"Those endangering UNESCO heritage shouldn't join UNESCO"

"Those endangering UNESCO heritage shouldn't join UNESCO"

"I am certain that, if UN's opinion is requested, it cannot be anything other than what is legally grounded - and that is that Kosovo fulfills neither the formal nor the essential conditions for being admitted to UNESCO," Dacic said.

Noting that "the four pearls" in Kosovo currently on the UNESCO list of protected world heritage - namely, the Serb Orthodox sites of Gracanica, the Patriarchate of Pec, Decani, and Bogorodica Ljeviska - have been designated as "endangered," the minister asked - "endangered by whom - and by what?," and then continued:

"By those (Pristina) who now wish to join UNESCO?," and added that such an outcome would be "the pinnacle of hypocrisy."

"You can't say Islamic State are terrorists destroying Islam's and other religions' cultural heritage - and here award those who set churches on fire and destroy crosses with UNESCO membership," Dacic said, in an apparent reference to ethnic Albanian violence in Kosovo targeting Serb Orthodox Christian holy sites a decade ago.

The minister then went on to stress that "UNESCO is one of the organizations that Kosovo wants to join outside of all agreements and contrary to the principles, including the agreement on regional representation of Kosovo."

Speaking in Friday, the Serbian minister stressed that Pristina's UNESCO bid was "a problem for our (Serbian) entire society," and, according to Beta, "called on the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), the Serbian Academy of Science (SANU), Matica Srpska, NGOs, and the whole society to join the fight against Kosovo's attempts to join UNESCO."

"This is not merely a political question - this is the question of identity of the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija," said Dacic.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in 2008 unilaterally declared independence of Serbia's southern province - and Belgrade continues to view this as a violation of its territorial integrity and the Constitution. Dacic noted that "33 out of the 58 (UNESCO) board members have recognized Kosovo" but added that, "this doesn't have to mean anything."

UNESCO's Executive Board is due to consider Pristina's request in October, while the organization's general assembly will decide on the issue, on the board's recommendation, in November, the Beta news agency noted in its report on Friday.

Dacic also said that UNESCO's executive board members include "Montenegro, and some countries whose requests to UNESCO Serbia supported (in the past.)"

"We will wait and see how they will position themselves on this issue. We will observe all countries, as we have observed (them) regarding the military parade in Zagreb," Dacic said.