Bishop Teodosije requests urgent intervention of UNMIK chief and KFOR

KiM-Info Newsletter 26-08-05

Avdyl Mushkolaj continues threats against Decani Monastery and calls for open violence against Church and Serbian people

KIM Info-Service, Visoki Decani, August 26, 2005

Avdyl Mushkolaj, the head of the Kosovo Liberation Army veterans association for the areas of Decani and Pec, today continued with his impudent and aggressive attacks on the pages of the Pristina Albanian language daily "Epoka e Re" against Visoki Decani Monastery and the Serbian Orthodox Church as a whole. Mushkolaj, who is responsible for the three past armed attacks on Decani Monastery, uses a series of lies and fictions to consciously and in planned fashion incite hatred against the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in general, thus further endangering security throughout the region and acting directly against the efforts of the international community and Kosovo institutions to enhance relations between the communities in Kosovo and Metohija.

Without doubt this is a well-organized propaganda operation with the purpose of inciting hatred and further crimes, preventing the return of the Serbian population and the building of a democratic society in which all citizens will be equal and free. One wonders in whose name and for whom Mushkolaj is actively working and how much support these retrograde and aggressive stances enjoy among the Albanian community in the Province.

Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, vicar of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren and abbot of Visoki Decani Monastery, sent a letter today to UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen asking him to undertake urgent measures to prevent the use of the media for systematic fanning of hatred and calls for violence against the Serbian Orthodox Church and its faithful. Bishop Teodosije has also asked the KFOR commander in chief and local commanders to reinforce security because Mushkolaj and his extremist group may attempt to jeopardize security of the Monastery and KFOR to which he threatened too. The Monastery has also sent a letter to the headquarters of NATO command headquarters in Naples, which has demonstrated special interest in this case after Admiral Ulrich, during a recent visit to Decani, emphasized that the preservation of valuable cultural monuments is a priority in the engagement of NATO forces in Kosovo.

In his letter to Mr. Petersen, Bishop Teodosije emphasized that the behavior of extremists who are directly responsible for last year's March violence against Serbian civilians and holy shrines must not be tolerated any longer, and that Kosovo citizens who want to live in peace and tolerance, regardless of their ethnicity, must not remain the hostages of those who live in their dark visions of hatred and intolerance. Such impudent use of the media to incite violence, the letter says, directly undermines the efforts of the international community and Kosovo institutions to achieve standards and tears down all efforts and results to date toward the building of ethnic confidence. If this campaign continues without sanctions, the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija will be even more discouraged from participating in the institutions of Kosovo society, Bishop Teodosije writes in his letter.

Unfortunately, the Bishop writes, so far not one representative of Kosovo institutions, Albanian intellectual or representative of a religious community has raised his voice against this unholy campaign directed against the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in this region, which is cause for serious concern. Bishop Teodosije goes on in his letter to ask Mr. Petersen to send an appeal to representatives of the Kosovo Albanians in all sectors of public life to indicate by their clear and unambiguous stance whether they see the future of Kosovo in ethnic hatred and violence or in the building of a democratic society in which all citizens will be equal and free.

Our engagement and good will in the process of reconciliation and building of peace in Kosovo and Metohija will directly depend on the stances the Albanian leaders will adopt with respect to this case and all previous attacks on the holy shrines of our Church and her faithful, Bishop Teodosije concludes in his letter to the UNMIK chief.

Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren and Bishop Teodosije will address the media regarding these developments and the issue of the restoration of Orthodox churches in Kosovoafter a meeting of all representatives of the Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija and other institutions. The meeting will take place at 2:00 p.m. in the Rectory building in Kosovska Mitrovica.