By Miroslav Ćosović. 12 December 2022
Quote:
“So, brothers, we too have become, as of yesterday (12 December 1830), a nation — a nation, it is true, still dependent on the Sultan, but a nation that has its own rights. From yesterday we have become a nation that has its own government, which was not taken from anyone, but is based on the law.”
On this day 192 years ago, a ceremony was held at Tašmajdan on the occasion of the granting of the Hatišerif (imperial decree) by Sultan Mahmud II, by which Serbia was recognized as a vassal principality.To the gathered dignitaries, Prince Miloš Obrenović of Serbia said the above words. In this way, Miloš formally declared the mixture of various ethnic groups that had settled in Serbia as a “nation.”
SERBIA WAS EMPTY IN 1740
From the second half of the 14th century, the Turks advanced into Europe and began their ravaging of the Balkans. After centuries of fighting on the territory of Serbia and campaigns by various armies, the medieval Serbs practically no longer existed on the territory of Serbia. Some were killed, some were taken into slavery, and some fled. Academician of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), Radovan Samardžić, writes the following in the book History of the Serbian People, Fourth Book, Volume I, Serbs in the 18th Century (Belgrade 1986, p. 321):
“The Serbian people in Turkey had to be fundamentally renewed in the 18th century in order to once again enter the historical stage in the struggle for liberation.”
Further on the same page, Samardžić adds:
“…after the conclusion of the Belgrade Peace Treaty in 1739. At that moment, according to data from V. Čubrilović, Serbia could not have had more than 50,000–60,000 inhabitants.”
After that, Serbia was settled from all parts of the Balkans: Macedonians and Bulgarians, Montenegrins, Bosnian-Herzegovinian Vlachs, Roma, Romanian Vlachs, Cincars (Aromanians), some Greeks and Albanians…
This is the reason why Miloš Obrenović said that this mixture of various ethnic groups had become a nation on 12 December 1830.
WHAT HAPPENED AT TAŠMAJDAN ON 13 DECEMBER 1830
The Frankfurt News published a feuilleton more than 10 years ago titled “One Hundred and Eighty Years Since the Hatišerif by Which Serbia Was Recognized as a Self-Governing European State with Its Own Dynasty — Under Turkish Sovereignty and Russian Protection.”
Quotes attributed to Prince Miloš Obrenović
“THE SETTLEMENT OF BULGARIANS, MACEDONIANS, MONTENEGRINS, HERZEGOVINIANS, BOSNIANS AND ROMANIAN VLACHS, ROMA, CINCARS… MILOŠ OBRENOVIĆ PROCLAIMED THEM SERBS — THE SERBIAN NATION, IN DECEMBER 1830.”
“Miloš Obrenović, to the assembled Serbs on 13 December 1830, on the occasion of receiving the hatišerif by which Serbia was proclaimed a vassal principality: So, brothers, we too have become a nation as of yesterday…”
Quote attributed to Savo Fatić
“SAVO FATIĆ, DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE PODGORICA ASSEMBLY, PROCLAIMS THE SERBIAN NATION IN MONTENEGRO, 27 NOVEMBER 1918.Quote from Savo Fatić: “We are no longer Montenegrins, but Serbs!”
In the issue of 31 May 2010 (online edition), 13 December 1830 is described — the day when Miloš Obrenović declared that the Serbs had become a nation. Here is that continuation of the feuilleton:
“For the ceremony on the field, Prince Miloš visited several places in Belgrade looking for the most suitable one for the gathering he had envisioned. In the end, he chose the field in front of the Batal Mosque, that part of today’s Tašmajdan Park above the Church of St. Mark.
He also decided on the date of the ceremony. He considered it best for it to be on Sunday, 12 December 1830. It was the day of St. Andrew the First-Called, but the Prince probably had in mind that it was the day when, 24 years earlier, Karađorđe and the insurgents had liberated Belgrade.
The solemn day, so eagerly awaited and thoroughly prepared, unfortunately dawned rainy and gloomy. This did not spoil Miloš’s mood — what was to follow was much more important to him than the unfriendliness of the sky, and he set off cheerfully and vigorously with his entourage to the old Cathedral Church. In the church, which stood on the site of today’s one, he was greeted by the then head of the Serbian Orthodox Church — Metropolitan Antim, a Greek by origin, who held a service on the occasion of this ceremony, along with almost all other church dignitaries.
A large rally at Tašmajdan (as we would call this gathering in modern terms) was preceded by a ceremony in accordance with Turkish tradition. Only after they had drunk coffee and smoked chibooks did the Vizier and Miloš step out before the people.
A large crowd had gathered, to whom the Belgrade Vizier Hüseyin Pasha first spoke from the platform in Turkish. In a short speech, he emphasized that the Hatišerif and the berat were expressions of the Sultan’s mercy and called on the people to be worthy of them. Then he approached Miloš and draped him with a harvanija — a cloak of fine cloth with a large clasp of gold and diamonds — thus officially confirming Miloš as the Serbian Prince.
After that, he handed the originals of the Hatišerif and berat to the Prince. Miloš accepted them as precious items and kissed them, to the enthusiastic cheers of the gathered masses.
The ceremony on the Tašmajdan meadow was short, not only because of the rain, but also because Miloš had planned that already the next day, in the same place and before the same large crowd, the Serbian translation of the Hatišerif and berat would be read, and that this would be the real celebration that would be talked about and remembered. His speech had also been prepared for this second celebration, because he wanted to personally highlight the historical significance of this event.
The next day dawned brighter and sunnier, and Miloš went with his entourage to the same place where he had stood the day before with the Turkish Vizier during the handover of the Sultan’s documents. Before the same people who had been there the day before, the Hatišerif and berat were read again, but this time in Serbian translation. They were read by Miloš’s scribe Lazar Zuban, who, according to the writers of contemporary chronicles, was so loud-voiced that the entire gathered crowd could hear him.
While Zuban was reading, Dimitrije Davidović, Resava voivode Milosav Zdravković, and Rudnik knez Joksim Milosavljević moved through the crowd holding the originals of the Hatišerif and berat so that the people could see the Sultan’s acts with their own eyes.
After that, Davidović ascended the platform and began to read Miloš’s speech, which was programmatic and explained the past, present, and future position of Serbia in an understandable and popular way. At the beginning it was stated:
‘So, brothers, we too have become, as of yesterday, a nation — a nation, it is true, still dependent on the Sultan, but a nation that has its own rights. From yesterday we have become a nation that has its own government, which was not taken from anyone, but is based on the law.’
A priest consecrated the site of this gathering, and the first Church of St. Mark was later built there, followed by the present one. The money for the construction was given by the well-known merchant Lazar Nanče, originally from Katranica in Macedonia. The day on which the Hatišerif and berat were read, 12 December, Miloš declared a state holiday of Serbia.”
Source
Knez Miloš svečano proglasio da je srpski NAROD napravljen 12. XII 1830. godine. https://www.aktuelno.me/clanak/knez-milos-svecano-proglasio-da-je-srpski-narod-napravljen-12-xii-1830-godine. December 12, 2022. Miroslav Ćosović.
