Serbian Democratic League Manifesto 1908

The Serb Democratic League in the Ottoman Empire () was an Ottoman Serb political organisation established on August 13, 1908, at the First Serb Conference (August 10–13), immediately after the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...

. It included the Serb elite of Old Raška,

Kosovo and Metohija The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (APKM) (; ), commonly known as Kosovo (; ) and abbreviated to Kosmet (from '' Kosovo'' and '' Metohija''; ) or KiM (), is an autonomous province that occupies the southernmost corner of Serbia, ...

, and

Vardar Macedonia Vardar Macedonia (Macedonian language, Macedonian and ) is a historical term referring to the central part of the broader Macedonian region, roughly corresponding to present-day North Macedonia. The name derives from the Vardar, Vardar River and i ...

and

Aegean Macedonia Aegean Macedonia ('';'' ) is a term describing the region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia in Northern Greece. It is currently mainly used in the North Macedonia, Republic of North Macedonia, including in the Irredentism, irredentist context of a ...

. It included many members of the

Serbian Chetnik Organization The Serbian Revolutionary Organization () or Serbian Chetnik Organization (Српска четничка организација / Srpska četnička organizacija) was a paramilitary revolutionary organization with the aim of liberation of Old Se ...

Establishment

Immediately after the outbreak of the

, the Serbs decided to organize themselves in a different way. The First Serbian Conference in Skopje was attended by 26 of the most respected Serbs in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. A central committee was elected, headed by

Bogdan Radenković Bogdan Radenković ( sr-cyr, Богдан Раденковић; 1874 – 30 July 1917) was a Serb activist, an organizer of the Serbian Chetnik Organization and one of the founders of the Black Hand. He was a leading civilian activist of the Pan ...

. Serbian Democratic League in the Ottoman and its members of the Central Committee included:

, Đorđe Hadži-Kostić, Sava Stojanović, David Dimitrijević, Aleksandar Bukvic, Jovan Šantrić, Milan Čemerikić, Velimir Prelić,

Vasa Jovanović Vasilije Jovanović ( sr-cyrl, Василије Јовановић; February 1874 – 31 December 1970), also known as Vasa Makedonac ("Vasa the Macedonian;" sr-cyrl, Васа Македонац), was a Serbian lawyer, politician, founder of the ...

and Gliša Elezović.name="SLO2" A proclamation was sent to the Serbs in the

, in which * announces the abandonment of the revolutionary organization and announces the constitutionally permitted form of political action * the integrity of the Ottoman Empire is recognized * the Serb Democratic League was created, with the aim of political, economic and educational progress of the Serbian people.

Assembly

The First Assembly of Serbs in the Ottoman Empire was held from 2 February -11 February 1909 in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

At that assembly, resolutions were passed on political, economic and church school opportunities. They demanded that the laws be respected, and in particular the freedom and equality of citizens, and that the Serbian name be freely used. They also condemned the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the second resolution, they demanded that the Serbian metropolitans receive the same privileges as the Greek metropolitans. They also demanded that the Serbs have rights even in dioceses where there are no Serb metropolitans and that the villages be left with the right to receive a Serbian or Bulgarian priest as they wish. In the third resolution, they demanded that they be returned to the Serbs. stolen properties, as well as to enable peasants to buy their properties from landowners.

Choices

In the elections

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

. The Serbian Democratic League won 3 deputies and one senator. She repeated the same success in 1911. name="SLO" Temporary Central Board of the Organization of Ottoman Serbs, July 1908.jpg, Temporary Central Board of the Organization of Ottoman Serbs, July 1908 First Assembly of Ottoman Serbs in Skoplje on Sretenje, 1909.jpg, First Assembly of Ottoman Serbs in Skoplje on Sretenje, 1909

Literature

* Serbian Democratic League in the Ottoman Empire (Wikisource) * * *

References

Sources