Victory After Four Centuries

In the honor of the 400th anniversary of the victory over the Turks in the battle at Sisak, festivities and rallies started in Slovenia on June 18 and were prolonged to June 25, the Republic of Slovenia Independence Day. The committee for co-ordinating the festivities, on which the Slovenian Defence Ministry had the most prominent place, called on Slovenians via the media recently, to join in the festivities being held in Turjak and Krumperk castles, and other places. Defence Minister Janez Jansa was due to visit all these places and speak.

"June 1993 marks the 400th. anniversary of the great battle at Sisak between the Turks and the allied army of the internal Austrian provinces and Croatia, led by Count Andrej Turjaski. In this battle the flower of Kranj, or rather, the Slovene army, inflicted a fateful defeat on the Turks who had for centuries attacked and looted Slovenian provinces," said Milan Zver, Jansa's cabinet chief, explaining the festivities.

In other words, Jansa's ministry had decided to mark with great theatricality the anniversary of a battle in which "the Slovene army had defeated the Ottoman Empire and saved Europe from an invasion of barbarians"! Thus has Slovenia, after a delay of 400 years, discovered its Battle of Kosovo, and a victorious one at that. And so, each for themselves, the Slovenian and Croatian military and civilian leaderships have prepared several celebrations. Croatia which has more experience in staging spectacles did not spare money or effort, so that President Franjo Tudjman was presented with a copy of Toma Erdedy's sword (financed by the local authorities) at the central celebration in Sisak's castle. Tudjman accepted the gift readily and with great satisfaction. At the same time, on the other side of the border, Minister Jansa organized his celebration on June 20 in Turjak Castle where flanked by a unit of honor, he evoked memories of the great battle (near Sisak), mentioned the detrimental influences from the southwest, and the crucial importance of the battle which was decisive in keeping Slovenia within the reach of Western European civilization. On the same occasion Jansa promoted 49 officers, and presented some with "brigadier swords". In passing, Jansa explained that the Slovenians had not celebrated this important battle so far "since subservience to Belgrade had forced them to celebrate the Serbian defeat at Kosovo Polje".

This "improvement" of history for current political needs, and the Slovene Army's new ideological foundation, have already resulted in clashes with Croatian historians who believe that the battle at Sisak, was primarily a Croatian battle. Slovenian historians counter by saying that the Croats only had "one unit" in the battle. All this led to a tragicomic week of festivities. The Croats and Slovenes fought over whose contribution in the battle was greater, always underscoring the "Slovenian" or "Croatian" aspect, and promoting their national symbols at separate celebrations, never thinking for one moment of marking the anniversary with a joint celebration.

The feuding and jealousy are best illustrated by the press: a week ahead of the anniversary, the Slovenian daily "Delo" brought a supplement "400 Years since the great Slovene victory over the Turks", which had "remained deep in the memory of Slovenians". According to this interpretation, the course of the famous battle was decided by "the Kranjci - Andrej Turjaski and Baron Ravbar with his knights".

Not surprisingly, the Croatian media forgot to mention their Slovene allies in the victorious battle. The Zagreb daily "Vjesnik" gave its readers the following version of the battle: the battle was led by "Ban Toma Erdedy, the commander of the Croatian army", so that a "strong thrust by Croatian forces threw the Turks of balance". Need it be said that both interpretations of the battle are full of pathetic descriptions and allusions to current political events. History is being "repeated" in these areas, and "battles for the existence of the Croatian state are being waged again". "Europe's" role in this battle, as in the Battle of Kosovo, is hypocritical: the French signed a treaty with the Turks behind the back of the Croats, "a Christian and chivalrous nation". In spite of everything Croatia remained "Christendom's bulwark", defending Europe from the invasion of barbarians and Islam. The adversary at the time - Hasan Pasha Predojevic has also been thrown into the current context of events, since he originates from "the Orthodox Predojevic family".

Historical data published on this battle before history underwent some re-vamping, confirm that an important battle took place on June 22, 1593 and that the Christian forces under Ban Toma Erdedy and General Andrija Auersprerg of Karlovac, defeated Hasan Pasha Predojevic, the Turkish commander from Herzegovina, who then fled to Szeged. In the battle some 5,000 Christian soldiers (of which number 600 "Slovenians") and 300 defenders of the Sisak castle defeated around 10,000 of Hasan Pasha's soldiers. The latest interpretations of the victors of the battle at Sisak, and a simplified division of roles in the context of the current hatreds and wars in the Balkans into a priori good (Slovenes, i.e. Croats) and always bad (Serbs - Moslems), is also discreditable because of data according to which a crucial role was played by the Uskoci or "Marksmen from Krajina" who captured the strategically important bridge on the Kupa River, and cut off the Turkish army's retreat. However, because of their undesirable national origin (Serbian), the role played by these soldiers, and their "merits for civilization" in the battle - are not being underscored. It is even less clear how a single battle waged by the Hungarian Ban and Hungarian nobles, one in which Slovenes and Croats served as cannon fodder, could become the sole national victory of the Croat or Slovene armies - without states to support them, all the more so as it isn't possible to talk about nations at the time. After this unexpectedly important battle near Sisak, war with Turkey (according to encyclopedias) was "waged with varied success", so that the significance of this battle and a justification of the scope of the celebrations in Slovenia and Croatia, remains an open question. Finally, after this "crucial" battle in which the "Slovenes (and in Croatia the Croats) defeated the Ottoman empire", the Turks did manage to take Sisak castle, practically the whole of the vassal "Croat kingdoms", and continued to loot Slovenian provinces, going on to fight against Poland (late 1621), Venice and Dalmatia (end of 1669). They captured Lavov and Lublin again, and managed to besiege Vienna. It was the Holy Alliance (Austria, Venice, Poland and Russia) which finally managed to defeat Turkey.

The glorification of the Sisak battle does not have much to do with historical facts, inasmuch as with the need to create a new nationalist mythology. Bits of historical reality mixed up with delusions, narcissism and exaggeration, permeate through a new collective consciousness, in which ideologically inappropriate details are simply forgotten. The abuse of this battle for the current political needs of Jansa's term in office and Tudjman's rule, are recognizable in allusions to the current Croatian-Moslem war being fought in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The pathetic reincarnation of memories of this battle has been used for mobilizing public opinion and for recalling that enemies in the form of today's Turks, i.e. Moslems, are still nearby, and that the war against them still has to be brought to an end. In this context, Slovenia's celebration is a symbolic contribution in Croatia's showdown with the Moslems. That these are not idle speculations, was confirmed by Editor-in-chief of the Slovenian daily "Republika" Boza Kovac, who cautions that such celebrations can have negative consequences for the mostly Moslem refugees from Bosnia, currently in Slovenia. "In accordance with the latest ideas, Bosnia will soon undergo great migrations. There will be no place for refugees, including those in Slovenia. "Slav Turks" as some call Bosnian Moslems, will, in that case, be with us for a long time. Slovenia's introversion and xenophobia and a victor's self-confidence, stemming from a battle fought long ago against the Turks, will have little difficulty in combining in an arrogant and merciless attitude towards strangers without a homeland," said Kovac.

This subsequently formulated continuity in the existence of the victorious Slovenian army, and the battle which conveniently took place three days before June 25, Slovenia's Independence Day, has made it unnecessary for worthy historians to alter facts.