Annunciation Council

The Annunciation Council was a council of elected representatives of Eastern Orthodox Serbs in the Austrian Empire, which was held on 2 April 1861, in Sremski Karlovci, on the day of the church holiday of Annunciation.
After the abolition of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat, political and ecclesiastical representatives of the Serbian people living in the Austrian Empire, led by patriarch Josif Rajačić, met in a council, or assembly and adopted a sixteen-point program, demanding territorial and political autonomy. They accepted the emperor's condition that all Serbian demands should be made and within political frameworks of the Kingdom of Hungary. Serbian demands were supported by imperial minister Anton von Schmerling, but remained unfulfilled.