“International community should stay in Kosovo”

PEC, GORAZDEVAC Office for Kosovo Director Aleksandar Vulin has stated that the international community should not end Kosovo's supervised independence or reduce its presence. He pointed out that the international community had a responsibility to provide the rule of law, freedom and secure life for everyone in the province. “International community should stay in Kosovo” "The international community must not leave Kosovo until a just, permanent and sustainable solution for Kosovo and Metohija is reached," Vulin said during his visit to Kosovo on Thursday. He added that the international community had no one to leave Kosovo to and that interim institutions in Pristina had shown they were not capable or do not want to provide equality for all citizens. "The international community has to realize this, and therefore it has to stay," Vulin said while visiting Gorazdevac, where he laid flowers at the monument of Serbian children murdered in the village in August 2003, and also to the victims of the Kosovo conflict. "We seek the truth about the massacre of children in Gorazdevac. Nine years have passed and we still do not know who killed our children," Vulin said, and asked "when will we get at least one answer or one name of those responsible?" While talking to the locals, Vulin said it was impossible to end supervised independence of Kosovo and at the same time have "more than 1,000 murdered Serbs, and, perhaps, two convictions." “They cannot abolish the supervised independence and at the same time have a criminal privatization in which there is no room for a single Serb," Vulin stressed. He also voiced concern about KFOR's intention to reduce number of troops guarding the Pec Patriarchate Monastery. The Pec Patriarchate is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. "I call on the representatives of the international community not to decrease their presence and withdraw those who guard the Pec Patriarchate," Vulin said and cautioned that in that case the orthodox monastery would be unprotected and become the target of vandalism and hatred expressed in the pogrom of March 17, 2003, when a total of 35 orthodox holy cites were destroyed and burnt down in just one night. He stressed that the international community had to understand that the power it received could not exceed its responsibility. Vulin qualified as inconceivable the civilization and world cultural heritage without the Pec Patriarchate. Bishop of Lipljan Jovan Culibrk reminded Vulin that the Pec Patriarchate had been set on fire in the night between March 15 and 16, 1981, when everything except the church was burned to the ground. "If this happened 18 years before KFOR's arrival, then it will happen again, 18 years after their arrival," Bishop Jovan said, and added that nobody was accusing the ordinary Albanians who were victims of events themselves. He stressed that there were certainly some structures inside Kosovo which would be no more merciful towards the patriarchate than their predecessors from 1981. Bishop Jovan pointed out that SPC representatives were endeavoring to convince the international community through ongoing diplomatic activities that KFOR's presence around the monastery should not be reduced. He concluded that the representatives of the SPC must not be left alone and that Serbia should help in this regard. Aleksandar Vulin (Beta, file) Tanjug

“International community should stay in Kosovo”

"The international community must not leave Kosovo until a just, permanent and sustainable solution for Kosovo and Metohija is reached," Vulin said during his visit to Kosovo on Thursday.

He added that the international community had no one to leave Kosovo to and that interim institutions in Priština had shown they were not capable or do not want to provide equality for all citizens.

"The international community has to realize this, and therefore it has to stay," Vulin said while visiting Goraždevac, where he laid flowers at the monument of Serbian children murdered in the village in August 2003, and also to the victims of the Kosovo conflict.

"We seek the truth about the massacre of children in Goraždevac. Nine years have passed and we still do not know who killed our children," Vulin said, and asked "when will we get at least one answer or one name of those responsible?"

While talking to the locals, Vulin said it was impossible to end supervised independence of Kosovo and at the same time have "more than 1,000 murdered Serbs, and, perhaps, two convictions."

“They cannot abolish the supervised independence and at the same time have a criminal privatization in which there is no room for a single Serb," Vulin stressed.

He also voiced concern about KFOR's intention to reduce number of troops guarding the Peć Patriarchate Monastery.

The Peć Patriarchate is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

"I call on the representatives of the international community not to decrease their presence and withdraw those who guard the Peć Patriarchate," Vulin said and cautioned that in that case the orthodox monastery would be unprotected and become the target of vandalism and hatred expressed in the pogrom of March 17, 2003, when a total of 35 orthodox holy cites were destroyed and burnt down in just one night.

He stressed that the international community had to understand that the power it received could not exceed its responsibility.

Vulin qualified as inconceivable the civilization and world cultural heritage without the Peć Patriarchate.

Bishop of Lipljan Jovan Ćulibrk reminded Vulin that the Peć Patriarchate had been set on fire in the night between March 15 and 16, 1981, when everything except the church was burned to the ground.

"If this happened 18 years before KFOR's arrival, then it will happen again, 18 years after their arrival," Bishop Jovan said, and added that nobody was accusing the ordinary Albanians who were victims of events themselves.

He stressed that there were certainly some structures inside Kosovo which would be no more merciful towards the patriarchate than their predecessors from 1981.

Bishop Jovan pointed out that SPC representatives were endeavoring to convince the international community through ongoing diplomatic activities that KFOR's presence around the monastery should not be reduced.

He concluded that the representatives of the SPC must not be left alone and that Serbia should help in this regard.