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UÇKHistory and Memory

Archive blog · Today in history

Today in history, 23 September: The Kaçanik Constitution

On 7 September 1990 Albanian delegates of the suspended Assembly met secretly in Kaçanik and adopted a Constitution of the Republic of Kosova; a clandestine legislature and government followed.

The recorded event closest to today's date in the archive calendar.

Date of the event
Place
Kaçanik
Evidence status
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.
The town of Kaçanik with red roofs in a valley, seen from a hill; two people sitting with their backs to the camera.
Panoramic view of Kaçanik, the town where the Kaçanik Constitution was adopted on 7 September 1990; photographed in 2009.Photo: Fidania 2001 Fidan Bela · 2009 · CC BY-SA 3.0

On 7 September 1990 Albanian delegates of the suspended Assembly met secretly in Kaçanik and adopted a Constitution of the Republic of Kosova; a clandestine legislature and government followed.

The Serbian authorities treated it as illegal: according to Helsinki Watch, on 17 September 1990, 111 delegates and 6 government members were charged with “counter-revolutionary activity” [1]. Serbia's new constitution of 28 September 1990 formally ended provincial autonomy [2].

Full event record, with sources and map

Historical context

1989–1995

After autonomy was abolished, Kosovo Albanians built parallel institutions and chose peaceful resistance. The strategy kept society alive, but it could not change Kosovo's international position.

Read the chapter “The parallel state and peaceful resistance”

Sources

  1. [1]Helsinki Watch (Human Rights Watch). Yugoslavia: Human Rights Abuses in Kosovo 1990–1992. 1992-10. https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/y/yugoslav/yugo92o.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. [2]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.

This post is created automatically from the archive's checked data and from public news feeds. Not one sentence was written by artificial intelligence. Published: .