03 June 2007

Bishop Artemije: Serbs in Kosovo have no confidence in KFOR

Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade, Thursday, February 1, 2007 16:04

Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren advised assistant secretary-general Adam Kobieracki that the Kosovo Serbs have no confidence in KFOR's promises to protect them because of their tragic experience during the past seven years.

Bishop Artemije told reporters that he had told Kobieracki that so far Kosovo Serbs have heard a lot of promises and guarantees given "but in practice, in action, it has not yielded any results".

In dialogue with the assistant secretary-general Bishop Artemije assessed that during the past seven years the KFOR security-military mission in Kosovo has essentially experienced "complete failure".

Because "the language of facts" indisputably shows that many crimes have been committed during their presence in Kosovo and "ethnic cleansing has been carried out, over 250,000 Serbs have been expelled, 150 churches have been destroyed," said Bishop Artemije.

Bishop Artemije also met with officials from the office of the European commissioner for culture and education Jan Figel. On Friday he will attend the opening of the exhibit "Kosovo: Go and See" in the 4S Institute in Brussels, which organized the bishop's visit to the EU, the European Parliament and NATO.

The exhibit "Kosovo: Go and See" will display photographs of the position and life of the Serbs in Kosovo taken by activists of the Orthodox Center in Byalistok, Poland.