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February 07, 2004 ERP KiM Newsletter 07-02-04 Bishop Artemije: Serious human and religious rights violations in Kosovo continue despite UN protectorate "Albanian leaders are stubbornly continuing to misrepresent the situation in the southern Serbian province to cover up their own lack of willingness to build a truly multiethnic society. Just as Milosevic at one time maintained loyal representatives of national minorities, some of whom he even sent to Rambouillet, so today Albanian leaders have so-called representatives of Kosovo minorities who generally represent only their own interests or that of a small circle of people who enjoy certain privileges from the Albanians. What has happened to the Roma, Gorani and Bosniac communities in Kosovo and Metohija can best be attested to by those who are still banished and unable to return to their burned and robbed homes. Roma and Goranis especially have been persecuted to the point where they are threatened with complete disappearance unless their rights are protected," said Bishop Artemije
This newsletter is available on our ERP
KIM Web-site: Bishop Artemije in New York, Cleveland and Chicago Bishop Artemije: The fact that Roma, Goranis, Bosniacs and other communities, as well as Serbs, are being expelled shows that what is occurring is not revenge after the war, but the continuation of the old Albanian strategy from during the period of autonomy to create an ethnically pure state of Kosovo by expelling the non-Albanians, which will serve as the basis for pan-Albanian territorial unification in the Balkans. ERP KIM Info Service
After several important meetings in Washington and participation at yesterday's Prayer Breakfast hosted by U.S. president George Bush, Bishop Artemije told the ERP KIM Info Service that he satisfied with his contacts and hopeful that his first-hand testimony regarding the systematic violation of human rights of the Serb and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija will encourage more interest on the part of U.S. officials in events in regional events, and convince them that ethnic cleansing is in fact taking place under the protectorate of the UN Mission and KFOR. Commenting on yesterday's statement by Kosovo premier Bajram Rexhepi at the U.S. Institute for Peace that minority communities are not endangered in Kosovo, Bishop Artemije told the ERP KIM Info Service: "Albanian leaders are stubbornly continuing to misrepresent the situation in the southern Serbian province to cover up their own lack of willingness to build a truly multiethnic society. Just as Milosevic at one time maintained loyal representatives of national minorities, some of whom he even sent to Rambouillet, so today Albanian leaders have so-called representatives of Kosovo minorities who generally represent only their own interests or that of a small circle of people who enjoy certain privileges from the Albanians. What has happened to the Roma, Gorani and Bosniac communities in Kosovo and Metohija can best be attested to by those who are still banished and unable to return to their burned and robbed homes. Roma and Goranis especially have been persecuted to the point where they are threatened with complete disappearance unless their rights are protected. "In an April 29, 2003 report Amnesty International confirmed that 'more than half the pre-war Slavic Muslim community of 67,000 fled in 1999. Now about 3% of the population, they are mainly concentrated in and around Prizren town.' We can also find evidence of discrimination against other non-Albanian communities in the regular reports of OSCE regarding human rights in Kosovo and Metohija. The fact that Roma, Goranis, Bosniacs and other communities, as well as Serbs, are being expelled shows that what is occurring is not revenge after the war, but the continuation of the old Albanian strategy from during the period of autonomy to create an ethnically pure state of Kosovo by expelling the non-Albanians, which will serve as the basis for pan-Albanian territorial unification in the Balkans." We are
enclosing an interview given yesterday to the permanent correspondent of
the Belgrade daily "Vecernje Novosti" after a meeting in the Capitol
Hill Club. TOP
Vecernje Novosti daily, Belgrade Interview with Bishop Artemije on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. This visit to Washington D.C. one of the most successful. Europe more vocal in protesting the destruction of the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan that the destruction of Christian holy shrines in the heart of Europe From
our permanent correspondent in WASHINGTON D.C. These are the comments Bishop Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija made for "Novosti" regarding his visit of several days to the U.S. capital during which he met with senior State Department officials and members of the U.S. Congress. Following a public lecture at the Western Policy Center and the Russian Church, Bishop Artemije spoke about Kosovo and Metohija yesterday in the Capitol Hill Club. The even was organized by the Institute for Religion and Public Policy. "Expectations from the international community have not been met. Progress and security has been achieved but only for one side, the Albanians... Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have been persecuted in the presence of 40,000 international troops. They have been stripped of all rights, even the very right to life," testified Bishop Artemije. He explained that since 1999 two thirds of the Serb population living in Kosovo and Metohija was expelled, 1,300 were murdered and an equal number has disappeared, and that tens [sic] of Serb houses and more than one hundred Orthodox churches have been destroyed. Unless civil values are protected in Kosovo and Metohija, he warned, "this will become a precedent that will destabilize not only the Balkans but Europe, too." Answering the question whether there was genocide against the Albanian population and how many were killed on both sides during the NATO bombing, Bishop Artemije responded that once the war ended, it turned there were no hundreds of thousands death, that two to three thousand people were found buried in mass graves, and that there were victims on both sides. "What is happening since the war is not revenge, for the Albanians are killing the innocent, women, children, the elderly. It is inexplicable that after the war, despite the KFOR presence, not a single perpetrator of a crime has been found or brought to justice," he emphasized. When asked whether the Albanians are expelling all minorities, Bishop Artemije answered in the affirmative, adding that "talk about multiethnicity serves no purpose without the return of all expelled persons and guarantees of their rights." Answering a question regarding the European reaction to the crimes, destruction, violation of human rights on its own territory, he said: "The European governments are aware of what is happening but they are pretending that they don't know because adopting a position is not conducive to their global policies. It is a tragic fact that Europe was more vocal in protesting the destruction of the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan that the destruction of Christian holy shrines in the heart of Europe," stressed Bishop Artemije. Commenting on the issue of a referendum, the Bishop explained that according to international standards such a referendum can only be held throughout the territory of Serbia, of which Kosovo and Metohija is an integral part. In response to a question on the reactions of states in the region of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bishop Artemije observed that Slovenia, Croatia and the Bosnia-Herzegovina Federation are supporting the Albanian position, unlike the Republic of Serbia and Macedonia, which is also threatened by Albanian extremists. by D. Savic Covic urges KFOR to help monks in Prizren Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija Nebojsa Covic urged today the KFOR Commanding Officer, German General Holger Kammerhof, to secure protection for a monk brotherhood of the Sveti Arhandjeli monastery near Prizren and enable them to perform their services for the Serbs who have remained in the regions of Prizren and Djakovica.
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2004-02/05/333050.html Kosovo and Metohija news, 4-5 Feb Kosovo and
Metohija News, INET 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. Additional information on
our Diocese and the life of the Kosovo Serb Community may be found at:
http://www.kosovo.net |
Belgrade,
Feb 5, 2004 - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Coordinating
Centre for Kosovo-Metohija Nebojsa Covic urged today the KFOR Commanding
Officer, German General Holger Kammerhof, to secure protection for a
monk brotherhood of the Sveti Arhandjeli monastery near Prizren and
enable them to perform their services for the Serbs who have remained in
the regions of Prizren and Djakovica.