President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić on Monday opened the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies with a message that the Serbian-Byzantine heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is endangered today by untruths and attempts of forging historical facts, as well as by physical destruction.

Nikolić said, opening the congress, that changes in the world occur all the time, but that they are not always to the benefit of humanity, and that neither is “an attempt of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo to become a member of UNESCO and to ascribe Serbian heritage in Kosovo and Metohija to a nation that does not exist”.

It is not only Serbian but European culture, the world’s memory and an important part of the Byzantine heritage that is kept in Kosovo and Metohija, he said.