Montenegro is celebrating its national holiday on, the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Congress of July 13, 1878 when it was first recognized as an independent state and the 77th anniversary of the uprising in World War 2.

Montenegro’s President Milo Djukanovic laid a wreath at the monument to the World War II partisan fighters at the Gorica memorial park outside the capital Podgorica.  

A press release from the president’s cabinet quoted Djukanovic as saying that July 13 was the greatest date in the country’s “freedom loving history”. “Montenegro’s state policies, system of values and its success at home and abroad are firmly based on the heritage of anti-fascism and the affirmation of the historic values and progressive demands of the 21st century,” the president said.  

Montenegro declared independence from the state union with Serbia on June 3, 2006 but started celebrating July 13 as its national statehood day a year earlier. The date was marked earlier as World War II uprising day.

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