Around fifty Serbs, displaced all over Serbia, yesterday visited their burglarized houses in village Zociste near Orahovac/Rahovec.
The representative of displaced Serbs Damjan Blagojevic said to Beta agency that they were escorted by the police and that the trip was facilitated by the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo, aimed at visiting their houses on the occasion of the village’s Monastery St Kozma and Damjan Holiday. The Monastery in Zociste was set on fire on fire three times so far, whereas in 2004 it was totally destroyed by Albanian extremists.
Blagojevic said that around 350 Serbs in 56 households used to live in the village before 1999, after what their houses were burglarized and set on fire.
Kosovo government refurbished 36 hoses for Serbian returnees in 2006. “Today we’ve realized that installations, doors and windows are stolen from our houses,” said Blagojevic and added that the wells are covered, too. Blagojevic stressed that there were several talks so far with regards to return of displaced, however no one was able to guarantee the safety to Serbs. According to him, Serbs own around 70 per cent out of 500 hectares of soil in the village, which are now cultivated by Albanians who are not paying the rent.
Few elderly Albanians have met and talked with their former neighbors, some said they wouldn’t mind at all if Serbs would return to their properties, whereas younger Albanians didn’t want to talk about it.
Bishop Teodosije invited displaced Serbs to return to their houses and emphasized that “remaining Serbs and clergy of the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren are dedicated to survive in Kosovo and Metohija”.
