Kosovo will on Friday mark the 15th anniversary of its declaration of independence from Serbia.
STATE & GOVERNMENT: A parliamentary democracy with a 120-seat legislature, including 10 seats reserved for Serbs and 10 for other minorities. Government is headed by the prime minister, with the president in a ceremonial role.
Many Serbs left over the five centuries after the Ottoman Empire defeated Serbs under Prince Lazar in the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, while ethnic Albanians grew in number. Mutual expulsions and migrations to and from neighbouring Albania in the early 20th century changed Kosovo's ethnic makeup. Western powers warned Milosevic they would not tolerate another wave of Balkan "ethnic cleansing" after wars in Bosnia and Croatia. Peace talks in France failed and in March 1999 NATO began bombing Serbia to force it to withdraw from Kosovo.
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