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June 28, 1999
Web posted at: 11:03 a.m. EDT (1503 GMT)

GRACANICA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- On the 610th anniversary of the day Ottoman Turks handed Serbs a devastating defeat in Kosovo, Serbia's religious leaders on Monday said that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had distorted the meaning of that historic event for nationalistic purposes.

Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle II celebrated Mass at the Gracanica Monastery, built 79 years before the Turks slaughtered tens of thousands of Serbs in the Battle of Kosovo.

On June 28, 1389, Serbian Prince Lazar took to the fields a few miles from Gracanica Monastery, leading his forces to defend Christianity against the Ottoman Turks. Among those killed that day, Lazar became both a nationalist hero and a martyr to the Serbian Christian cause.

Serbia gained independence from Turkey in the late 19th century, and reclaimed Kosovo in 1912. But the province's population, by that time, had had a Muslim majority for more than 300 years.

Following World War II, Yugoslav Communist leader Tito suppressed Serb nationalism and granted Kosovo limited autonomy. But after Tito's death, Kosovo Serbs loudly complained that they were being ignored while the majority ethnic Albanians oppressed them.

In 1987, Milosevic -- then a relatively unknown bureaucrat -- heard the call, and responded. "No one should dare to beat you," he told the Serbs, after police had beaten them with batons, near Kosovo Polje's House of Culture.

It was on this day 610 years ago that the army led by Serb Prince Lazar fought a battle against Ottoman Turks

His words spurred a wave of nationalist fervor, sweeping him to Yugoslavia's presidency. After his rise to power, Milosevic revoked Kosovo's autonomy, and began to systematically assert the dominance of Serbs over the majority ethnic Albanians.

Before heading to Kosovo on Sunday, Patriarch Pavle fired a spiritual shot at politicians he said brought the calamity of NATO airstrikes onto Yugoslavia.

This anniversary "differs from the previous ones," he said in a statement released by the Orthodox Church press office. "There will be no hypocrisy in it. In its celebration, the godless leaders of our people will take no part."

The Serbian Church, which in the past had warned Serbs about the "menace" of ethnic Albanians, has called for the Milosevic's resignation. On Monday, the church's leaders pleaded for calm in the province and urged Serbs to stay in Kosovo and learn to live with the Muslims.

Correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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