Together with all the parties, we will consider the technical possibilities so that all the monuments in the military part of the cemetery are returned to where were they before, the French embassy in Pristina announced tonight, following an avalanche of criticism and condemnation from the Serbian public after the relocation of the monument to the fallen Serbian soldiers 1912-1918 in Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Pristina.
In addition to „considering“ the return of the displaced monument to Serbian soldiers to its original place, the embassy also added that this „consideration“ will also include the place where the new monument to French KFOR soldiers would be installed.
The monument in question has been erected in essentially the same location where the monument to Serbian soldiers was located before it was moved, which was done at two embassies initiative.
„In the current circumstances and in the face of the emotions caused, the embassy will consider, together with all parties, the technical possibilities so that all the monuments in the military part of the cemetery are returned to where they were previously, and this includes a new memorial plaque in memory of the French soldiers who lost their lives during their service in KFOR,“ they said in a statement.
They also announced that they regret the „controversy“ regarding the „re-organization of the monument.“
„The French Embassy calls for respect of the memory of all fallen soldiers at the front during World War I, as shown by the ceremony organized together with the German Embassy, as a sign of Franco-German reconciliation,“ the statement concludes.
The monument to Serbian soldiers caught the media and public’s attention last weekend, when a photograph taken at this year’s Armistice Day commemoration, unlike previous years, revealed that the monument was no longer in the same place.
Meanwhile, information emerged that it had been moved aside, the news was first confirmed by the Diocese of Raska-Prizren, which expressed concern but also suspicion that this was a case of rewriting history.
In the meantime, the French and German embassies confirmed in a joint statement that the relocation was done at their initiative.
They stated that the ceremony marking Armistice Day was „tarnished by controversy“ in certain media in Kosovo over the presence of this monument.
The controversy, they said, was unworthy of the memory of all soldiers – French, German, and Serbian, who died in World War I, but also of 18 French soldiers who died during their service with KFOR.
At the same time, they confirmed that they erected a new memorial to the French members of this NATO mission and that the monument to the Serbian soldiers had been moved a few meters, and that „no body was moved.“
While the embassies claim that they moved the monument „with the utmost respect“, this decision was harshly criticized by the Serbian public, as well as political officials, with a demand that the memorial be returned to its place.
At the same time, a petition was launched, signed by more than 2,600 people so far, with a request for the return of the monument and a public apology from the two ambassadors – French and German.
Read more:
Public letter to the French ambassador
German and French Ambassadors Mark Armistice Day, but where is Monument to Serbian Soldiers?
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
