Serbian Orthodox Church - News 22.3.2004.

NEWS

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
March 22, 2004

UNMIK and Kosovo provisional institutions have abolished themselves by permitting ethnic cleansing

EVERY ILLUSION THAT ALBANIAN LEADERS WANT A DEMOCRATIC AND MULTIETHNIC SOCIETY HAS DISAPPEARED IN THE FLAMES OF CHURCHES AND MEDIEVAL FRESCOES

PRESS RELEASE
ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica, March 22, 2004

Five days ago an intensive campaign of organized and pre-planned ethnic violence began perpetrated by Kosovo Albanians against the remaining Serbian Orthodox population and its holy shrines in Kosovo and Metohija. This latest development of events is the culmination of an almost five year-long campaign of terror systematically carried out in the presence of the UN mission and KFOR whose representatives purposely hid the real situation on the ground from the eyes of the global community, seeking justification for a proclamation of the success of their mission and their own withdrawal from the Province as soon as possible.

In addition to the direct perpetrators of crime, not only in the last several days but during the course of the past five post-war years, none of whom have been brought to justice, direct responsibility for the latest expulsions, murders and destruction of the precious cultural heritage under the protection of UNESCO is borne by UNMIK, whose policies of self-deception, tolerance and systematic cover up of the real situation in the Province directly enabled Albanian paramilitary organizations to legitimize themselves through Albanian political parties and continue their strategy of building an ethnically pure Albanian society without obstruction. The goal of Albanian politicians and paramilitary leaders is clear: to avoid dialogue at any price and to impose a solution by de facto creating an ethnically pure territory on the ground. It remains to be seen whether the international community will accept this methodology which can rightly be called political terrorism on a grand scale.

The final picture of the "success" of the international mission and achieved "standards" has been demonstrated in the events of the last few days when a coordinated campaign by the majority of Albanian media and extremist organization took advantage of the tragic drowning death of Albanian children to collectively accuse the Serb people of responsibility without a single shred of evidence and thus incite the general fury of the Albanian community and channel it in the direction of ethnic cleansing of Serbs. The plan for destruction of Serb settlements and property was published back in February 2001 in the Pristina daily "Koha Ditore" under the pen name of Peter Rogel.

In an unprecedented gushing of hatred, violence, barbaric desecration of Christian symbols and holy shrines, all institutions of Kosovo society floundered: from the government, the parliament, the leaders of political parties, to all provisional institutions headed by UNMIK, whose mission completely crashed and experienced a shameful end. A part of the Kosovo Police Service and members of the Kosovo Protection Corps were direct participants in the violence, coordinating their activities with armed throngs which expelled the Serbs and torched their property, incited the gathering of mobs for the burning of churches and the destruction of valuable monuments, all with the goal of creating an ethnically pure Albanian society. All illusions of achieved standards of a democratic society evaporated during horrific scenes of Albanians armed to the teeth opening fire on international peacekeeping troops from automatic weapons and even mortars and missile launchers, and throwing Molotov cocktails at vehicles and buildings of the UNMIK mission. The whole world has now seen that Kosovo is ruled by lawlessness, violence, crime, the absence of any respect for the values of Christian and European civilization - the very things Serb representatives have been saying for years to a world lulled by the supposed successes of the UN Mission.
The Serbian Orthodox Church is especially horrified by the barbaric attacks against more than 20 Orthodox Christian churches, most of which have been burned or even blown up. The situation is especially tragic in Prizren where churches, the Seminary, the Episcopal seat were all burned, in addition to Serb houses from which old men and women were dragged from their homes and brutally lynched by the raging masses which ultimately set fire to the famous church of the Holy Mother of God of Ljevis and Holy Archangels Monastery, both from the 14th century. It is tragic and incomprehensible that German KFOR did not even attempt to stop the rampaging horde even though the Church had been warning for days, weeks and months that a reduction of the KFOR military presence is direct encouragement for Albanian extremists armed to the teeth.
Taking into account all the tragic consequences: dozens of people murdered, hundreds wounded, destroyed and burned churches, burned houses, among them the homes of Serb returnees restored by funds from the international community, the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija demands the following:

DIOCESE OF RASKA-PRIZREN AND
KOSOVO-METOHIJA DEMANDS

- Immediate proclamation of a state of emergency throughout Kosovo and Metohija under the military administration of KFOR with full authority to use force if necessary against armed groups and individuals;
- Immediate reorganization of UNMIK, dismissal of Kosovo provisional institutions and introduction of a temporary international administration with the authority to establish order and peace, prevent further lawlessness and create conditions for initiation of a political process. Following his unprecedented statements last night to U.S. National Public Radio, Harri Holkeri has neither the political or moral credibility to continue in his office and needs to resign.
- Due to his omissions and lack of responsibility, KFOR commander German general Holger Kammerhoff also needs to resign and withdraw from Kosovo and Metohija. As a result of their behavior members of German KFOR have shown themselves to be completely incompetent and unprofessional in carrying out their jobs, allowing the complete destruction of eight churches in Prizren. Despite all warnings that violent demonstrations were in preparation, Kammerhoff insisted on reducing KFOR forces and taking down security checkpoints.
- A political process with building of truly multiethnic institutions based on the principles of Resolution 1244 and with new institutionalized mechanisms for the effective protection of the Serb community can continue only when all armed paramilitary units are disarmed, and the Kosovo Police Service is thoroughly reorganized after an investigation into the behavior of all its members and commanders during the recent disturbances.
These measures are the only way of again establishing basic order and peace in Kosovo and Metohija with fundamental respect for the rights of all national communities. The issue of the final status of the Province must be deferred indefinitely until the basic contours of a democratic society are established ensuring respect for the human and religious rights of all citizens.

It is necessary to make estimates of the material damage as soon as possible and to urgently compensate Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church for all damages in order to enable the rapid restoration of all destroyed and damaged buildings.

Last but not least, members of KFOR and UNMIK special police forces have a responsibility to find the organizers, inspirers and chief participants of the recent disturbances who are also responsible for numerous crimes committed during the course of recent years, and to bring them to justice.

Only when all of the above measures are taken will Serb representatives and the Serb community be able to rejoin in normal fashion the political process of building a modern, democratic and European society.

The international community must not allow at any price the extremists to succeed in their goal to finalize the process of resolving the final status of the Province through a policy of fait accompli after ethnically cleansing the Serb population. Caving in to the demands of the same politicians directly involved in the most recent crimes would be tantamount to rewarding of political blackmail and terrorism and would lead to general instability throughout the region with unforeseeable consequences.

ON REXHEPI'S STATEMENT ON REBUILDING OF CHURCHES

The statement of so-called Kosovo provisional government prime minister Bajram Rexhepi that destroyed and damaged Orthodox churches will be restored from the Kosovo consolidated budget is yet another media lie and an act of deceit. Rexhepi and his commander Thaci have been repeating these lies to the Serbian Orthodox Church and to Bishop Artemije personally for years.
Attempts to draw the focus of public attention away from the passive behavior of the Kosovo provisional institutions by such statements is the best indicator not only of their lack of political maturity but their lack of the most rudimentary political accountability for past events.

DIOCESE MOST STRONGLY CONDEMNS RUGOVA'S STATEMENTS

Instead of showing true support to the suffering people of the province and expressing sincere concern for its burning cultural heritage, Rugova keeps sitting in his well guarded villa trying to build the future of Kosovo on the blood of innocents, on the ruins of churches and the ashes of saints his compatriots burned in Orthodox monasteries

ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica, March 22, 2004

The most recent statement of so-called president of Kosovo Ibrahim Rugova that Kosovo should be granted independence and that only independence could bring peace and stability to Kosovo clearly demonstrates that Mr. Rugova is directly involved in the plan to impose the secession of the province by acts of unprecedented violence, barbarism and ethnic cleansing.

Instead of showing true support to the suffering people of the province and expressing sincere concern for its burning cultural heritage, Rugova keeps sitting in his well guarded villa trying to build the future of Kosovo on the blood of innocents, on the ruins of churches and ashes of saints his compatriots burned in Orthodox monasteries.

With his politically immature and irresponsible statements, Ibrahim Rugova bears a large part of direct responsibility for the outburst of violence together with other Kosovo Albanian leaders who kept the international community under deception that they are capable of establishing a minimum of democratic standards in the Province and among their electorate. With such inflammatory statements about the final status, the so-called president of Kosovo remains a tragicomic figure reminding us of Nero who played his harp as Rome burned.

HALID BERANI ARRESTED FOR DECEIVING MEDIA AND INCITING VIOLENCE - THE TRUTH OF MANIPULATION WITH THE CASE OF DROWNING OF THREE ALBANIAN BOYS UNFOLDING

International forces arrested HALID BERANI (Kosovo Albanian), the president of the so called "Council for protection of human rights and freedoms in Kosovo", confirmed KFOR sources sources to B92 Radio reporter Tanja Matic, it is said on the Web site of B92 Radio (14:02 CET). Berani supplied Kosovo Albanian media at the beginning of this week the news that three Albanian boys were drowned in the Ibar river "because they were chased by Serb youths". This misinformation triggered public unrest and was used as an excuse by so far unknown extremist groups and elements to activate a pre-planned operation of ethnic persecution of all Serbs from Kosovo.

ERP KIM Info-Service
Gracanica, March 21, 2004 (15:27)

International forces arrested HALID BERANI (Kosovo Albanian), the president of the so called "Council for protection of human rights and freedoms in Kosovo", confirmed KFOR sources to B92 Radio reporter Tanja Matic, it is said on the Web site of B92 Radio (14:02 CET). Berani supplied Kosovo Albanian media at the beginning of this week the news that three Albanian boys were drowned in the Ibar river "because they were chased by Serb youths". This misinformation triggered public unrest and was used as an excuse by so far unidentified Albanian extremist groups and individuals to activate a pre-planned operation of ethnic persecution of all Serbs from Kosovo.

KFOR sources informed B92 that in Berani's house documentation was found which was taken by KFOR. During the armed conflict in Kosovo in 1998-1999 Berani was an active member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK). It is believed that Berani might be involved in the plan of ethnic cleansing of Kosovo which had to be presented to the world media as a "justified anger of Albanian population after the alleged killing of three Albanian boys".

Serbian Orthodox Church is shocked that this false information and manipulation with the tragic death of Albanian children, which was denied by the UNMIK police spokesman Derek Chapel the next day, was so easily picked up not only by media in Albanian language but also by some professional and trustworthy international agencies without previous confirmation of the information. This regrettable example of media manipulation encouraged the extremists and contributed to the suffering of many civilians and deaths of dozens of innocent people.

However, no matter how much this manipulation contributed to the deterioration of the security situation international sources in the Province say that there are many reliable indicators that the plan of expulsion of all Serbs and destruction of all Serbian Orthodox churches in Kosovo was a strategy planed beforehand, which was even admitted by some of the Kosovo Albanian political analysts like Veton Surroi.

The Church remains confident that the International peacekeeping forces and UNMIK police will trace down the organizers of this unrest and crimes which have been committed and bring them to justice.

HOLKERI PLAYS DOWN VIOLENCE

B92

Kosovo governor Harri Holkeri said that the situation in Kosovo has considerably improved.
He told media in the US that "a couple of Serbian Orthodox churches" had been burnt down, but said that ethnic cleansing would be too strong a description.
Holkeri was responding to the use of the term "ethnic cleansing", by NATO's commander for south-east Europe, Gregory Johnson, Holkeri.
"Those words are too strong," he said, adding that "There are plenty of Kosovo Serbs who have not accepted to move away from their home areas."
"Unfortunately there has been a great deal of damage and a many Serbian houses have been destroyed, together with a couple of Serbian Orthodox churches," said the governor.

COVIC CALLS ON HOLKERI TO APOLOGISE OR RESIGN

Beta

The head of Belgrade's Kosovo Coordination Centre, Nebojsa Covic, has called on UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri to apologise to Kosovo Serbs or resign.
Covic was responding to a statement given by Holkeri to US public radio in which he played down the wave of violence which swept Kosovo last week.
The Kosovo governor played down the violence which has erupted under his stewardship, dismissing NATO Southern Europe Commander Gregory Johnson's assessment of it as ethnic cleansing and writing off the damage to dozens of Serbian church buildings as "a couple of Serbian Orthodox Churches have been set on fire".
Covic called on all Serbian state bodies to demand that Holkeri be replaced in Kosovo, saying that thirty torched churches and monasteries and thousands of expelled Serbs and destroyed homes could not be described as anything but ethnic cleansing.
"I believe Holkeri is an experienced politician but I do not believe he has made his assessment of what has happened in Kosovo from experience. I believe there is malice behind this statement," said Covic.

VIOLENCE ORCHESTRATED, SAYS HOLKERI

SRNA

Kosovo governor Harri Holkeri today added his voice to a growing chorus of international officials acknowledging that this week's violence in Kosovo has been an orchestrated and planned campaign.

A British NATO peacekeeper hands over a Serb baby to its mother after getting out of an ambulance in the northern Kosovo city of Kosovska Mitrovica, Sunday, March 21, 2004 "Perhaps just at the beginning the violence was spontaneous, but after that certain extremist groups had the opportunity to manipulate the situation and because of that we are now working on bringing them to justice as soon as possible," said Holkeri.

"About 1,100 Serbs are under the protection of KFOR after being forced out of their homes during Wednesday and Thursday. Another 2,500 Serbs and members of other minority communities are gathered in places such as Gracanica where they are in the majority.

BISHOP ARTEMIJE, COVIC AND U.S. MISSION HEAD MEET IN GRACANICA MONASTERY - SERBS DEMAND MILITARY ADMINISTRATION IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA, HOLKERI'S RESIGNATION

Nebojsa Covic requested of the U.S. Office in Pristina mission chief that her country use its great influence in the UN Security Council to establish military administration in Kosovo and Metohija as the only possible solution to the present situation. Bishop Artemije and Dr. Covic reiterated that only under military administration is it possible to disband existing paramilitary organizations, find the perpetrators, organizers and supporters of this pre-planned campaign of ethnic cleansing of the remaining Serbs and ensure conditions for the continuation of the political process under firm international security control.

A meeting between Bishop Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head Nebojsa Covic and U.S. Office in Pristina mission chief Marcie Reis concluded at approximately 13,20 CET in Gracanica Monastery.

Bishop Artemije expressed his utmost horror at the pogrom carried out against the Serb people in the last five days. He emphasized that the Serb community in the past five years has been very cooperative and that it has even participated in Kosovo provisional institutions under all but impossible conditions. However, all the promises made to the Serbs by international representatives have not been kept and the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija in the presence of 18,000 KFOR troops and the UN civil mission has been permitted under the eyes of the entire world. The Bishop also mentioned his recent visit to the U.S. when he attempted to explain to the U.S. community that the problem of Kosovo does not lay in its unresolved status, as the Albanians claim, but in the fact that after the war the paramilitary Kosovo Liberation Army was not disbanded but continued to exist and act through Albanian political organizations and the new provisional institutions of Kosovo. The Bishop emphasized that it is completely clear to everyone who is responsible for the crimes committed in the past five years, placing responsibility squarely on leading Albanian politicians. "Everything I have said in Washington has been confirmed as accurate in the most horrible sense in recent days," said Bishop Artemije.

Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head Dr. Nebojsa Covic expressed support for the views of Bishop Artemije and thanked U.S. forces for everything they have recently done to protect the Serb people because only after the engagement of U.S. troops was there a consolidation of KFOR and establishment of minimal standards of protection and security.

Covic clear stated that Harri Holkeri cannot remain as head of UNMIK, especially after his unprecedented statement last night on U.S. National Public Radio stating that what is occurring in Kosovo cannot be called ethnic cleansing because those words are "too strong". Holkeri also made the shocking statement that only "a couple of Serbian Orthodox churches" had been destroyed even though it is well-known that about 30 churches were destroyed or damaged in just two days of rioting and violence. Covic added that over 4,000 Serbs are internally displaced. Dr. Covic confirmed to Ms. Ries that he had verified that Holkeri had indeed made the cited statements, and added that he had publicly offered him the opportunity to apologize to the Serb people or to immediately submit his resignation.
Covic also mentioned the difficult position of the Serbian Government and himself personally, considering that everything that they have been doing in recent years with regard to Kosovo and Metohija has been guided by the recommendations of the UN Security Council in the home that a democratic society would be built in Kosovo and Metohija and that previously existing multiethnicity would be preserved. However, it is now clear that this strategy is untenable and therefore Mr. Covic requested of Ms. Ries that her country use its great influence in the UN Security Council to establish military administration in Kosovo and Metohija as the only possible solution to the present situation.

The Bishop and Dr. Covic reiterated that only under military administration is it possible to disband existing paramilitary organizations, find the perpetrators, organizers and supporters of this pre-planned campaign of ethnic cleansing of the remaining Serbs and ensure conditions for the continuation of the political process under firm international security control. Covic told Ms. Reis that both Holkeri and all provisional Kosovo institutions had failed, and that they had lost all political and moral credibility not only for the Serbs but for the entire world.

Expecting the resumption of the political process under the present conditions as if nothing at all had happened and Serb participation in institutions that had failed at all levels and proven themselves to be instruments of the politics of ethnic cleansing would be completely absurd, Bishop Artemije and Dr. Covic concurred.