The Society of Journalist of Kosovo and Metohija (DNKIM) and the Association of Journalits of Serbia (UNS) announced that they were not aware that any of Serbian journalists, editors or owners of private media have signed a letter addressed to the general director of UNESCO Irina Bokova for the admission of Kosovo into this organization.
The process of Kosovo’s membership at UNESCO, faced during all these weeks a propaganda and lobbying by Serbia’s politicians and institutions against the acceptance of Kosovo in UNESCO.
This was the reason to suspect on the possibility of some set up incident at some cultural or religious heritage site in Kosovo.
Serbian Ambassador to the UNESCO Darko Tanaskovic says that there is no reason for optimism when it comes to the UNESCO session where will be discussed Kosovo membership. "Voting the proposal requires a simple majority of votes. The most realistic is that a debate will be initiated before the voting, which had been announced by some countries. Also, it is possible that the debate will be closed by a simple majority of votes," said Tanaskovic.
Serbia has activated all diplomatic mechanisms to ensure a minimum of 50 votes of UNESCO member states, to pull down the ramp for Pristina's membership in this organization. If Serbia reaches the "critical mass" of support, there are chances that Pristina does not receive the necessary two-thirds majority for the chair in UNESCO. That would mean that the whole thing is postponed for a minimum two years.
Abbot of monastery Visoki Decani Sava Janjic has said that Pristina's membership in UNESCO would be very dangerous for the Serb cultural heritage. "It is a very dangerous situation in which the future of our heritage, of our entity and all that we have comes under a big question mark," said Janjic.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Petrit Selimi said that Kosovo officials have given UNESCO written guarantees that they will not change the name of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), which is a constitutional category in Kosovo Constitution. “Naming of the monuments on the UNESCO list will change only in consultation with officials of the Serbian Orthodox Church,” said Selimi in an interview given to the daily Danas.
Kosovo Assembly President, Kadri Veseli, stressed that the greatest danger for the cultural heritage is political use of religion.
“This is Serbia’s alternative,” wrote Veseli on his Facebook account, on the day when UNESCO’s Executive Council is expected to decide on the recommendation to accept Kosovo as a member of this organization.
Students of the so-called University of Pristina in Mitrovica North announced that they will protest today in Mitrovica, with the motto “Kosovo not in UNESCO.”
The protest will be held at “Brothers Milic” square, in vicinity of the central bridge over the River Iber. The protest will start at 12:44 as a symbolic sign for UN Resolution 1244.
Students also appealed to the population, representatives of public and municipal institutions to join the protest.
Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Petrit Selimi, said today that he expects that many countries that have not recognized Kosovo to vote in favor of Kosovo's membership in UNESCO. According to him, there is no reason for the Executive Committee to keep Kosovo isolated. "Serbia is conducting a vicious campaign against Kosovo. We hope that tomorrow UNESCO's Executive Committee will respect the need for Kosovo to not remain isolated. I believe that no more than 20 countries will support Serbia. Then we will focus on the General Assembly of UNESCO which will be held on 9 November,” Selimi said.
The former chief negotiator in the technical dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Borislav Stefanovic, and a member of the Committee for European Integration in the Kosovo parliament Vjosa Osmani confronted attitudes today, in regards to the possible admission of Kosovo in UNESCO.