Serbs are celebrating the Vidovdan holiday today. This Vidovdan, however, for the first time in more than two decades, the traditional memorial service was not held at Gazimestan. A memorial service dedicated to the heroes of Kosovo, on the 634th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, was held in the Gracanica monastery instead.
The Diocese of Raska-Prizren decided to change the location of the memorial service due to, as they say, a very difficult situation in Kosovo.
„This is the first time since the end of the armed conflict in 1999 that such a decision has been made, which only shows how serious the current situation is, but also our complete distrust in the existing institutions in Pristina, which, unfortunately, brought inter-ethnic relations in Kosovo and Metohija to the lowest level in the last 24 years,“ they said in a statement, adding:
„Our people are currently living in uncertainty security-wise and a sense of a complete absence of basic rights and freedoms, especially following the latest series of arrests and abuse of arrested Serbs.“
Nevertheless, visitors still decided to visit Gazimestan today, albeit in much smaller numbers. Delegations from the cities of Kraljevo, Trebinje and Bijeljina laid wreaths at the monument to the heroes of Kosovo.
Momcilo Trajkovic, a long-time Kosovo Serb politician and a native of Caglavica, also paid a visit to Gazimestan today.
Trajkovic stated that the decision to change the location was a mistake and that he placed blame on both the bishop and the patriarch for it.
„Their excessive caution was unnecessary. This caution spreads defeatism and apathy among our people,“ Trajkovic claims.
Although a visibly smaller number of people came to pay their respects to Kosovo heroes, Trajkovic explained that citizens circulate the entire time. Furthermore, he estimated that by early afternoon around 500 people visited Gazimestan, who, he claims, did not face any problems.
„The authorities retreated to Krusevac, they no longer come here, they celebrate there, and the church is slowly retreating to the port of the Gracanica monastery together with the believers, which is certainly not good and should be criticized.“
He recalls his previously known position that there is no ready solution for Kosovo, but that it is a process.
“This here is also a process. The only problem is that the bearers of the processes are not true, or ready to use those processes in the right way, balance them, calm them down and use them in a positive way. That is the key problem. There will be more problems here, but unfortunately, those who represent us here today are compromising and creating even bigger problems for our people here,“ concluded Trajkovic.
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