Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo

	History of Kosovo
	; This article is part of a series
Early History
	Prehistoric Balkans
	Roman Empire
	Byzantine Empire
Middle Ages
	Bulgarian Empire
	Medieval Serbia
	Battle of Kosovo
Ottoman Kosovo
	Eyalet of Rumelia
	Vilayet of Kosovo
	Albanian nationalism
20th century
	First Balkan War
	Kingdom of Serbia
	Kingdom of Yugoslavia
	AP Kosovo and Metohija
	SAP Kosovo
	AP Kosovo and Metohija
Recent history
	Kosovo War
	UN administration
	Contemporary Kosovo
	Kosovo Portal; v • d • e

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{{Infobox SFRY-SAP

name = Republic of Kosovo

full-name = Republic of Kosovo

loc-name =

Republika e Kosovës

map = SAP Kosovo.png

capital = Prishtina

languages = Albanian,English leanguage,Serbo-Croatian,

area = 10,686

water = Negligible

pop = 2 126 000

density = 183.1

time-zone = + 1

Autonomous Province of Kosovo was one of the two socialist autonomous areas of the Socialist Republic of Serbia incorporated into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1974 until 1990. It was a predecessor of the modern day Kosovo.

[edit] History

The Autonomous Province of Kosovo received more and more autonomy and self-government within Serbia and Yugoslavia during the 1970s, and its name was officially changed in 1974 to Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo ("and Metohija" was removed because it was not used by the Kosovo Albanians and "Socialist" added to further show the Socialist ideal of then's SFRY) as per the Constitutions of SFRY and SR Serbia, when SAP Kosovo also gained its own Constitution. The Province of Kosovo gained the highest officials, most notably Presidency and Government, and gained a seat in the Federal Yugoslavian Presidency (including veto power on the federal level) which equated it to the states of SR Serbia.^{[citation needed]}

The local Albanian-dominated ruling class had been asking for recognition of Kosovo as a parallel republic to Serbia within the Federation, and after Tito’s death in 1980, the demands were renewed. In March of 1981 Albanian students protested demanding independence of Kosovo. Subsequently the situation rapidly escalated into extremely violent mass-riots across the province that spread across 6 major Kosovo cities and included over 20,000 Albanian dissidents.^{[citation needed]} The Yugoslav authorities harshly prosecuted and contained the civil unrest. Emigration of non-Albanians increased and ethnic tensions between Albanians and non-Albanians greatly increased, with violent inner-attacks, especially aimed at the Yugoslavian officials and representatives of authority.^{[citation needed]}

Slobodan Milošević became the leader of the Serbian communists in 1986, and then seized control over Kosovo and Vojvodina. This can especially be seen in the 1987 rift in Kosovo, which became the final turnout of possibilities of peace between Albanians and Yugoslavia.^{[citation needed]} On 28 June 1989, Milošević led a mass celebration with hundreds of thousands (almost one million)^{[citation needed]} Serbs in Gazimestan on the 600th anniversary of a 1389 Battle of Kosovo. Milošević's Gazimestan speech, which marked the beginning of his political prominence, was an important part of the events that contributed to the ongoing crisis in Kosovo. The ensuing Serbian nationalist movement was also a contributing factor to the Yugoslav Wars.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989, Milošević revoked the autonomy of Kosovo, returning it to the pre-1971 Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija status, which was passed by the Kosovo Parliament on 28 September of 1990.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008 Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. As of October 10, 2008, 52 out of 192 sovereign United Nations member states have formally recognized the Republic of Kosovo. Serbia still considers Kosovo as part of its sovereign territory.