A decisive period is ahead of Serbia in efforts to defend its own heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, because Pristina is trying, through UNESCO, to seize our monasteries and churches and to open the door of the United Nations.

Director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Đurić, said to Belgrade-based Alo that he believes that big powers will have understanding for irrefutable Serbia’s arguments.

“Membership of the so called Kosovo in UNESCO would be problematic from several aspects. First, it would be the way for Kosovo to enter through a small door to the UN. Second, more dangerous and far-reaching problem would be that UNESCO membership would be only the first step in efforts to erase the tradition of Serbian statehood and culture in Kosovo and Metohija. One can’t steal someone’s cultural heritage, civilization simply doesn’t function like that. If some nation wishes to be present on the global cultural map, they have to build instead of stealing and destroying, and in Kosovo and Metohija monuments of Serbian culture are, even today, unscrupulously destroyed and desecrated,” explained Đurić. He went on to say that if one would like to see the attitude of Albanians toward Serbian orthodox heritage in Kosovo, he wouldn’t have to go to distant history and time of Ottoman rule in this region, because following the arrival of international forces to Kosovo in 1999, 141 church and monasteries were destroyed or heavily damaged, whereas 35 shrines of the Serbian Orthodox Church were destroyed or desecrated only during the pogrom in 2004.

He further voiced expectation that states that have recognized unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo will have understanding for Serbia’s irrefutable arguments. “Destruction of our shrines took place with, mildly said, silent consent of the Albanian political structures, and how can anyone allow such people to care about something that they wanted, just yesterday, to wipe out from the face of the Earth?” asked Đurić.

“Such things can’t be settled by unilateral acts or out-voting. This is why we insist that status and property of the Serbian Orthodox Church is discussed as a topic during the political dialogue in Brussels,” said Đurić.