„It is a bizarre act,“ said Miodrag Marinković, director of the Center for Affirmative Social Actions (CASA), assessing the relocation of the monument to fallen Serbian soldiers 1912-1918 at the Orthodox cemetery in Pristina. He also alleged that the ambassadors succumbed to pressure from the Kosovo public. According to Marinković, the issue can be resolved by returning the monument to its original place.
Marinković said in an interview with N1 that the French and German ambassadors moved the monument to avoid having the same photograph as in previous years.
„And so that they don’t encounter criticism on social networks, that’s my take of this,“ added Marinković.
He assesses that the pressure on the ambassadors „was so strong“ that even countries like France and Germany with a strong diplomatic tradition made a mistake.
„It is precisely due to this fear that mistakes like the one we saw on Saturday emerged from,“ says Marinković.
Furthermore, he considers the embassies’ explanation to be „equally bizarre“.
Is it possible that it was actually more difficult for them to change the photo frame, the cameras that record it, or to hold the ceremony in another place, than to commit such an act that disturbed the Serbian community?
Recalling that instead of this memorial, a monument to French soldiers is being erected, above the bodies of other soldiers, he states that it is an „extremely strange situation“, and a „reckless“ move by the French and German embassies.
At the same time, Marinković wondered „what right do they have to do such a thing“, without the approval of the body that manages the cemetery, noting that at the moment it is managed by the Municipality of Pristina and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
He also pointed out that this move is extremely disrespectful towards the Kosovo Serbian community, as well as its historical heritage.
„It is a consequence of that strong urge in Albanian society to deny and erase the historical ties of Serbs with Kosovo,“ claims Marinković.
In his words, there are a number of cases in which Kosovo Serbs’ rights were denied.
„In which our tradition is denied and in which our historical heritage is treated with disrespect“
He recalled the scandal surrounding the restoration of the house of Xhafer Deva, whom he described as a „Nazi collaborator“, adding that the project was approved and its implementation started with the involvement of UNDP.
As one of such cases of denial of rights, Marinković cited the years-long refusal of the Kosovo authorities to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court on the protection of the zone around the Visoki Decani monastery.
The recent case of the destruction of an old Orthodox cemetery in North Mitrovica stands out as another form of disrespectful handling of Serbian historical heritage.
„All this shows that the Serbian community in Kosovo is not heard and that there is a paralyzing fear in the international community of criticism from the Albanian community that prevents them from being objective in everything that is happening in Kosovo,“ concluded Marinković.
At the same time, he said that, although the ambassadors had no intention of harming themselves, the damage was clearly done. Moreover, he considers the move to be a „blatant oversight“.
Marinković does not rule out the possibility that advice about relocating the monument came from the embassies themselves, that is, their staff.
„Perhaps it is the advice that came from the local staff at the embassies of Germany or France, most of whom are of Albanian ethnicity, and that unacceptable sentiment of the Albanian community that they are bothered by such a monument, was passed on to the representatives of the embassies, and that’s why we had such a bizarre decision.“
Solution: monument to be returned to its original place with an apology
In this situation, the embassies do not need any prolonged discussion about „what they wanted to do“ and whether they did it intentionally, Marinković points out.
Instead, he believes that the solution to this problem is to return the monument to its original place:
For the monument to stand above the bodies of buried soldiers
At the same time, he adds that the French and German embassies should now be allowed „some kind of way out“.
„That such an act should be done with the Serbian Orthodox Church and that after this, with some apology, it should be forgotten very quickly,“ concluded Marinković in an interview with N1.
A petition was recently launched to return the monument to its place.
In the meantime, the French embassy announced last night that they will consider “together with all the parties, the technical possibilities so that all the monuments in the military part of the cemetery are returned to where they were before.”
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.
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