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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Nevesinje Rifle: a symbol of Serbian people's determination to live in freedom

Belgrade/Nevesinje, 6 July 2025

Prime Minister Professor Đuro Macut, MD, DSc, stated today in Nevesinje, at a ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of the Nevesinje Rifle, that Serbia will remain united and undivided and that it will continue to care for all its compatriots.

Macut said that our unity must be our strength, adding that this is the vow of our forefather Saint Sava, as well as the sacrifice of the heroes from the Herzegovina karst.

He recalled that the Herzegovina Uprising drew the attention of the entire world to the position of the Christian population under Ottoman rule, and that a century and a half later, we are not talking about just one uprising, but about a vowed commitment to a life in freedom and the right of a people to determine its future democratically, independently, on the basis of their freely expressed will.

Macut said that even today, when looking at similar geopolitical actions, it is impossible not to notice that the world has still not learned the lessons of that era - that lasting peace cannot be built without truth, justice and respect for the suffering of numerically small but proud peoples, who won their freedom through sacrifice, and not at the expense of others.

The Nevesinje Rifle was not an isolated event, but a spark that ignited a series of uprisings and wars throughout the Balkans, the Prime Minister said, adding that it was immediately followed by the uprising of the people in Bosnia, then the Great Eastern Crisis, the Bulgarian uprisings and the wars of Serbia, Montenegro and Russia against the Ottoman Empire.

Prime Minister Macut today laid a wreath and paid tribute to the fallen insurgents at the memorial in the village of Krekovi.

The Nevesinje Rifle is the name for the first conflict between Serbs and Turks in the Herzegovina Uprising (1875–1878), which began on 9 July 1875. After this first insurgent victory, the entire uprising in Herzegovina was called the Nevesinje Rifle.