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The
Position of the Church towards Kosovo Crisis
texts - interviews
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NEWS
FROM KOSOVO
Bishop
Artemije gives lecture at Western Policy Center in Washington,
D.C. (January 29, 2004)
While it is true that many hospitals have been restored, Serbs
cannot seek treatment in them; numerous roads have been paved
but Serbs lack the freedom to travel on them; tens of thousands
of houses have been renovated but only about one hundred of
them are owned by Serbs. After the war, all mosques were repaired
and many new ones built while over one hundred Serbian churches
still lie in ruins and not one has been reconstructed; there
are many new supermarkets, gas stations and restaurants but
what use are they to Serbs when only Albanians and foreigners
can safely enter them? In short, based on his first-hand experience,
the average Serb feels that UNMIK has come to help only one
community while Serbs appear fated to live as second-class
citizens on the margins of society, said Bishop Artemije during his
lecture on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
Bishop Artemije at the Western Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
January 29, 2004 http://www.westernpolicy.org/
Bishop
Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, who is presently
on a working visit to the U.S. with his associates, gave a
lecture on Thursday, January 29 at the Western Policy Center
in Washington, D.C. on the topic of Multiethnic Kosovo
- Diplomatic Dream or Balkan Reality. The lecture
was jointly organized by the Western Policy Center and the
Serbian Unity Congress in the U.S. in order to inform the
U.S. public regarding the present situation in Kosovo and
Metohija and possible solutions for the crisis in the future.
 Full
report on the presentation by Bishop Artemije
For more information
on positions of Bishop Artemije regarding the Kosovo issue
you can download a zip-file with 15 MS Word documents (testimonies
in US Congress, public letter, statements, interviews) /bishop_texts.zip 500 KB
Biography
of Bishop Artemije: http://www.kosovo.net/artemy.html
The complete text of the Bishop's speech at the Western Policy
Center you can find on:
http://www.westernpolicy.org/Secondary.asp?PageName=Programs&Page=PolicyForums/20040129/index.asp
or on our local page:
http://www.kosovo.net/wpc_2004.html |
Bishop
Artemije's interview for "Svedok"
Four
years of experience has forced us to reject further cooperation to
our own detriment
After everything our people in the southern Serb province have gone
through in the past four years, including cooperation with the international
community which offered us many programs and promises, we have gained
little or nothing. I openly told Holkeri that under the circumstances
in which the Serbs are living, we cannot participate any further in
their programs and concepts. Four years of experience has forced us
to reject cooperation to our own detriment and our own destruction.
Broad autonomy within Serbia-Montenegro - Bishop Artemije
full text of the interview is available at:
http://www.kosovo.net/erpkiminfo_jan04/erpkiminfo21jan04b.html#2
Newsletter
7 January, 2004
Bishop
Artemije, Serbia wasted its opportunities in XX century
exclusive
Christmas interview of Bishop Artemije to the "Danas" daily,
Belgrade
Even
though Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have already lived for four and
a half years since the introduction of an international protectorate
"without safety, freedom of movement, the right to work, exposed
to attacks, robbery and murder", Bishop Artemije says that they
"await the holiday of the Nativity of Christ with joy".
| Bishop Artemije: We do not need "minority rights" in exchange for Serbia's sovereignty in Kosovo and Metohija
Communiqué of Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija following the appeal of Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head Dr. Nebojsa Covic
Serbian Orthodox Diocese of
Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija
Press Release
Gracanica Monastery, December 18, 2003
The Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija firmly supports yesterday's appeal by Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija president Dr. Nebojsa Covic, which he addressed to all political parties participating in elections for the Serbian parliament and election list primaries, calling on them to sign the Resolution on the Protection of Serbian National Interests and Rights of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija.
The proposed text of the Resolution with its seven articles is a document around which all political factors in Serbia should rally and unite, thus sending a clear message to the domestic and global community that the development of democratic processes in Serbia is not equivalent to the territorial cutting up of her state territory and renunciation of Kosovo and Metohija but their preservation as an inalienable part of Serbia.
The Serb people in this region desire a free and dignified life but cannot accept, in exchange for Serbia's sovereignty, offers of abstract "minority rights" in a society Kosovo Albanians are tailoring exclusively according to their needs and interests. The document "Standards for Kosovo", which does not mention the sovereignty of Serbia and Montenegro and the essential elements of UN Security Council 1244, fundamentally prejudices the secession of the southern Serbian province and as such must be urgently revised in order to be acceptable for the Serbian side, too.
The claim of some international and domestic "preachers" that Serbia with Kosovo and Metohija cannot be a part of Europe and the world is untrue and tendentious. In fact, it is without Kosovo and Metohija, and with the open process of territorial disintegration which the secession of the southern province would inevitable entail, that Serbia would commit her historical suicide and the Serbian people would lose its deepest historical roots, which represent the foundation of its religious and national being.
After all these difficult wartime and post-war years, it is completely clear that if the Albanian nationalists realize their dream of an independent and Albanian Kosovo, the long-term survival of the Serbian people and preservation of our legitimate cultural and historical rights in this region will be impossible. The battle for the preservation of state sovereignty and the establishment of a just society for all citizens of the Province, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation, is therefore the only path to preserving the multiethnicity of Kosovo and Metohija as an integral part of a democratic and multiethnic Republic of Serbia and state union of Serbia and Montenegro.
Therefore, the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija strongly appeals to all political parties participating in the upcoming elections for the Serbian Parliament to demonstrate their national and political responsibility before their citizens and, regardless of existing political differences, to sign the proposed Resolution. We also call on the signatories of the Resolution to remain true to the principles they have publicly upheld and confirm their words with appropriate actions when, in the near future, they become members of the new Serbian Parliament.
Let us show the world that Serbs know how to unite on issues of vital interest of the people and the state! Let us show that the future of Serbia, the state union of Serbia and Montenegro and the entire Balkans does not lie in the creation of an ethnically pure Albanian Kosovo and further destruction of its Christian heritage, which represents the foundation of European civilization and culture.
To the same extent that we ourselves respect our state and its sovereignty, we will be respected by the entire democratic world as a serious state based on law.
+ARTEMIJE
Bishop of Raska-Prizren and
Kosovo-Metohija |
Newsletter 05 December, 2003
Exclusive interview of Fr. Sava Janjic to the Belgrade daily DANAS (Today) - An Introduction to the revision of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244
 "Autonomy can exist only in relation to a broader entity, not as an independent whole or an artificial para-state, which is in fact what UNMIK has created in Kosovo and Metohija in the past five years. Accepting the draft plan for implementation of standards without this essential provision of Resolution 1244, as a result of which Slobodan Milosevic agreed to an end of the conflict with NATO, prejudices the final status of the Province, which is contrary to the UN Security Council document. Through the gradual transfer of competencies from UNMIK to provisional Kosovo institutions (PISG) without any ties with appropriate Serbian institutions the survival of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia and Montenegro is becoming an abstraction, and with the increasing passage of time a practical impossibility."
The text in Serbian is available at the DANAS daily site:
http://www.danas.co.yu/20031205/terazije1.html#
===============================================================
Why the UN mission is hiding the real situation in Kosovo and Metohija from the public
On the beginning of cooperation between Belgrade and UNMIK on the investigation of KLA crimes
Commentary by Fr. Sava Janjic
Results of UN/KFOR mission that Kosovo Serbs experience firsthand every day
The number of unresolved cases of attacks against Serbs since the arrival of the
peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and Metohija give rise to the legitimate question
whether the role of the UNMIK police is to prevent and punish crimes or just to
record crimes committed by Albanian extremists and express its "sincere regrets"
(Photo: Collage of images from some of the most serious crimes committed
against Serbs since June 1999, ERP - Click on image for larger format)
This article was written exclusively for the Belgrade daily Danas and appeared in its weekend edition of November 29-30, 2003.
full text of the commentary is available at:
http://www.kosovo.net.unmikhiding.html
|
Editorial
KOSOVO
- FRAGILE PEACE IN SHADDOW OF CONTINUAL ETHNIC TERROR
UNWILLINGNESS
OF KOSOVO ALBANIAN LEADERS TO CONFRONT EXTREMISTS IN THEIR OWN
RANKS MAKES THEM ACCOMPLICES IN ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE PROVINCE
In
Kosovo crimes not only continue to occur but for the past four
years they have been a silently accepted legitimate means of
pursuing the policy of ethnic cleansing which Kosovo Albanian
extremists are carrying out against Serbs and non-Albanian minorities.
Their goal is to realize what dictators such as Milosevic and
Tudjman failed to accomplish: to execute a revision of Balkan
borders on an ethnic basis and divide towns and villages that
even five centuries of Turkish rule and even Milosevic's regime
failed to divide. While in Belgrade, Zagreb, Banja Luka and
Sarajevo politicians are painfully and with difficulty but with
increasing courage and determination confronting the legacy
of the past with the intent of joining the rest of Europe, in
Kosovo key figures among the Kosovo Albanians persistently not
only deny ethnic terror against Serbs but in the case of the
most recent attacks resulting in the deaths of children and
helpless old people are once again accusing phantom Serb forces,
as if time for them had stopped back in 1999 when Milosevic
ruled the fate of Balkan peoples.... MORE
by
Fr. Sava Janjic |
Vesti
daily, Frankfurt
August 4, 2003
BISHOP
ARTEMIJE FOR "VESTI" ON THE CLASH OF SERBIAN AND MACEDONIAN
CHURCHES, KOSOVO, THE NEW UNMIK CHIEF...
POLITICAL
GAMES SURROUNDING PROHOR
Intrigue
and pure political games characterize everything that happened
surrounding Prohor Pcinjski, just as it is a political matter
why
Macedonian authorities refuse to allow Serbian Orthodox Church
priests
to enter and pass through Macedonia. Kosovo must be both Serb
and
Albanian
There is
no clash between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the so-called
Macedonian Orthodox Church; there is only a difference of opinion
and in
respect for the traditions of the church and canonic law. The
so-called
Macedonian Church does not exist because it is not recognized
by any
canonic Orthodox Church and, therefore, it cannot be a church,
Bishop
Artemije of Raska and Prizren stated for "Vesti."
He emphasized that
everything that happened surrounding Prohor Pcinjski is "pure
political
games and intrigue, just as it is a political matter why Macedonian
authorities refuse to allow Serbian Orthodox priests not only
to enter
but even to pass through Macedonia on their way to Greece."
"We
are forced to travel through Bulgaria, to travel twice the distance
and spend far more time than we would need to reach, for example,
Thessaloniki," said Bishop Artemije.
When asked
whether these disagreements will influence the bilateral
relations of Macedonia and Serbia, the Bishop of Raska and Prizren
briefly answered that this was "a minor matter to influence
the
relations of two states."
Commenting
on the future of Serbs in Kosovo, Artemije says he views the
issue through the past of the Serb people.
"If
we were able in the past to live with all the peoples who live
in
this region, I believe we can do so again in the future because
Kosovo
and Metohija will never again be, should not be and cannot be
Serb only;
however, it will not be and must not be Albanian only, either.
Kosovo
and Metohija has enough land and air and sun for all. It will
either be
multiethnic or it will cease to exist; therefore, there is a
future in
Kosovo and Metohija for both Serbs and Albanians. That is my
belief and
my conviction," emphasized the Bishop.
Serbian
Orthodox Church serves God and the people
When asked
whether he thinks that the Serbian Orthodox Church has been
aspiring to the creation of state policy since the fall of Milosevic,
Artemije responded:
"The
Church has never created state policy but it has always sought
room
to live and to conduct its activities. The Church does not concern
itself with politics and does not serve political aims; it serves
God
and the people regardless of the political system or the regime
that is
in power. The Church acted thus during the time of Tito and
during the
time of Milosevic and during the time of the Turks and it will
continue
to do so in the future."
Bishop Artemije
states for "Vesti" that he expects the new head of
UNMIK
in Kosovo to be first and foremost objective, that is, unbiased
toward
either side but able to see real problems and to resolve them
in
accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244. "If
he manages to
implement the Resolution in full and to realize what it foresees,
I
think he will accomplish a great thing not only for Kosovo and
Metohija
but for the entire international community," concluded
Bishop Artemije
of Raska and Prizren.
* * *
Unity
around Church and forefathers
Bishop
Artemije's message to the Serbian people:
"To
unite around their Church, their faith and their forefathers.
For
without this doing this the Serbs will not have a good future,
no matter
where they are located."
("Vesti"
is a Serbian-language daily newspaper published in Frankfurtfor
the Serbian émigré communities of Europe, America
and Australia)
|
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) |
|
Ruins of
the Serb Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral in Djakovica blown
up by Kosovo Albanian extremists
symbolize disorderly situation in the UN administered Serbian
Province four years after the conflict
CHAOS
AND DISORDER
KOSOVO AND
METOHIJA FOUR YEARS LATER
Report on
four years "results" of the peace mission in Kosovo
and Metohija
by Fr. Sava Janjic
Four
years after the deployment of the UN Mission and KFOR troops
in Kosovo and Metohija one can hardly claim that the war torn
southern Province of Serbia is on the right track to become
a democratic and multiethnic society. Quite on the contrary,
UNMIK’s policy of constant compromises towards ethnic Albanians
and their political goals has made life for Serbs and non-Albanian
communities extremely difficult and without true perspectives
for the future. UNMIK’s constant ignoring of the UN SC Resolution
1244 and legitimate claims of the Serbian people on one hand
and creating temporary “multiethnic” institutions without any
link to Serbia-Montenegro on the other, have turned Kosovo and
Metohija into a virtually independent ethnic Albanian state
prior to any negotiations at all. In fact, it appears that the
goal of some international circles and Kosovo Albanian leaders
is to pursue a policy of fait accomplish and practically leave
independence as the only remaining option to which
Serbia
is expected to agree under certain concessions on the other
side.
The willingness of Kosovo Serbs to participate in building of
multiethnic institutions within the lines stipulated by the
UNSCR 1244 has only been exploited in order to give false legitimacy
to the institutions which in reality remain under complete control
of Kosovo Albanians and have become tools of institutional repression.
If such policy of UNMIK is continued in future and if there
is no constructive revision of the Constitutional framework,
which would return the process of institutionalization within
the limits of the UNSCR 1244, Kosovo may not only become an
independent state but also a state in which all traces of the
Serbian people and its culture will be completely eradicated.
Four years of the internationally granted peace with a terrifying
record of crimes and destruction of cultural heritage present
only a shadow of what the Province might look once Kosovo Albanians
are given full and unrestrained power. The last but not least,
this "state" may become a main destabilizing factor
for the entire SE Europe, which will seriously obstruct the
process of European integration and democratization of the Balkans.
As a focal point for future ethnic Albanian integrations independent
Kosovo may act as a dangerous precedent for redrawing political
maps of Europe according to the ethnic lines. MORE-FULL
TEXT |
VICTIMS
OF HUMANITARIANISM
“The Pope in Belgrade? His visit would provoke
new divisions in our church. The opinion is widespread among our
people that the Vatican was largely implicated in all that has
happened in former Yugoslavia over the last twelve years”. An
interview with Bishop Artemije, leader of the Serbo-Orthodox community
in Kosovo
by Gianni Valente .
Artemije,
the Bishop of Raska and Prizren who leads the Serbo-Orthodox community
in Kosovo, also shares the life of his people under siege. He
cannot leave his regular quarters in Gracanica to celebrate the
holy liturgy in other places without the armed escort of KFOR
troops. His activities, and also his replies in the following
interview, are not free of the drastic tone of someone unwilling
to make the due distinctions about components of the Albanian
opposition, and he is little inclined to attempt more balanced
judgements on the tangle of rights and wrongs in post-war Kosovo.
But they do testify to the real sufferings of an entire population
over whom the international media system and humanitarian indignation
à la carte seem to have extended a veil of oblivion. MORE |
EDITORIAL
by Fr. Sava Janjic
Time
for Essential Changes
February 10, 2003
| First
of all, it is necessary to define concrete mechanisms to defend
the rights of the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija, not
only individual rights but the collective rights of the Serbs,
which presupposes the building of institutions of Serb self-administration
in areas where Serbs and other communities using the Serb language
live, and where the most significant Orthodox monuments of spirituality
and culture are located. The Serb community cannot afford to remain
the silent observer who passively watches as others tie the noose
to be slipped around its neck. Therefore, the basic condition
for return and for any form of further participation by Serb representatives
in Kosovo and Metohija institutions must be a clear definition
of the constitutionality of the Serb community and the amendment
(or change) of the existing Constitutional Framework, which needs
to be realigned with the principles of UN SC Resolution 1244.
FULL
TEXT |
EDITORIAL
Campaign
against Christianity intensifying in Kosovo
January 22, 2003
| The
latest initiative of the Kosovo Ministry of Education to demolish
the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the centre
of Pristina is a last drop in the three year's long anti-Christian
campaign led by Kosovo Albanian extremists. While all most important
Universities in Europe and the United States are proud of their
University chapels, Kosovo Albanian Ministry of Education and
University request destruction of a Christian church. Why? For
the Pristina University, which is becoming an ethnically clean
institution, with the vast majority of Moslem students, a Christian
Chruch with a cross in its vicinity looks like "a pig in
the mosque courtyard". FULL
TEXT |
EDITORIAL
Fr.
Sava Janjic - UNMIK'S "POTEMKIN VILLAGES"
January 16, 2003
| Truly,
in Kosovo and Metohija much has changed for the better in the
last three years but only for Albanian community. Under UNMIK’s
rule, however, changes are only slightly or not at all reflected
in Serb areas where the 100,000 remaining Serbs are hard pressed
to see any essential improvements since the end of the war. While
it is true that many hospitals have been restored, Serbs cannot
seek treatment in them; numerous roads have been paved but Serbs
lack the freedom to travel on them; tens of thousands of houses
have been renovated but only about one hundred of them are owned
by Serbs. After the war, all mosques were repaired and many new
ones built while over one hundred Serbian churches still lie in
ruins and not one has been reconstructed; there are many new supermarkets,
gas stations and restaurants but what use are they to Serbs when
only Albanians and foreigners can safely enter them. In short,
based on his first-hand experience, the average Serb feels that
UNMIK has come to help only one community while Serbs appear fated
to live as second-class citizens on the margins of society. FULL
TEXT |
|
THREE
YEARS OF SYSTEMATIC
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
December
14, 2002
Bishop Artemije
addressed in his letter the Special Delegation of the United
Nations Security council which is visiting Kosovo and Metohija
requesting urgent measures to stop discrimination and violence
against Serbs and non-Albanians in the UN administered province
of Kosovo |
Why
are Kosovo Serbs Dissatisfied
Two
recent analyses of the Kosovo impasse before the local elections
by Fr. Sava Janjic (fully edited versions)
KFOR
and UNMIK Crack on Kosovo Albanian Mafia
Editorial
by Fr. Sava Janjic
BISHOP
ARTEMIJE - NOT A SINGLE REASON FOR SERB TO VOTE
Orthodox Bishop cannot support local Kosovo elections
SRNA, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2002
 GRACANICA
-- Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren has said that he feels
the Kosovo Serbs do not have a single good reason to participate
in the Kosovo municipal elections due on October 26.
"Even if the people were called to cast their ballots I am
certain that they would not respond to this invitation because
of everything that has happened in Kosovo since the deployment
of the international troops", he said. Bishop Artemije described
the Serb deputies in the Kosovo Parliament as “part of the
décor” because none of their proposals have so far
been accepted or adopted by the Parliament. |
Editorial
by Fr. Sava (Janjic),
Oct 15, 2002
KOSOVO INSTITUTIONS - A FAÇADE OF FALSE DEMOCRACY
Kosovo Serbs hesitate to support institutions which work
only for Albanian ethnic interests In
the opinion of local Serbs Kosovo and Metohija is increasingly
being tailored to the needs of only one ethnic group. Serb leaders
feel that they do not have the moral right to participate in
institutions which are working on the destruction of their people.
which they feel are denied to them in the UN administered Province.
This is why Kosovo Serbs are now justifiably raising their voices
and demanding urgent and radical changes in UNMIK policies in
order to bring the process of building democratic institutions
back within the framework of UN Resolution 1244. MORE |
Anti-NATO feelings increase among Kosovo Albanians
as they see that the Peacekeeping Mission would not tolerate ethnic
violence
Kosovo
Rapidly Moving Towards Middle East Chaos
It is the high time to make
decisions which would return Kosovo from the brink of chaos -
Editorial by Fr. Sava (Janjic)
| Until recently
UNMIK officials were jeeringly dismissing desperate Serb human
rights reports on Albanian ethnic violence as exaggerated and
misleading. Every foreign official who visited Kosovo in the previous
months would be proudly informed that the level of violence had
considerably decreased and that Kosovo institutions were showing
maturity in running everyday life. Unfortunately, the brutal attack
of Albanian mob in Pec demonstrated quite opposite. Kosovo is
not only insecure for Kosovo Serbs but also for international
peacekeepers who were showered by a rain of stones and petrol
bombs while trying to protect elderly Serb civillians in the streets
of Pec. One soldier was badly burned while at least 7 policemen
suffered injuries. This attack is regrettably not the only attack
on international policemen and soldiers in the recent time. On
August 15, Albanian demonstrators surged on police and peacekeepers
in Decani. The riots ended with more than 40 injured. Only several
days later, on August 29 armed Kosovo Albanians opened fire on
a group of Serb farmers and Italian soldiers who were protecting
them in Gorazdevac, 10 km east from Pec. Almost four hours the
peacekeepers were exposed to the Albanian machine gun fire in
which several KFOR vehicles sustained considerable damage and
one soldier was injured. Despite extensive investigation no perpertrators
of this attack were brought to justice. As usual, Kosovo's extremists
take care that no one would dare witness in the court against
powerful clans. MORE |
Kosovo
- a province in which freedom depends on
ethnicity and religion ( a Serb refugee child)
IWPR -
Institute For War and Peace Reporting, London
Comment: Kosovo Serb
Despair
The Serbian extremist's electoral success here reflects local
Serbs' increasingly desperate plight. (More)
Even elderly Serb women are targeted by Albanians,
Poljka Katratovic in Djakovica lives under Italian protection
 Democracy
cannot be built on ethnic discrimination
Open Democracy Magazine
Fr. Sava Janjic
IWPR Institute
for War and Peace Reporting
Comment: Kosovo Extremists Out of
Control
The international community should
intervene to stop the growing number of attacks on Serb civilians
and their holy sites.
IWPR
link 
Local
link
By Fr. Sava (Janjic)
| While
the Security Council applauds to "tremendous achievements"
of UN Mission in Kosovo in everyday life an objective observer
can only witness essential deterioration of the security and human
rights situation. Attacks on Serb civilians and their holy sites,
everyday harassments of the elderly people and nuns, are becoming
more frequent and menacing. It appears that Albanian extremists
which work on creation of ethnically clean Albanian Kosovo see
in the remaining Kosovo Serbs the most serious obstacle for realization
of their long wished goal. In many ways they are right to believe
that not a single Serb will ever agree to live in a quasi state
in which basic human rights and dignity depend on ethnicity and
religion; in which a Serbian word for freedom does not exist in
dictionaries. MORE |
BISHOP
ARTEMIJE REQUESTS FROM UNMIK CHIEF
ASSISTANCE IN RECONSTRUCTION OF DESTROYED HOLY SITES
July 21, 2002 Gracanica
Church
will strongly insist on reconstruction of Zociste Monastery
|
Bishop
Artemije, the spiritual leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church
on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija has written a letter
to SRSG Mr. Michael Steiner requesting his support for reconstruction
of the Serb Orthodox holy sites destroyed or damaged after the
war in 1999. FULL
TEXT
"We
strongly believe that this is our undeniable right which is
granted by all international human rights charters and the UNSCR
1244", Bishop said in his letter to the chief of UNMIK
Mr. Steiner
|
More
information about the problems with the reconstruction of Zociste Monastery
|
Some
Highlights From the Commentary
"Kosovo
is overwhelmed by organized crime, corruption and mafia which
are definitely not a result of UNMIK's failure to give the power
to Albanians. In fact, without UNMIK the things would be far
worse. It would be quite absurd to believe that giving more
authority to Kosovan political leaders would stop the organized
crime because it is directly or indirectly sponsored by many
of those leaders themselves."
"A
society in which elderly women cannot buy bread in a shop only
because they belong to a different ethnic group and speak a
different language can hardly encourage Serbs to believe in
good will of their K/Albanian neighbors."
"Surroi's
claim that Kosovo is "the most pro-American society in
Europe, despite its Muslim background", is puzzling and
even humorous. It is not quite clear whether he meant that a
pro-American sentiment is better demonstrated by following the
American patterns of democracy and freedom or by waving U.S.
flags above gas stations and displaying "Winston"
billboards along bumpy Kosovo roads."
|
STOP
DESECRATION OF OUR HOLY SITES IN
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA!!
| "I can
only assure you that these acts of vandalism are clearly a part
of the wider strategy to discourage returns of our IDP's and change
the cultural identity of the region which has been known for its
valuable Serb Orthodox sites worldwide. Changing not only ethnic,
but also cultural identity, Kosovo Albanian leaders want to accelerate
the process of independence of Kosovo which would essentially
be a "state" tailored to the measure of Albanian people."
May 15, 2002 |
Bishop Artemije
and HRH Crown Prince Alexander in Belgrade
13 May 2002 - Press
Statement
Interview
of Bishop Artemije to the Herald of Kosovo and Metohija
March 7, 2002
INTERVIEW
Fr.
Sava from Decani Monastery speaks about the present situation in
Kosovo and Metohija, March 2002
Serbian Coalition
"Povratak - Return" in the Kosovo Parliament
Povratak is dissatisfied because the Albanian parties totally disregarded
Serb interests in division of the ministerial posts in the Government
One
Year After the Bus Massacre
One year after
the bus massacre in which Albanian terrorists killed 11 and wounded
more than 40 Serb civilians (mostly elderly and women) Bishop Artemije
served a memorial service in Gracanica monastery. Beside many priests,
monks and the faithful people Mr. Nebojsa Covic, the Serbian vice
president from Belgrade attended the ceremony. MORE
Dr. Rada Trajkovic,
a surgeon and a Serb political leader and Bishop Artemije
IWPR Comment:
Reconciling in Kosovo, Feb 1, 2002
A moderate approach of the Serb political leader in Kosovo, Dr. Rada
Trajkovic
Dr. Trajkovic is a leader of the Serb coalition "Povratak"
and enjoys full moral and political support of Bishop Artemije, the
Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Kosovo and Metohija
|
Bishop
Artemije on present situation in Kosovo
The most
important priority in Kosovo Region is to ensure proper institutions
of the civil society, peace and dignity for all citizens regardless
of their ethnicity. Only when true progress has been made in
this field Kosovo final status may be addressed. Any discussion
on the Kosovo final status, especially the idea of independence
of Kosovo in the situation of gross violations of minority human
rights by the Albanian population would be a serious mistake
which would turn the province into a major factor of instability
for the SE Europe.
Continuation
of terrorist attacks, rule of mafia and former KLA millitants,
destruction of Serb Christian monuments as well as absence of
basic freedom of movement for the most of non-Albanian population
shows that Kosovo Albanian political leaders have not managed
to offer any model of society different to the rule of Milosevic.
By doing so they essentially fail to understand the new processes
in Europe. It is only thanks to the international presence that
any of non-Albanian communities survive in the province and
without the NATO military presence the entire region would be
ignited again in war and bloodshed. Unreadiness of Albanian
leaders to establish basic conditions for Serbs and other non-Albanians
to live in the province a dignified life shows that Kosovo province
must remain under a long term international protectorate.
One can
hardly speak of any true political progress in the province
when even Albanians themselves cannot find concensus over the
president and the prime minister nominations. It is true that
the number of attacks against Serbs has decreased but many fail
to understand that this is the result of total isolation of
Serbs who are almost hermetically separated from Albanians in
KFOR protected enclaves. Despite Serb open participation in
elections and their readiness to support UN sponosred autonomy
of Kosovo within FRY, so far no real improvement of life for
ordinary Kosovo Serbs has been seen.
Bishop
Artemije
SNC Information Service, Feb 1, 2001
|
Episcopal Council
of the Serbian Orthodox Church in
the United States of America and Canada issues
A
Letter of Protest
Regarding the continuation of human rights violations against the
Serb Orthodos
population in Kosovo and Metohija, January 10, 2002
Three
pillars for the future of Kosovo Serbs
CHURCH - CROWN - STATE
The members of the Serbian Political Coalition "Povratak"
(Return), 8 Dec 2001
with Bishop Artemije, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Vice
President Covic
Povratak Coalition will give 22 members of the first post-war Kosovo
Parliament
The
First Concrete Step of UNMIK to implement the UNSC Resolution 1244
SRSG Hans Haekkerup and the Serbian deputy prime
minister Nebojsa Covic
YUGOSLAVIA
- UNMIK SIGN JOINT DOCUMENT, Nov 5 2001
Text in English
Serb Americans Gather in Washington D.C. for Second
Annual Leadership Conference, 8 Sep 2001
Among guests at the Conference were Bishop Artemije, Abbot of Decani
Fr. Teodosije and deacon Vasilije Delic FULL
REPORT
Serbian
Orthodox Church in the Kosovo Conflict (extract), ICG, Jan 31, 2001
A passage from the wider report of ICG on Religion in Kosovo
Statement
of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija
- appointed by the Holy Synod of the SOC, Jan 12, 2001
The
Church Role in Serbia's Peaceful Revolution
Fr.
Sava - Albanian Extremism Needs to Be Called By Its True Name
Commentary, August 19, 2000
BISHOP
ARTEMIJE - INTERVIEW, 5 AUG, 2000
PART
II
|
