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July 03,
2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
03-07-03
COMMUNIQUE
For immediate release
RHETORIC WITHOUT READINESS FOR
CONCRETE POLITICAL AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
Reaction of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren and the Serb National
Council of Kosovo and Metohija to "the appeal of Albanian leaders to
displaced Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija"
GRACANICA, 03 JULY 2003
 The
Diocese of Raska and Prizren and the Serb National Council of Kosovo and
Metohija believe that the recent appeal of Kosovo Albanian leaders to
displaced and expelled Serbs to return to their homes in Kosovo and
Metohija is a formally positive but essentially insincere political move
and trick whose goals are more in the domain of political marketing than
in the honest intention of establishing better interethnic tolerance and
democratic relations. Unfortunately, the enormous disparity between
rhetoric and the everyday reality in which the Serb community lives is too
great for this appeal to represent serious encouragement for 230,000 Serbs
which are not granted free return to their homes four years after they
fled Kosovo.
The Diocese of Raska and Prizren and the Serb National Council of Kosovo
and Metohija must state with regret that the concrete behavior of
individual Kosovo Albanian leaders and Albanian municipal authorities in
practical life is diametrically opposed to the rhetoric of the
aforementioned appeal.
Nenad Radosavljevic, the repatriation coordinator in the office of the
special representative of the UN secretary general in Kosovo and Metohija,
has already pointed out several concrete examples where municipal
authorities belonging to the parties of Ibrahim Rugova and Hashim Thaci,
respectively, are openly blocking returns and failing to undertake any
concrete measures to realize the return of displaced citizens*. The
situation is especially difficult in the Pec region where the municipal
authorities are rhetorically calling on Serbs to return while at the same
time preventing in practice by a series of impossible conditions any
organized and sustained return by Serb citizens to this region. Even
though conditions for the return of individuals or smaller groups and
families do not exist in most of the Province, especially in the urban
centers, due to enormous security risks and pervasive ethnic
discrimination, K/Albanian leaders stubbornly oppose the return of the
Serb population of entire Serb villages that now lie empty with the
justification that they don't want "the creation of new enclaves." Very
frequently mentioned in public is the false idea that Serbs in fact do not
want to return, without bothering to mention that it is completely
unrealistic to expect the return of families with women and children to
locations where these people are faced with the absolute lack of
elementary security and human rights. By stubbornly avoiding to
responsibly build a spirit of tolerance and a readiness to accept the
refugees among the majority populace, the K/Albanian municipal authorities
are actually conducting an organized and carefully planned campaign to
prevent the return of significant numbers of displaced persons, especially
to urban centers. At the same time, the tolerance and hiding of continued
crimes and pressure applied on remaining Serbs, especially the elderly, to
sell their property and leave Kosovo and Metohija represents another
indicator that behind the rhetoric prepared for the Western media market
there is no sincere willingness for a common life, tolerance and respect
for the rights of non-Albanians.
The position of Albanian leaders who claim that "they cannot guarantee
either security or employment" for Serb returnees is highly problematic.
From such a statement it follows that these leaders are not ready to
assume any personal responsibility or concrete political activity in order
to create better interethnic living conditions. There are many examples
confirming this "political schizophrenia" of Albanian politicians because
after all major incidents where Albanian extremists have attacked and
murdered members of the Serb community or destroyed churches, the
political leaders of the main Albanian parties in the Province chiefly
limited themselves to superficial, ambiguous and rhetorical statements
condemning violence without taking any concrete measures to publicly
reduce interethnic tension and intolerance. What is more, by their
statements in contacts with their electorate they continued with their
usual nationalistic rhetoric, acting as if no one lived in the Province
except ethnic Albanians.
What awaits Serb returnees to the Province where they are being so
magnanimously invited by the leading Albanian politicians?
First, the complete absence of any form of security guarantees, individual
or collective rights or freedoms. Serbs continue to be subject to
persecution, attack, theft and various acts of violence. All postwar
crimes against Serbs, including the massacre of the Stolic family, remain
unsolved crimes because of the absolute unwillingness of the Albanian
community and its political leadership to help UNMIK police to identify
the criminals. Not one instance of destruction or desecration of Orthodox
churches or cemeteries has been positively resolved and there is an
absolute conspiracy of silence in the Province regarding the issue
altogether, which not infrequently borders on a tacit approval of the
crimes themselves or even accusing Serbs of blowing up their own shrines.
Mr. Ibrahim Rugova and the other leaders of Albanian political parties act
as if all these crimes are happening somewhere in Madagascar or in the
Philippines. Premier Rexhepi, for instance, openly contested a number of
destroyed churches in a meeting with a group of Italian senators in March
this year, which was later confirmed by the Albanian press and the
senators themselves. He also repeated a "popular" theory that only
political churches were destroyed although many of the destroyed shrines
were built in the 13th or 14th century. In this way Rexhepi de facto not
only justified these acts of vandalism but also encouraged new attacks.
After the stoning of 50 Serb pensioners in Pec in December of last year,
none of the Albanian leaders visited the elderly men and women who were
attacked, nor did anyone publicly address the Albanian population of Pec
to point out that behavior of this sort is unacceptable for a society that
aspires to become a part of Europe. The so-called Albanian "independent
press," which under the strong influence of the political parties, is not
only failing to participate in the building of a spirit of tolerance but
is further fanning the flames of interethnic intolerance and persistently
glorifying the ideals of wartime violence, representing the chief obstacle
to the process of the democratization of society.
It is characteristic that Albanian leaders consistently see the essence of
the security problem in the Province in "organized crime." Of course, no
one can deny that since 1999 Kosovo has become a mecca of organized crime,
prostitution and drug dealing, a fact regularly reported by the Western
press. However, the real root of violence and crime lies in the existence
of a retrograde collective consciousness that the Province should be
transformed into an ethnically pure Albanian independent state, where even
the last vestiges of Serb presence and culture should be eliminated once
and for all. This is the direction toward which the surviving structures
of the former Kosovo Liberation Army are working, whether through the
terrorist Albanian National Army (ANA) or through "legal" structures such
as the Kosovo Protection Corps, Kosovo Police Service (KPS) and public
institutions. Recently the Kosovo Parliament passed a decision, despite
the opposition of the Serb delegates and the international community,
proclaiming the war fought by the KLA to be "a war of liberation," despite
the fact that a large number of innocent civilians - Serbs, Albanians,
Roma and Bosniacs - perished at the hands of extremists belonging to this
inherently terrorist organization. Only a month ago leading Albanian
politicians reaffirmed in Prizren the 19th century ideals of the infamous
"Prizren League," behind which stands the idea of the political
unification of all the Albanians in the Balkans in a single, ethnically
based, exclusive state. With its exclusive ethnic Albanian and Islamist
postulates, the Prizren League is a dangerous anachronism and an obstacle
to the democratic development of society and the establishment of
interethnic confidence. The statements of the Albanian leaders on the
occasion of these "national" occasions are in grotesque contradiction to
the polished rhetoric of the appeal to displaced Serbs. Nationalistic
rhetoric is often used as a public cover by those leaders who are under
suspicion of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity and it is
not unusual at all that the main initiators of the post-war ethnic
violence wrap themselves in the Albanian national flag in order to present
themselves as the only sincere fighters for the future of the Kosovo
Albanian people.
Keeping all these fact in mind, we cannot help but conclude that the most
recent declaration appealing for the return of displaced Serbs is yet
another colorful lie the purpose of which is to conceal the direct
responsibility of certain leaders who have subscribed to the organization
and encouragement of crimes against the Serb population since the end of
the war in June 1999. Rhetoric without the readiness for concrete
political and moral responsibility and the equal treatment of all
citizens, regardless of ethnic affiliation, is only another attempt to
hide the real situation at any price and to portray Kosovo, the most
intolerant part of the European continent, as "the land of milk and
honey."
Consequently, the Diocese of Raska and Prizren and the Serb National
Council of Kosovo and Metohija call on Albanian leaders and on the
Albanian population of Kosovo and Metohija as a whole to spend less time
on empty rhetoric and more on concrete activities aimed at building a more
tolerant society and preventing ethnic violence and terrorism, so as to
create the necessary atmosphere for the return of displaced persons. The
rhetoric of the appeal has therefore to be confirmed by concrete actions
so that it might have any political and moral credibility. The refugees
will then return to their homes of their own accord without histrionic
public appeals and media furor. The Serb community will actively
participate in the building of a democratic society and the true
multiethnic institutions, but only under the condition that it is not a
society tailored only for one privileged ethnic community, a society where
Serbs as a people will be second class citizens. This is the only reality
that the Serb people can and will accept. It certainly is not the reality
created by ethnic terror, looting, the burning down of churches and the
digging up of graves, which Albanian leaders want Serbs to accept as a
precondition for their normal and safe life in Kosovo.
The Diocese of Raska and Prizren and the Serb National Council of Kosovo
and Metohija again publicly reiterate that conditions for resolving the
final status of the Province cannot be achieved by rhetoric and arguments
in vain, but only by implementation of democratic standards and
establishing equal rights for all citizens.
* Press report enclosed at the bottom
BISHOP OF RASKA-PRIZREN AND THE
PRESIDENT OF THE SERB NATIONAL COUNCIL OF
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
+ ARTEMIJE (Radosavljevic)
TOP
TEXTS RELATED TO
THE COMMUNIQUE
KOSOVO'S
LEADERS URGE SERBS TO RETURN
TOP
FoNet, Beta
02 July 2003
PRISTINA -- Wednesday – Kosovo Albanian leaders yesterday called on Serbs
and other displaced persons to return to their homes in Kosovo.
"Kosovo is your home, just like its our home. We wish you to return and
live with us in peace as neighbours, in an atmosphere of mutual respect,"
they wrote in an open letter signed by, among others, Kosovo President
Ibrahim Rugova and Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi.
Due to problems with organised crime, the letter said, Kosovo’s interim
authorities could not guarantee jobs or security but they were ready to
work together to protect the rights and interests of those who return.
Deputy Serbian PM Nebojsa Covic, also head of Serbia’s Coordination Centre
for Kosovo, welcomed the letter as "an interesting step forward".
However, the Democratic Alternative leader said at a press conference:
"What is not good is that they do not offer guarantees for the safety of
repatriates".
Kosovo-Serb representatives described the letter as a dishonest, cynical
and empty gesture and Kosovo Assembly MP Rada Trajkovic insisted:
"This letter was written more for the international community than the
displaced. With it they want to get as many jurisdictions from the
international community as possible in order to constitute state bodies."
Kosovo-Serb politicians then turned attention to the Coordination Centre,
criticising its work and Covic personally.
Stressing that they are not seeking Covic’s dismissal, representatives
Momcilo Trajkovic, Marko Jaksic and Milan Ivanovic noted that August would
mark the second anniversary of the body that has not served its purpose,
calling for greater effort to be invested in the remedying of Kosovo’s
myriad problems.
They are also seeking active involvement in the formulating of a strategy
for negotiations with the Kosovo-Albanians regarding the final status of
the break-away province.
Serbia’s DOS leadership are scheduled to discuss the Kosovo situation at a
special session tomorrow.
TOP
RADOSAVLJEVIC: ALBANIAN LEADERS AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO BLAME FOR
LOW RETURNS
Nenad
Radosavljevic, the advisor to UNMIK chief Michael Steiner, drew a lot of
attention at a conference organized by the PER Institute in Pristina last
week by assessing that the representatives of the international
administration in Kosovo and Albanian political leaders are directly
responsible for the extremely poor results with respect to returns.
TOP
B92,
Belgrade
June 29, 2003
(photo: Nenad
Radosavljevic and Rada Trajkovic)
 Pristna
- Nenad Radosavljevic, the advisor to UNMIK chief Michael Steiner, drew a
lot of attention at a conference organized by the PER Institute in
Pristina last week by assessing that the representatives of the
international administration in Kosovo and Albanian political leaders are
directly responsible for the extremely poor results with respect to
returns. UNMIK radio journalist Zoran Culafic reported that one of the
main topics of the conference, which brought together all Kosovo Albanian
political leaders and representatives of minority communities, was the
return of displaced persons to Kosovo.
"The obstruction of returns is
primarily carried out by Albanian political leaders, who have promised the
Albanian population independence as the only possible, and who came to
power by manipulating the uneducated populace. They cannot change this
policy now out of fear that they will lose the support of the voters,"
said Radosavljevic. "A second reason for obstruction is the fact that
primarily the Albanian population has illegally occupied the property of
displaced persons. For the last four years they have behaved as if this
property was theirs, and they want to hold on to the property in the
future as well," said Radosavljevic.
Radosavljevic indicated that a third factor for obstruction or even
blocking of the return of displaced persons to Kosovo is the inadequate
behavior of representatives of the international administration in the
Province. "Some representatives of the international administration are
willing to participate in obstruction or to to passively observe what is
happening out of fear of the reaction of the majority Albanian population
or because they are indoctrinated or even, in individual cases, because
they are corrupt," said Radosavljevic.
Radosavljevic consequently addressed an open invitation to Kosovo
president Ibrahim Rugova and Democratic Party of Kosovo leader Hashim
Thaci to unblock the return process in two concrete instances in locations
where representatives of their respective parties hold local
power: in southern Kosovska Mitrovica and in Novo Selo near Vucitrn. "By
doing this they will demonstrate their sincere desire to see returns
actually occur in these two concrete cases." The municipal assembly of
southern Mitrovica, where Rugova's party holds the majority, has decided
to built a recreational center in a location where 700 Roma families lived
before the conflict. I think Rugova should use this example to demonstrate
that he respects the human rights and standards he claims to support,"
said Radosavljevic.
Radosavljevic also said that two assemblymen from Thaci's Democratic Party
of Kosovo are categorically opposing the return of 71 Serb families to
Novo Selo near Vucitrn and that they have completely blocked the return
process. "I think Hashim Thaci should go out in the field and clearly
express his intent to build a multiethnic society there, meaning that all
displaced persons should return," said Radosavljevic.
TOP
ERP KIM
Info-Service is the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox
Diocese of Raska and Prizren and works with the blessing of His Grace
Bishop Artemije.
Our Information Service is distributing news on Kosovo related issues. The
main focus of the Info-Service is the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church
and the Serbian community in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija. ERP KIM
Info Service works in cooperation with
www.serbian-translation.com as well as the
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Daily News (KDN) News List
Disclaimer:
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