Abbot of Visoki Decani Monastery Sava Janjic believes that talks on Kosovo’s admission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, should be postponed, because Kosovo has not demonstrated political maturity. He stressed that proposal of Executive board to admit Kosovo in UNESCO is the result of political decisions.
“Without clear Brussels assurances that would guarantee the rights of Serbian Orthodox Church, Kosovo’s entry to UNESCO would be highly detrimental and would jeopardize the existing relations with Kosovo institutions and worsened the overall situation and the Brussels dialogue,” Janjic said.
The first sentence of paragraph five in the annex of Ahtisaari’s plan stipulates that Kosovo shall recognize the Serbian Orthodox Church seated in Belgrade, which was accepted by the Kosovo Assembly. This Annex envisaged that the Serbian Orthodox Church has a special status and this is something on which we should insist,” says Petar Miletic adding that key issue is that monasteries remain the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church. “Serbia and Serb representatives should find a partner in UNESCO for that issue. Membership in UNESCO does not mean that Kosovo will jeopardize Serbian Orthodox Church,” he said.
