Pressures against Serbian Orthodox holy shrines in Kosovo continue

At the most recent meeting of the Serbian Orthodox Church's Council for Kosovo and Metohija of the Holy Assembly of Bishops, Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, a e that in future Kosovo there will be no room for eithersuperior of Visoki Decani Monastery, informed the members of the Council and the Holy Synod of Bishops with the critical present situation of Serbian Orthodox holy shrines, especially in Metohija (the Western part of the Province) , and emphasized the need to find mechanisms for internationally guaranteed protection as soon as possible in cooperation with relevant experts in order to enable the survival of the monasteries in this region. Bishop Teodosije has also informed Martti Ahtisaari, the special envoy of the UN Secretary General for negotiations on Kosovo of these problems during his visit to Visoki Decani Monastery, appealing to the International Community to undertake more concrete measures to stop the systematic campaign against Christian holy shrines in this region.

Aerial view of part of the protected zone around Visoki Decani Monastery - In an atmosphere of almost complete absence of law and order, any formal protection is without concrete impact unless internationally regulated and implemented with long term presence of NATO-led peacekeeping troops

Despite all international insistence that the protection of Serbian Orthodox holy shrines in Kosovo is one of the top priorities in the process of resolving the future status of the Province, and that the attitude toward the Serbian cultural heritage in this region will be one of the key criteria in the process of standards evaluation, the frenzied campaign conducted against most important Serbian holy shrines by some local Albanian media and radically oriented politicians is continuing unabated.

Particularly targeted are Visoki Decani Monastery and the Pec Patriarchate, which during the past six years of the international protectorate have survived largely thanks to the military protection of Italian KFOR and the institutional support of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. The monasteries are constatnly presented in Kosovo Albanian public as a danger to Kosovo's future instead one of its main assets. By this sort of attitude toward the Serbian holy sites in Kosovo the organizers of this campaign appear to be sending a threatening messag the Serbian people or their holy shrines. Moreover, this is also a message to the International Community that some people in Kosovo still do not see their own future in Europe and have no respect for its civilizational values.

During the past month the Albanian press (Zeri, Lajm, Fokus, etc.) has published a series of biased articles which crudely attack Visoki Decani Monastery and its monastic brotherhood. Utilizing a plethora of lies, fictions and misinterpretations, the journalists who write for these newspapers in tandem with some local radically oriented leaders are systematically inciting hatred and violence in the region against these holy shrines and the Serbian Orthodox Church as a whole. Among the key coordinators of this campaign are the president of the executive council of the Decani municipal assembly, Halil Tolaj, and the leader of the veterans of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), Abdil Mushkolaj. In August of this year the latter threatened violence not only against the monastery but also against members of NATO forces protecting it.

In April UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen proclaimed Visoki Decani Monastery and its immediate surroundings a Special Zoning Area (SZA). The SZA’s aim is to protect the natural and cultural heritage of Kosovo for all the people of Kosovo by the most effective and sustainable means restricting building, industrial activities and exploitation of forests. However this decision which was prolonged for another 6 months in October is being persistently and maliciously interpreted among the Albanian public as a political decision to form a new "Serb enclave" or "political exterritory" even though to this day not one displaced Serb has returned and monks remain completely surrounded by Kosovo Albanian population.

The alleged present-day "owners" of property that was confiscated from the Church and proclaimed socially owned property back in 1946 by the decision of the Communist regime are complaining to the aforementioned media that the monastery is supposedly preventing their freedom of movement, building of homes and farming of land. However, in reality behind these complains are efforts by some individuals and groups to illegally privatize socially owned property and build facilities without a license, even though the monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Beside the media campaign the local forestry cooperative Djeravica is continuing arbitrary issuing of licenses for the cutting of the forest around the monastery, threatening to transform the entire landscape into a barren desert. In recent post-war years hundreds of hectares of the most beautiful forests in the mountains around the monastery have been cut down. Additionally, a newly built road that passes next to the monastery from the town of Decani in the direction of Plav in Montenegro has already become one of the main channels for illegal trade which increases security threats for the holy site.

The municipality of Decani seems to be silently tolerating these activities. While on one hand Municipal officials promise tolerance and assistance to the monastery on the other hand some of its members openly take part in media defamation of the Monastery or turn a blind eye to illegal activities in the area. Last year a restaurant was built in the vicinity of the monastery by an ethnic Albanian without any license or urban plan. The municipality has still done nothing to address this abuse and the restaurant is frequented by some Municipal officials. A few Albanian families who own fields in the area of the Decani canyon are completely free to farm them and pass every day in front of the monastery without any problems. However, the public is intentionally being presented with a completely different picture with the intent of further stoking hatred toward the monastery and the brotherhood, and inciting the people to acts of violence such as those in last year's March riots.

Mr. Tolaj and some other municipal officials are spreading the false information that all the land around the monastery is already privately owned by Albanians and it will hardly come as a surprise if it is soon declared that the monastery itself is illegally built on Albanian land.

Unfortunately, UNMIK officials are not always in position to trace all sources of institutional abuses and there are fears that the cadastral office is arbitrarily retailoring land that the monks have guarded for centuries even under Ottoman rule. In 2001 the municipality ordered destruction of two buildings located on land parcels which belong to the monastery based on cadastral records. This was done by presenting falsified cadastral documentation to the municipal representative of UNMIK. No investigation was conducted no one has ever been called to justice, nor the monastery has ever been compensated for the damage.

Last month Abdil Mushkolaj, the leader of the veterans of the KLA, who is suspected of three mortar attacks on the monastery in 2000 and 2004 reiterated his threats against the Monastery and monks using one of the local newspapers. He has been joined by the leader of the Self-Determination movement, Albin Kurti, who organized a meeting in Decani last week, and rudely spoke about the Monastery accusing the brotherhood of making political plots. Among international circles in Kosovo there are increasing rumors that these groups might be preparing news riots and the final ethnic cleansing of the region, which is causing increasing concern among the Serbian people and the Church. Since 1999 ethnic Albanian extremists have destroyed 150 Serbian Orthodox shrines, despite the NATO and UN presence. Only in March 17 2004 30 churches were torched in one night.

In addition to this media campaign and systematic fanning of the spirit of intolerance Visoki Decani Monastery is also confronted with the abuse of the judicial system with the goal of making the monastery's survival impossible. Last month the regional court in Pec upheld the decision of the municipal court in Decani confiscating the monastery's property, restituted by decision of the Republic of Serbia government in 1998. Despite the fact that UNMIK's clear position has been that the final decision regarding this property, whose ownership is disputed by the municipality, needs to be made by a special chamber of the Kosovo Trust Agency, the entire process has again been returned to the municipal court which made a decision that the property has to be taken away from the monastery. This decision clearly proves that local institutions are taking advantage of the transfer of judicial competencies to usurp the remaining Church property and make the life of monastic communities hardly possible.

The female monastery of the Pec Patriarchate is confronted with similar problems, which are causing serious concern among its sisterhood. In the recent time there has been a tremendous pressure from the municipality and some local UNMIK staff to dismantle the security checkpoint that protects the historical seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Even though KFOR is insisting that the level of protection be maintained due to the unstable political and security situation throughout the region, the sisters of the monastery, which still does not have a special protective zone, live in constant fear and uncertainty.

A few months ago municipal authorities decided to authorize construction of a building immediately next to the monastery despite objections of the Patriarchate that the land belonged to the monastery and was forcefully expropriated by former Communist authorities. Additionally, one local Albanian illegally built a restaurant between the monastery and the neighboring returnee village of Ljevosa, which represents a threat not only to the monastery and its surroundings but is also creating fear among the Serb returnees for whom a visit to the monastery is the only possibility to freely leave their village. There is a serious question what the future holds for the historical seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church, expected to be inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List next year, if such behavior on the part of local institutions continues.

The aforementioned activities of the municipal authorities in Decani and Pec are directly contrary to the declarations of the leaders of Kosovo institutions who promise building of future Kosovo in which Orthodox Christian shrines will be respected. As usual the words are not followed by corresponding actions. The monks and nuns living in these monasteries as well as in other Serbian holy shrines in Western part of Kosovo still travel only with a military escort; even so, the Albanians in the streets regularly shower them with vulgar insults and not infrequently, despite the KFOR presence, they throw stones at monastery vehicles.

At the most recent meeting of the Serbian Orthodox Church's Council for Kosovo and Metohija of the Holy Assembly of Bishops, Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, the superior of Visoki Decani Monastery, informed the members of the Council and the Holy Synod of Bishops with the critical present situation of Serbian Orthodox holy shrines, especially in Western part of the Province, and emphasized the need to find mechanisms for internationally guaranteed protection as soon as possible in cooperation with relevant experts in order to enable the survival of the monasteries in this region. Considerable attention has also been devoted to this issue at a recently held meeting in Belgrade of the Serbian team for negotiations on the future status of Kosovo, which was also attended by members of the SOC Council for Kosovo and Metohija. Bishop Teodosije has also informed Martti Ahtisaari, the special envoy of the UN Secretary General for negotiations on Kosovo of these problems during his visit to Visoki Decani Monastery, appealing to the International Community to undertake more concrete measures to stop the systematic campaign against Christian holy shrines in this region.

Bishop Teodosije, together with other high officials of the Serbian Orthodox Church who are scheduled to visit Brussels and Berlin in a few days with representatives of other Christian confessions from Serbia and Montenegro, will provide first-hand testimony before European and German officials regarding the difficult situation of the Serbian people and its Christian holy shrines in Kosovo and Metohija, and ask for greater and more efficient international engagement for their protection.

Preservation of Serbian Orthodox holy shrines in Kosovo and Metohija as one of the priorities in negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija

We are including statements reflecting the positions of Serbian and international institutions with respect to the protection of Serbian Orthodox holy shrines in Kosovo and Metohija. Since one of the ten priority guidelines of the Contact Group deals with the issue, we expect that it will be addressed within the framework of comprehensive negotiations on the status of the Province.

UNESCO to start reconstruction of Kosovo cultural heritage | 10:44 December 14 | B92

PARIS -- Wednesday – Seven Orthodox and six Islamic monuments in Kosovo should be the first to be restored over the next two years, recommends the Experts Committee on the Rehabilitation and Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage in Kosovo.

The Committee met for the first time on 9 December at UNESCO in the presence of representatives of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and of the Council of Europe. The sites recommended for restoration are: Cathedral Church of Christ the Savior and Church of Bogorica Ljeviska and Hammam Mehmet Pasha (Prizren); Church of Saint Sava and Hamman (Kosovska Mitrovica); Church of the Presentation of the Virgin (Lipljan); Church of Saint Archangel Michael (Stimlje); Church of Saint Petka (Vitina), Budisavci Monastery (Klina); Red Mosque (Pec); Hadum Mosque (Dakovica); Decani Mosque; Hammam of Ali Bey (Vucitrn).

“This meeting certainly represents an essential step in the protection of an invaluable cultural heritage that is not only a strong symbolic reference but also a factor of reconciliation,” declared UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura as he opened the first meeting of 12 international experts invited to submit recommendations on the implementation of the first cultural heritage restoration and safeguarding projects in Kosovo. Appointed by the Director-General in their personal capacity for their internationally recognized scientific expertise.

The Committee of Experts Meeting follows the International Donors’ Conference on the Protection and Safeguarding of Kosovo’s Cultural Heritage, of 13 May, which brought together over 50 UNESCO Member Sates and 15 foundations and NGOs. At that time, US$10 million were promised for the restoration, protection and enhancement of Christian and Islamic monuments as well as traditional secular buildings in Kosovo. To date, eight countries have confirmed their donation pledges, in full or in part: Germany, the United States of America, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic and Turkey. Nearly US$3 million have been confirmed for this first phase.

UNESCO also sent two missions, in March 2003 and April 2004, to assess damage to Kosovo’s cultural heritage and to formulate recommendations on the measures to be taken. Based on the findings of these missions, the Organization presented a list of 48 Christian sites, 14 Islamic sites and 13 secular and historic buildings to the donors.

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