KISTANJE, Sept 14 (Hina) - The 700th anniversary of the first mention of the Janjevo parish in Kosovo, the earliest Croatian diaspora, was celebrated in Kistanje, inland off the central Adriatic coast, on Sunday, under the auspices of
the Croatian parliament.
KISTANJE, Sept 14 (Hina) - The 700th anniversary of the first
mention of the Janjevo parish in Kosovo, the earliest Croatian
diaspora, was celebrated in Kistanje, inland off the central
Adriatic coast, on Sunday, under the auspices of the Croatian
parliament. #L#
Parliament president Zlatko Tomcic attended.
The marking of the jubilee began in Zagreb last December 6 and
continued in Dubrovnik on January 1 and in Janjevo on May 9.
A former Dubrovnik Republic colony in Kosovo, Janjevo is considered
the oldest Croatian diaspora which received its first mention in
1303 in a letter from pope Benedict XI to Bar bishop Marin.
Croats who lived in the Janjevo area were forced to leave Kosovo in
the 1990s. In 1991 Kosovo had a Croat population of 9,000 but only
1,000 in 1999. It is believed there are even less now.
Kosovo Croat refugees settled in Kistanje after the village was
liberated from Croatian Serb rebels and after its sole residents --
Croatian Serbs -- left.
(hina) ha