Graffiti reading the threat “the caliphate is coming” and signatures KLA, Albanian National Army and the Islamic state (ISIS) appeared on Sunday on the property of the monastery of Visoki Dečani. The Serbs who are living there and brotherhood of the monastery are upset, because lately more than 200 young Albanians from Kosovo joined the jihad in Iraq and Syria, and there are fears that the jihadists could organize terrorist attacks even in Kosovo.
Abbot of the monastery of Visoki Decani, Sava Janjic, said that monks are worried and shocked because of threatening graffiti written on premises of the monastery.
“We expect that Kosovo public and international representatives will condemn this crime and that KFOR and local police will undertake more intensive security measures. We faced the threats, shelling, KLA graffiti, but this incident demonstrates a new level of threat and danger. The appearance of Islamist graffiti and correlation with the KLA, signs that look like an attempt to write in Arabic, show that people of such intent can enter the monastery property,” Janjic said.
Nearest graffiti were written on the garden shed, which is about 300 meters from the monastery church. The monks, as soon as they noticed the graffiti, informed the Kosovo Police and KFOR, who immediately launched an investigation. While the abbot of the monastery Visoki Decani spoke with a local KFOR commander, Lieutenant Mineli, and head of Decani Kosovo police, groups of young Albanians from the nearby road, about a hundred meters away, began chanting “UCK”. Police detained three young men because of provocative behaviour.
Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren recall that monastic land is only partially enclosed by a protection wall, because veterans of the KLA four years ago threatened the monastery brotherhood, if they continue building a wall.
