The League of Kosovo Historians “Ali Hadri”, the branch in Decan/Decani, has announced a peaceful protest against the initiative to give away land to the Decan Monastery. The Vetevendosje Movement in Decan will reportedly join the protest against the German project memorandum on the properties of two enterprises “Apik” and “Iliria”. The peaceful protest will be held today, starting at 11:00 hrs and will last an hour.
The Vetevendosje Movement in Decan issued a communiqué saying that Decan residents are extremely concerned about the Memorandum of Understanding between the Decan Monastery and Decan municipality. The memorandum would legitimize ownership over cadastral parcels that were given away to Decan Monastery during the Milosevic regime. “The transferred ownership includes an area of over 1000 hectares, 80 percent of which are private property and 20 percent social property. The ownership transfer also includes the two key enterprises of Decan municipality, the “Apiko” and “Iliria”.
“The history of this problem dates to 2005. Former UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen legitimized the discriminatory decisions of the 1990s, by recognizing the period of apartheid in Kosovo as a legitimate period, despite the fact that the international community defined this period as the wildest period of discrimination in Europe. This discriminatory decision was at the time supported by the AAK leadership and by some members of the municipal assembly that were manipulated, orchestrated and misused by the AAK,” the communiqué said.
The Vetevendosje Movement finds that the proposed memorandum is unacceptable, discriminatory and humiliating for Decan residents. “Primarily, we are against the idea to recognize Orthodox heritage in Kosovo as Serb heritage, because we believe that all heritage in Kosovo, including Orthodox heritage, belongs to the people of Kosovo. Second, considering the developmental and socio-economic aspects, it is unacceptable for the local population not to be able to use their natural resources. Lack of access to these resources will mean extreme poverty, demographic changes and permanent migration from the active population of Decan. Moreover, the memorandum installs isolation and violates the right to economic, social and cultural links with the population of Plava and Gucia, as the only hope for development, exchanges and well-being for the two regions,” the Vetevendosje communiqué said.
The Vetevendosje Movement appeals to the Decan municipal assembly to reject the memorandum and all initiatives aimed at giving away the only natural and economic resources in exchange for personal gains of some politicians.
