Abbot of Visoki Decani Monastery, Father Sava Janjic in an interview for Russian Komersant said that Serbs in Kosovo are not mere numbers, percentages or statistical errors, termed an idea on delineation “as delineation with a common sense” and added that people are concerned over the talks on division, Danas daily reports.

Abbot Janjic, whom Komersant describes “as one of the most vocal people in defense of Kosovo and Metohija,” claims he is certain Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic would have a major support of the entire population and the Church if he would decisively stand up for defence of the interests and dignity of the state, since “people are concerned over the talks about division.”

Abbot Janjic also said he is not disturbed much by “the attacks by some of the Belgrade authorities’ representatives and media controlled by them,” since he is used to similar mantra during the times of a regime from the end of the nineties, however reactions of the authorities “who are spreading absurd manipulations and lies” are much more problematic than tabloid attacks.

Abbot Janjic assessed politicians realize that most people in Serbia clearly understood messages from the Serbian Orthodox Church “do not derive from some sort of a political rift between the Church and the state,” since the Church is neither political party, nor it has political ambitions, but “a moral duty” do defend its people and take care of thier destiny.

“How the authorities would run the state it is up to those people have elected, but if someone plays with the lives of our believers, who survived the hardest years of the worst repression in Kosovo after 1999, and wants to sell Kosovo for short-term, selfish interests, then we must defend our flock,” Abbot Janjic underlined.

Asked if Kosovo should be defended “or regained by a military force if there is no other solution, Father Sava recalled “that history brought many changes” and Kosovo for centuries “was taken away, liberated, and then lost again.”

“However, Serbian population is now being asked to offer a collective acceptance to the permanent loss of the most holly territories, our people and holly shrines, living Church, and to applaud to and welcome a colossal betrayal as a great political victory, and to believe it would be better for us, once they behead us,” Abbot Janjic underlined.

Commenting on the USA and President Trump interests, Abbot Janjic said that in America one can see “clashes of different interests” adding “that the Kosovo issue is insufficiently significant for global interests of such a world power.”

“Someone simple came to an idea “to clean up the yard here” and adjust the borders, while local power holders were let to make the final maps and divisions, and then major powers would see “if this can go through.”

However, the problem remains since you cannot build the roof of the house, if there are no foundation and walls. Instead of a stable solution, there would be conflicts again, expelled people, sufferings, Abbot Janjic warned.

He repeated the stance of the Serbian Orthodox Church it is against any form of Kosovo recognition, and its seat in the UN, while eventual division would be “a defeat” and “the biggest historic disgrace of those politicians who decide to carry it out.”

Speaking about Kosovo reality and the fact “that majority of Serbs in Kosovo live south and not north of the Ibar river,” Abbot Janjic underlined there should be cooperation “with all good-will people, to talk even with those we do not agree upon everything all the time (…)”.

He also noted the current situation can be changed by trying to talk to everybody, including Kosovo Albanians, to improve living conditions, to show we do not support frozen conflict and clashes, however to remain firm and clear in a stance that Serbian territory is simple not for sale.

“We must not forget, Kosovo is not just a piece of territory, it is an area that carries a great blessing, but also a curse depending on how one treats it,” Abbot Janjic concluded.

Also full translation of Abbot Sava Janjic interview for weekly magazine Vreme can be seen at: https://kossev.info/demarcation-partition-stems-from-the-policy-of-ethnic-cleansing/