The Italian Minister of Defence, Elisabetta Trenta, Italian Ambassador in Pristina, Piero Cristoforo Sardi, the Italian Chief of General Staff, General Claudio Graziano, the head of the Chief of Defence Office, General Francesco Figliuolo, KFOR commander, General Salvatore Cuoci and their associates visited Visoki Decani monastery today. The Abbot of Visoki Decani, Sava Janjic, expressed his gratitude to the Government, the army and the people of Italy for helping the Serbian people during the past 20 years of KFOR protection of a Serbian medieval gem of culture, history and spirituality.
The Abbot emphasized the importance of KFOR’s presence in the protection of this monastery and other vulnerable Serbian Orthodox Church sites in Kosovo after the war.
There is still a danger of an organized incident
“In continuation of the discussion I express the gravest concern for our Church because of plans for ethnic and territorial partition which would catastrophically affect our faithful and holy sites, especially south of the Ibar river. Reiterating the crucial role of KFOR in preventing an organized incident at the beginning of August which was supposed to create a fait accomplis and trigger the “agreement on delimitation” I pointed out that the danger of a similar course of events still exists as the proponents of ethnic and territorial partition are aware that they cannot get support for ethnic and territorial partition peacefully,” Sava Janjic said, following today’s visit of the Italian military and diplomatic representatives.
Hope that the EU will efficiently stop discussions in Brussels which have gone in the direction of a consensual ethnic partition
The Abbot reminded the guests in the monastery of the bitter past of the breakup of Yugoslavia – wars and ethnic cleansing.
“The partition scenario, euphemistically called ‘delimitation (demarcation)’ is nothing but a formula for the continuation of the ethnic cleansing policy which was the main tool and goal of the ex-Yugoslav wars in 1990s. This policy has never stopped in Kosovo because after the conflict in 1999, 200,000 Serbs were forced to flee while our cultural and religious heritage was systematically devastated despite the international presence. I concluded by remarks of a strong hope that Italy, as a friendly country will do all to prevent political opportunism prevail over reason and that the EU will efficiently stop discussions in Brussels which have gone in the direction of a consensual ethnic partition,” said Father Sava.
If that does not happen, it will be tragic that on the 100th anniversary of the Great War Armistice Day, the EU approves a process which would efficiently undermine the basic principles upon which the EU was founded, he added.
The church supports a dialogue based on the rule of law and respect for the law
“I assured Minister Trenta of our Church’s support of a fair dialogue but on firm principles of the rule of law, protection of all citizens and in an atmosphere of peace and economic development of the region,” Father Sava also said.
Members of the Italian KFOR units and Carabinieri have played a significant role in the protection of the remaining Serbs and sanctuaries in Metohija over the past 20 years. They especially cultivated close relations with the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and the monastery of Visoki Decani, and during these years the ties deepened and expanded between the two nations and several institutions and organizations.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
