Concern over monuments in Kosovo
The Serbian Ministry of Culture has expressed its deepest concern "over unpredictable negative consequences" of a recent KFOR decision.The NATO-led troops in Kosovo decided to transfer the security of Serb monasteries and churches to the Kosovo police as part of reduction of KFOR.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Tuesday, August 17, 2010
In a release issued Monday, the ministry points out that four monuments in Kosovo - monasteries Visoki Decani, the Patriarchate of Pec, Gracanica and Our Lady Ljeviska church - are included on the UNESCO world heritage list for their historic, artistic and cultural value.
Due to the real danger threatening these monuments, they have also been included on the list of endangered world heritage, the ministry said.
Consequently, the decision to entrust the guarding of these monuments, as well as of many other smaller but no less important monasteries and churches in Kosovo, is a high risk decision, the ministry said.
The Serbian Orthodox sites were targeted by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, most notably in 1999 and 2004.
The Ministry of Culture is forced to take all emergency measures, together with the Interior Ministry and Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, to present this problem to the UNESCO in appropriate manner, the release says.
The Serbian ministries want to urge all international organizations to secure adequate protection for Serb monasteries and churches in Kosovo, the release says.
