The state of Serbian heritage in Kosovo is a matter of cultural identity of the first order, estimates the Minister of Culture and Information Vladan Vukosavljević.

He says to daily Jedinstvo that it is very difficult to ignore the fact that in Kosovo, inter alia, there are more than 1,300 Serbian churches, monasteries and archaeological sites, and it is impossible not to take into account the historical period in which they had arisen.

"The state of Serbian heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is a question of cultural identity of the first order. Our heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is an extremely important part of the Serbian cultural space, its pivotal point," said Vukosavljević stressing that it is necessary to protect the overall cultural and social community and defend the holy shrines of the Serbian monuments and cultural heritage in Kosovo.

At the end of the next week, he announced visit of a joint delegation of the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, with members of the Working Group and certain cultural institutions, to the Serbian holy shrines in Kosovo, including Gračanica and the Patriarchate of Peć, which are under UNESCO protection.

"The unity of the state authorities, Serbian Orthodox Church and cultural workers has been expressed during the vote in UNESCO on membership of the so-called Republic of Kosovo, this was a good example that about topics that are nodal point of identity of a nation and the birthplace of one country there should be a consensus among all stakeholders in the public arena" he stressed.

One of the major challenges of the Ministry is that Albanians are campaigning for years by falsifying the historical data and their application to UNESCO next year, said Vukosavljević.

"We conduct regular activities in coordination with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Serbia to UNESCO in Paris and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These activities are directed primarily unto the recognition and understanding of the entire world community that admission of the so-called Republic of Kosovo into UNESCO would be presenting breach of the UN Resolution 1244," said Vukosavljević.

He says that it would be a precedent that UNESCO, established by the UN, makes decisions contradictory to its "umbrella" organization, as well as that eventual entry of Kosovo into UNESCO could have negative affect on the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, as well as the status of already endangered Serbian cultural heritage in this area.

As he points out, dialogue is necessary, especially in the field of culture, because it was seen many times what happens when the words stop.

"It is possible to create a hybrid of a fairly large potential and value by mixing cultures, but there is no doubt that the preservation of your own cultural and national identity always comes first," explained the Minister of Culture.