Serbs in Kosovo believe that the time has come for the completion of the Orthodox church of Christ the Saviour in Pristina. Especially after field testing on suspicion of the existence of mass graves which proves the church does not constitute a crime scene.
“We will surely discuss in the next period, for the start, to place fences and thus secure a bit more the object, and then to go into the construction of the temple in the later stages,” says Branimir Stojanović, Vice-President of the Kosovo government.
Albanian representatives in the institutions say that the completion of construction of the temple of Christ the Saviour is political issue. Representatives of civil society have their own vision of the future of the church.
“My idea was to change the purpose of the church, it to be a museum of civilian victims of war, or wars, without distinction of nationality, because all wars brought victims,” said lawyer Azem Vllasi.
Vllasi says that Albanians see the church as a joint venture of Milošević’s government and Serbian Orthodox Church, who carried out an anti-Albanian policy. He adds that the land on which is the church belongs to the University. Serbs claim otherwise.
“Cadastral books show that this location belongs to the Church of Christ the Saviour, and that this land belongs to the Serbian Orthodox Church,” says Veljko Odalović from the Commission for Missing Persons.
Branimir Stojanović says that the local government should be the first to support the completion of the temple, as well as the Ministry of Spatial Planning.
