Interview with the leader of the delegation of American religious leaders, Joseph K. Grieboski

Kosovo should be brought back to the attention and on the front pages of American newspapers, says Grieboski.

(photos and captions by ERP KIM Info-service, Gracanica)

 Scenes of destruction of the Serbian Orthodox Christian heritage
in Kosovo Province by ethnic Albanian rioters, March 17-18, 2004

Joseph K. Grieboski stated that the future of Kosovo is the responsibility of all who live here and those who want to live in this place. He said that the March events, regardless of the cause, resulted in violence against religious buildings and freedom.

The leader of the delegation of American Christian leaders, Joseph Grieboski, said the mission of their four-day visit to Kosovo is to discuss with Kosovar officials the overall situation here and to see the destruction of religious buildings during the March riots of 2004. As he expresses himself, the American delegation led by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP) has not managed yet to come to a conclusion about the situation in Kosovo and that they need more time to take a final stand on the situation here.

“What we understood is that there’s a difficult and tedious situation prevailing here in all aspects: political, historical, economic, cultural and religious” said Mr. Grieboski on Thursday, during an interview given to “Zeri”. He added that the American Christian religious leaders were informed on what happened in Kosovo on March 17^th and 18^th, and that they condemn all attacks towards any religion, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or others and that these are unacceptable acts.

“We believe it is important for the local institutions of Kosovo, as well as international institutions, such as UNMIK and KFOR, to take over the responsibility for what happened; to search for and arrest those that did unacceptable things in March” stated Grieboski and added that another important responsibility is to find a solution to protect this part and protect non-Albanians in Kosovo, in the shortest possible time.

KFOR was not responsible enough during the March events

The leader of the religious delegation from the U.S., and also president of the IRPP, Joe Grieboski, said the March events in Kosovo, resulted in disabling the freedom of religion, as this implicates the fact that the religious community to which these buildings belonged, cannot access them anymore and does not have the possibility of observing its religious rituals there, adding that this judgment can be made without considering the causes of the unrests. ”The purpose was not to attack religious buildings but the consequences of the events disabled the practice of freedom of the Orthodox faith in Kosovo”, added Grieboski.

He assessed the March riots as “ethnic violence,” as a consequence of which violence, the religious facilities were destroyed and according to him, this is how the right on religion was violated in Kosovo.

The leader of the religious American delegation further accused international military forces for not being at the level of their duty during the March riots. “ I believe that KFOR, were not as responsible as they should have been”, said Grieboski adding that this cannot be said for the entire KFOR.  He praised the American troops of KFOR because according to him, they were fully responsive in protecting these parts and did their job in the appropriate way.  “A part of a problem on what happened in March was that the commanding chain from up-down and the communication between the different units of KFOR was not done the way it should have been”, assessed Grieboski, expressing his full conviction that this is absolutely sensitive for the shared policy of internationals in Kosovo. Asked on the announced organization on aids for reconstruction of orthodox churches damaged during the March riots after they go back to the States, Grieboski said that their actions will not link-up a lot with the governing authorities in Kosovo, local and international. “With them we’ll be in continuous contacts because they are very important in the process and at the same time we will work closely with the Serbian Orthodox Church”, he said adding that this is a very important spiritual authority.

The most important thing in democracy is the protection of rights and freedoms of minorities.

Grieboski stated that Kosovar citizens should be aware that the future of Kosovo is their responsibility.” This is a responsibility of all those who want to live in this place,” said Grieboski, adding that this is not a responsibility of internationals. According to him, the thing that the internationals should do in this direction is that they should guarantee that in democracy everything is and should be responsible.

He said that democracy in Kosovo is very much influenced by what the citizens of this place want to achieve. “The most important gateway to democracy is protection of human rights and freedoms of minorities, because democracy is the rule of majority by protecting and respecting the rights of the minority “ stressed Grieboski. According to the IRPP leader, if the non-Albanian minorities are not enabled to participate actively in the political processes then the process in fact is not in the favor of democracy.

In this aspect, Grieboski mentioned the necessity to guarantee to the people of all religions and all religious traditions that they will have the opportunity of participating in political processes and to be real active participants in democracy, if nothing, through the civil society. “I am very much convinced that the state and religion should be separated from each other but should always cooperate with each other,” he stressed saying that in order to have a true and safe democracy, the state authorities should not have authority and responsibility over religion.

The delegation of Christian religious Americans few days ago, during their stay in Belgrade (invited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Montenegro, Vuk Draskovic), announced that after their return to the U.S.A. they will be sending their report on the overall situation in Kosovo. However, Grieboski, does not give any elements that might be included in the report which they will be sending to the White House and to the American Congress.  “We will be ready to report about the situation here, after we think more and analyze the situation here better.” he said.  Milosevic’s regime, according to Grieboski, acted unacceptably and these actions pushed NATO to intervene. He said that the people of Kosovo were under weapons for a long time and in a very difficult process, but that situation has gone and we are dealing with another phase.

“Now everyone should understand that Kosovo’s self-governance does not bring in independence, but neither governance under Serbia”, assessed Grieboski adding that ways should be found to automatically create a real sense of democracy and security, and full opportunities for all parties involved. “ It should be considered that in democracy there is compromise and I can guarantee that no one can have 100% of what he wants,” he stressed.

Grieboski expressed the commitment of American religious leaders that Kosovo is brought back to the attention and on the front pages of American newspapers, because as he said, since the war here, only the March events were the news placed in American medias and what happened was not received well by American citizens. He said that together with the U.S. Congress, political parties, the President, the Department of State and other officials of all levels will do an effective job so the young religious leaders know that the region of Balkans is still at the stage of learning how can communities live together. “ We need to explain to them that the Americans can help people of this region, and since we don’t have enough information we might bring a wrong decision here,” said Grieboski.
 
American religious leaders arrived in Kosovo on Tuesday evening, after they visited Serbia. During these days they met various political and religious leaders in Kosovo and visited the damaged churches during the March unrests. This delegation was led by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, whose essential mission is to promote and protect fundamental rights and religious rights especially. .

06.jpg

07.jpg

08.jpg