing the direct claim by Serbia to Kosovo. Nagy states that the Serbian aggression in the Kosovo war and the political, economic and religious causes were an attempt to recover a part of Christian Europe that had been lost centuries earlier due to the centuries of Ottoman rule.

Notes and references

Notes:

a.

^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the Brussels Agreement. Kosovo has been recognised as an independent state by 108 out of 193 United Nations member states.

References:

External links

• Kosovo je Srbija site (French)
• Kosovo is Serbia (English)
• Kosovo is Serbia