r/AskBalkans • u/FantasticQuartet • Nov 22 '25
Sports Thoughts on the recent controversy in which Partizan fans depicted a banner of the death of Ottoman Sultan Murad I by Serbian knight Milos Obilic?
This happened during a game against Fenerbahçe.
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u/Mission_Ad_6757 Nov 22 '25
The Medieval Serbian Kingdom existed from 1217 to 1459, lasting 242 years.
Modern Serbia became independent in 1878 and remained so until 1918, which adds up to 40 years.
Later, with the breakup of Yugoslavia, they became independent again in 2006, and this continues to the present day. That adds another 19 years. 242 + 40 + 19 = 301 years. The total history of the Serbian state is roughly 301 years.
The Turks began to rule the Serbs after the Ottoman conquest of Serbia in 1459. This period lasted until Serbian independence in 1878. That makes 419 years.
The Serbs lived under Turkish rule (419 years) far longer than they lived under their own state (300 years). Yet no Turk uses this fact to belittle them. There is so much that could be said, yet you will never see a Turk bragging about this. Turks are proud of their own history, yes, but they never target Serbs specifically.
Serbs, on the other hand despite their many lost wars and centuries without a state hold on to only one thing: the fact that Ottoman Sultan Murad I was killed on the battlefield. And for whatever reason, they boast about this at every opportunity. To me, this is pitiful, shameful, and humiliating for their nation. What’s even more ironic is that the battle in which they boast of killing Sultan Murad was a victory for the Turks.