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UÇKHistory and Memory

September 1986 · 1981–1989

The draft SANU Memorandum

In September 1986 the unfinished draft of a memorandum by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts leaked prematurely; it became a key text of Serbian nationalism of the time.
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.Before the warPolitics
A monumental corner building with an ornate façade and dome, seen from the street.
The building of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) in Belgrade, built in 1923–1924; photographed in 2008.Photo: Filip Knežić · 2008-05-16 · CC BY-SA 2.0

According to SANU's own apologetic volume (1995), the draft was attacked in the newspaper Večernje novosti on 24–25 September 1986 and was never approved by any body of the Academy [1]. Its political significance for Kosovo should be read through scholarly analyses [2].

Sources

  1. [1]Kosta Mihailović, Vasilije Krestić. Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts: Answers to Criticisms. Ed. Miroslav Pantić. SANU, Beograd, 1995. https://www.rastko.rs/istorija/iii/memorandum.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. [2]Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative (Second Edition). Ed. Charles Ingrao, Thomas A. Emmert. Purdue University Press, 2012-12-15. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284315020. Accessed 2026-09-16.

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

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