Serbian insurgents remembered at Ivankovac

IVANKOVAC - The 209th anniversary of the famous Battle of Ivankovac, in which Serbian insurgents won a brilliant victory in their first clash with Ottoman troops, was marked on Monday with a church service and a memorial ceremony held in the Ivankovac memorial complex, situated in central Serbia.

Negovan Stankovic, state secretary for veteran affairs, paid a tribute to the fallen Serbian heroes on behalf of the Serbian government and laid a wreath at the memorial to Milanko Stojkovic, who led the Serbs to victory against the Turks at Ivankovac.

A delegation of the Ministry of Defence and a Serbian Armed Forces delegation headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Milos Ninkovic also laid wreaths and paid tributes, as did the delegations of the town of Cuprija and the local association of war veterans.

The first major battle against regular Turkish troops in the First Serbian Uprising took place on August 18-20, 1805 at Ivankovac after a series of battles against the Turkish dahias in the Belgrade pashadom, Stankovic said at the ceremony.

The Battle of Ivankovac represents one of the biggest and most significant victories for the Serbs, who rose under the leadership of Djordje Karadjordje Petrovic, as well as a brilliant example of a military operation that was tactically well-conceived and well-executed, Stankovic said.

"The Battle of Ivankovac marked a decisive moment in the entire period of the First Serbian Uprising. By winning that battle, the Serbian insurgents set an example of immeasurable courage and patriotism that has remained etched into the collective consciousness of the nation in the centuries to come," he said.

Modern Serbia, whose emergence is also due to this great battle, is oriented towards...