Brezovica pri Metliki () is a settlement in the Municipality of Metlika in the White Carniola area of southeastern Slovenia, right on the border with Croatia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region.Metlika municipal site It surrounds the small Croatian enclave of Brezovica Žumberačka. Toponymic information is based on the Geographic Names Database, containing official standard names approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names and maintained by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. More information is available at the Maps and Geodata link at http://www.nga.mil. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency name, initials, and seal are protected by 10 United States Code Section 425
Name The name of the settlement was changed from Brezovica to Brezovica pri Metliki in 1953.Spremembe naselij 1948–95. 1996. Database. Ljubljana: Geografski inštitut ZRC SAZU, DZS.
History During the Second World War, the Partisans operated an underground mimeograph print shop in a vineyard cottage in Brezovica pri Metliki. The cottage was burned by Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia forces in 1942. On 1 May 1944 the Partisans held a political meeting in the village that was attended by the Allied liaison officer Major William M. Jones, who was also a speaker at the event.
Enclave border dispute
In 2015, the complex border line in this area attracted the attention of the Polish tourist Piotr Wawrzynkiewicz, who learned from Wikipedia that there was a small unclaimed piece of land and claimed it for his micronation, "Kingdom of Enclava". The novelty attracted international media attention at the time. Later, the Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that this was Slovenia's territorial claim, also claimed by Croatia, to be resolved by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, in which a decision was rendered 29 June 2017. Wawrzynkiewicz then relocated his novelty to an unclaimed Croat-Serb border area.
One enclave (Brezovica Žumberačka) belonging to Croatia had already existed at this location (see diagram). A second enclave was created on 29 June 2017 when the Permanent Court of Arbitration decided that a disputed 2.4 ha parcel adjoining the enclave is part of Slovenia, thus completing the encirclement of the second Croatian enclave. It was this parcel that had been claimed as "Enclava". When the arbitration decision was issued, Croatia refused to implement it.
References
External links
Brezovica pri Metliki on Geopedia