KOSOVO - SERBIAN POST

North Mitrovica, or North Kosovska Mitrovica (Albanian: Mitrovica e Veriut or Mitrovicë Veriore; Serbian: Северна Косовска Митровица / Severna Kosovska Mitrovica, known only as Ceвepнa Митровица / Severna Mitrovica), is a town and municipality located in Mitrovica District in Kosovo. As of 2015, it has a population of 29,460 inhabitants. It covers an area of 11 km² (4 sq mi). North Mitrovica is a part of North Kosovo, a region with an ethnic Serb majority that functions largely autonomously from the remainder of ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo. The municipality was established in 2013 after North Kosovo crisis, previously being the settlement of the city of Mitrovica, divided by the Ibar river. Following the 2013 Brussels Agreement, the municipality is planned to be the administrative center of the Community of Serb Municipalities. 

The northern part of Mitrovica  (formerly "Kosovska Mitrovica") was commonly referred to as "North(ern) Kosovska Mitrovica" (Serbian: Северна Косовска Митровица/Severna Kosovska Mitrovica), however, as of late, the northern part is referred to as simply North Mitrovica (Albanian: Mitrovica e veriut; Serbian: Северна Митровица/Severna Mitrovica). The city was officially part of Mitrovica, until its official separation in 2013. The separation came as a result of the North Kosovo crisis, following Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February 2008.

The municipality was recognized by the Government of Kosovo in 2013 before the Kosovo local elections. The city served as the de facto capital of the North Kosovo region which refused to work with the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo. Therefore, local Serbs formed the Assembly of Community of Municipalities, supported only by Serbia. However, with the signing of the 2013 Brussels Agreement between the governments of Kosovo and Serbia, Serbia officially dropped its support for the assembly, agreeing to create a new Community of Serb Municipalities, an association of municipalities with Serb majority in Kosovo. Its assembly will have no legislative authority and the judicial authorities will be integrated and operate within the Kosovo legal framework.

The covers sent on October 26, 2016 and I received  on November 10, 2016 .

GAGAUZIA - Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia / Gagauz Yeri

Gagauzia or Gagauz Yeri (Gagauz: Gagauz Yeri or Gagauziya; Romanian: Găgăuzia; Russian: Гагаузия, romanized: Gagauzija), officially the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (Gagauz: Avtonom Territorial Bölümlüü Gagauziya; Romanian: Unitatea Teritorială Autonomă Găgăuzia; Russian: Автономное территориальное образование Гагаузия, romanized: Avtonomnoje territoriaľnoje obrazovanije Gagauzija), is an autonomous region of Moldova. Its autonomy is ethnically motivated by the predominance of the Gagauz people, who are primarily Orthodox Turkic-speaking people.  All of the territory of Gagauzia was part of the Kingdom of Romania in the early 20th century before being carved up into the Soviet Union in 1940 during World War II, incorporating the present day state into the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. As the Soviet Union began into disintegrate, Gagauzia declared independence in 1990, but was integrated into Moldova in 1994.  Gagauz Yeri literally means "place of the Gagauz".

The Gagauzian national movement intensified when Moldavian (Romanian) was accepted as the official language of the Republic of Moldova in August 1989, replacing Russian, the official language of the USSR. A part of the multiethnic population of southern Moldova was concerned about the change in official languages. They had a lack of confidence in the central government in Chișinău. The Gagauz were also worried about the implications for them if Moldova reunited with Romania, as seemed likely at the time. In August 1990, Comrat declared itself an autonomous republic, but the Moldovan government annulled the declaration as unconstitutional. Support for the Soviet Union remained high in Gagauzia, with a referendum in March 1991 returning an almost unanimous vote in favour of remaining part of the USSR. Many Gagauz supported the Moscow coup attempt in August 1991, and Gagauzia declared itself an independent republic on 19 August 1991. September Transnistria declared its independence, thus further straining relations with the government of Moldova. But, when the Moldovan parliament voted on independence on 27 August 1991, six of the 12 Gagauz deputies in the Moldovan parliament voted in favour, while the other six abstained. The Moldovan government began to pay more attention to minority rights.

In February 1994, President Mircea Snegur promised autonomy to the Gagauz, but opposed independence. He was also opposed to the suggestion that Moldova become a federal state made up of three republics: Moldova, Gagauzia, and Transnistria. In 1994, the Parliament of Moldova awarded to "the people of Gagauzia" (through the adoption of the new Constitution of Moldova) the right of "external self-determination". On 23 December 1994, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova accepted the "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia" (Gagauz: Gagauz Yeri), resolving the dispute peacefully. This date is now a Gagauz holiday. Gagauzia is now a "national-territorial autonomous unit" with three official languages: Romanian, Gagauz, and Russian.

Like many countries and territories of the former USSR, Moldova suffers from the large quantities of completely bogus philatelic, material bearing the names "Gagauzia", "Gagauzian Republic", "Гагаузия", "Komrat", "Chadir Lunga" and others. This material is being printed and circulated to unsuspecting collectors all over the world. Such material is entirely worthless in philatelic terms and collectors should be made aware of this fact. Gagauzia is a region in southern Moldova. It is primarily inhabited by ethnic Turkish Christians. In or around 1995 there was a movement to gain a special semi-autonomous status for the region within Moldova and this was granted some years later. During 1995 a number of Moldovan and former USSR stamps were overprinted to appear as though they were issued by Gagauzia as an independent state. There were also stamp "issues" featuring original designs bearing the name "Gagauzia". ALL of this material is completely unofficial and bogus. At no time did Gagauzia operate a postal service independently of Moldova. At no time did the Moldovan post office issue stamps for use in Gagauzia. Some postally used covers have been seen bearing Gagauzian stamps, but these are all bogus also. These stamps were all privately made either for propaganda purposes or in the case of more recent products, purely for speculative reasons.

This is another cover sent from Comrat, the capital city of Gagauzia, the autonomous region within Moldova. The cover posted on August 26, 2016 and I received on October 10, 2016.

These  covers sent by Michel from Slovakia, during his trip to Gagauzia . This is an autonomous region within Moldova, so not easy to get the covers posted from there. The covers posted on August 26, 2016 and I received on September 19, 2016.

JERSEY - Bailliage de Jersey / Bailliage dé Jèrri

Jersey (French:  Jèrriais: Jèrri), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (French: Bailliage de Jersey; Jèrriais: Bailliage dé Jèrri), is a British Crown dependency located near the coast of Normandy, France. It is the second-closest of the Channel Islands to France, after Alderney.

Jersey was part of the Duchy of Normandy, whose dukes went on to become kings of England from 1066. After Normandy was lost by the kings of England in the 13th century, and the ducal title surrendered to France, Jersey and the other Channel Islands remained attached to the English crown. The bailiwick consists of the island of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, along with surrounding uninhabited islands and rocks collectively named Les Dirouilles, Les Écréhous, Les Minquiers, Les Pierres de Lecq, and other reefs. Although the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as the Channel Islands, the "Channel Islands" are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the Crown from the other Crown dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, although all are held by the monarch of the United Kingdom. Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems, and the power of self-determination. The Lieutenant Governor on the island is the personal representative of the Queen.

Jersey is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an international identity separate from that of the UK, but the UK is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey.  The definition of United Kingdom in the British Nationality Act 1981 is interpreted as including the UK and the Islands together. The European Commission confirmed in a written reply to the European Parliament in 2003 that Jersey was within the Union as a European Territory for whose external relationships the UK is responsible. Jersey was not fully part of the European Union but had a special relationship with it, notably being treated as within the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods. British cultural influence on the island is evident in its use of English as the main language and the British pound as its primary currency, even if some people still speak or understand Jèrriais, the local form of the Norman language, and place names with French or Norman origins abound. Additional British cultural commonalities include driving on the left, access to the BBC and ITV regions, a school curriculum following that of England, and the popularity of British sports, including cricket.

Historically the island has given its name to a variety of overly-large cabbage, the Jersey cabbage, also known as Jersey kale or cow cabbage. hree areas of land are protected for their ecological or geological interest as Sites of Special Interest (SSI). Jersey has four designated Ramsar sites: Les Pierres de Lecq, Les Minquiers, Les Écréhous and Les Dirouilles and the south east coast of Jersey (a large area of intertidal zone). Jersey is the home of the Jersey Zoo (formerly known as the Durrell Wildlife Park) founded by the naturalist, zookeeper and author Gerald Durrell. 

The first postage stamps marked Jersey were issued during the occupation of the island by the Germans during World War II. Later, Jersey used British regional stamps marked specifically for use in Jersey but valid for postage throughout the United Kingdom. Jersey has issued its own stamps since 1 October 1969.  Since 2014, Jersey has also issued Post & Go stamps. Since 2019, Jersey post started to use own tracking code for Registered mails with country code JE, instead of GB.

These cover sent by Axel, during his vacation in Jersey. the cover posted on  on July 21, 2016 and I received on July 28, 2016. Jersey issues beautiful thematic stamps every year and provided good philatelic services for the customers.