Bishop Artemije: Kosovo Albanians want to take over Serb heritage
The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, Bishop Artemije, warned on Monday that the Kosovo Albanians “are increasingly attacking the Serbs’ cultural and spiritual heritage in Kosovo,” in order to take it for their own and forge history.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Tuesday, January 29, 2008
"I think that is a tendency that must worry every well-meaning man, not only within our people but in the entire cultured world, because this is an attempt at forging the history of Kosovo and Metohija. There is not even the slightest mention of the Serbs in Kosovo, as though they had never even existed here," the bishop said.
To illustrate his claims, the bishop stated the example of a Kosovo travel agency at a recent tourist fair in Ohrid offering visits to the Pec Patriarchy and the Decani and Gracanica monasteries, presenting them as Byzantine-Albanian or Kosovo monuments, without mentioning the fact that they are the monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Bishop Artemije said that due to growing pressure aimed at declaring Kosovo's independence as soon as possible, it was necessary to find a way to protect the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Serbs.
"We must find a way to protect that which we have been building and keeping for centuries, so that we could pass it on to our younger generations," Bishop Artemije added.
