| |
MEMORANDUM ON KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
Conflict 29.01.08 (All
photos and text copyrighted by Conflict Beograd)
The Christian Church of the Serbian people, which has shared the fate of
its people throughout their entire historical, cultural and spiritual
existence, has demonstrated that even today it remains the most reliable
witness of their trials, more dangerous now than perhaps ever before.
These trials are nowhere greater and more tragic than in Kosovo and
Metohija, the Holy Land of the Serbian people. What Jerusalem is to the
Jews, Kosovo is to the Serbs, and Kosovo, like a Jerusalem, is not just
geography or demographics. It is a matter of identity: national,
spiritual, cultural, Christian and human, i.e. theantropic. This is why
the Serbian Orthodox Church is at this moment so deeply concerned about
the fate of Kosovo and Metohija and with all who live there, and all the
holy shrines that exist there. This Memorandum is truly yet another
impartial reminder, in a countless series of such reminders, of the
complete truth and justice of Kosovo and Metohija, in the past and the
present, for the common future of all in Kosovo.
Name and territory
The name KOSOVO, imposed by the Communist regime after 1968 to replace
the full name of KOSOVO AND METOHIJA, is not adequate for the territory
the name strives to represent. Geographically and historically, the name
Kosovo signifies, first and foremost, Kosovo POLJE (Kosovo field - Field
of Blackbirds), a plain stretching from Zvečan in the north to Kačanik
in the south. The flatland region of Metohija, encompassing primarily
the Beli Drim river basin, is located between the Drenica plateu and the
high mountains bordering on present day Albania.
Today the Province of Kosovo and Metohija covers a surface area of
10,850 square kilometers. Intentional repression and erasure of the name
Metohija from the name of this Serbian province served the purpose of
pushing out and denying the church character of this region with the
goal of its complete secession from Serbia.
History of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija
During the Great Migration of Indo-European peoples, the Serbs finnaly
settled in the area of present day Kosovo and Metohija in the seventh
century, and soon thereafter became Christianized joining the Christian
civilization of Orthodox Byzantium. Attesting to this is the existence
of over 1,300 churches and monateries, especially near Prizren, Pec,
Istok, Klina, Mt. Čičavica, Novo Brdo, and the region of Pomoravlje.
Among the pious endowments in Kosovo and Metohija are several important
religious, cultural and historical monuments, such as the Pec
Patriarchate, Visoki Dečani, Gračanica, and Bogorodica Ljeviška, unique
in the world spiritual and cultural heritage. This area, which the Serbs
would later name Kosovo, was inhabited prior to their arrival mainly by
Romanized Dardaniansm as well as by Greeks, Romans, Vlachs, Aromanians,
Tzintzars and remnants of the Illyrians and the Thracians, i.e. by the
ancestors of those who would later take part in forming the Albanians
with other groups. With the arrival of the Slavs these indigenous
peoples withdrew toward the coastal cities or into remote mountain
regions. Even before creating an independent state, the Serb people
lived in the Kosovo and Metohija area since its arrival, which is
clearly evidenced by the existence of an abundance of local Slavic place
names, even in parts of present day northern Albania. The biography of
Nemanja, written by St. Sava, attest to the inclusion of Kosovo and
Metohija in the independent Serbian state in the 12th century. Listed
among Nemanja's inheritance "from the land of the Greeks" are districts
in Metohija, and then in Kosovo.
|
 |
 |
|
- From 14. century
till 1999 |
- After 1999 |
Serbian Church in Kosovo and Metohija
Out of a total of 10 dioceses of the autocephalous Serbian Church,
organized by St. Sava of Serbia (1219 - 1221), three were located in the
area of Kosovo and Metohija, which means that at the time these regions
were densely populated by Orthodox Serbs. As early as 1253 The seat of
the Serbian Church (which became Patriarchate instead of and Archdiocese
in 1346) was transferred to the Great Church of Christ the Saviour in
Pec. The fall of the Serbian medieval state under Turkish rule (1455 -
1459) resulted in a loss of state and Church independence. However, one
hundred years later, in 1557, the Serbian Patriarchate of Pec was
restored and many other churched and monasteries were also restored and
built. Serbian medieval rulers and lords bequested large estates
throughout Metohija to the great endowment monasteries of Chilandar,
Studenica, Banjska, Gračanica, Bogorodica Ljeviška, Visoci Dečani and
Holy Archangels, as eloquently documented in the Royal land charters
preserved to this day. In the Royal charters issued for local
monasteries, the names of people, as well as the names of places, show
that the population of farmers in Metohija and Kosovo was entirely Serb.
Only beginning with charters from the 14th century are Vlachs and
Arbanasi (Albanians) also mentioned, although in a very small number.
From this and other information it clearly follows that there was no
conflict between the Serbs and the Albanians in medieval Serbia. These
problems would begin only since the end of the 17th century with the
intensified Islamization of Albanian newcomers.
Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389 and continued history of Serbian
Kosovo
An especially important event marking the Serbian presence in Kosovo and
Metohija was the battle of Kosovo Polje, fought on Vidovdan (St. Vitus
Day), June 15th/June 28th, 1389.*
It has been and remains the central event in all of Serbian history in
the national conciousness of all Serbs. The Kosovo battle has resulted
in the best Serbian patriotic and freedom-loving traditions and the most
beautiful epic poems. The epic poet does not dwell on Serb victories as
much as he lauds the Serbs' defeat "for the honorable Cross and golden
Freedom". In the words of Serbian historian Vladimir Ćorović: "He who
sings of his defeat is not convinced that the defeat is final. He dwells
on his defeat believing he can atone for it and to him it is, no matter
how painful, by virtue of the honorable, great effort invested therein,
at once both consolation and motivation."
 
Appearance of
Albanians in Metohija and Kosovo and arrival of the Turks
When the Turks occupied Kosovo and Metohija (in 1455 with the fall of
Novo Brdo town) and neighboring regions, they conducted a census of the
population, which was almost exclusively Serb, with only 2-3% Albanians
west of Dakovica. Their records and other surveys, frequent in the 16th
century, indicate that the ethnic and religious profile did not change
quickly. The Christian population, largely Serb, was incomparably more
numerous, even in the cities. In the 17th century the Islamization of
the Albanians began, first in central Albania (over 50%) and then
beyond. Problems for the Christian Serbs in Metohija and Kosovo began at
the same time, even though in the 17th century the demographic
percentages still had not changed significantly. The Serb populace,
despite wars, epidemics, increased violence and looting, had lost only
several percentage points of its total numbers in Kosovo and Metohija.
The fateful disruption occurred with the Great Migration of 1690,
followed by the descent of the Albanians in increasing number into the
Metohija and Kosovo area, as well as by the partial Islamization and
subsequent Albanization of the subjugated Kosovo and Metohija Serbs in
the first decades of the 18th century. When the Ottoman Empire began to
lose its strength, forcible conversion to Islam intensified and in that
process the Albanians, unfortunately, became the chief fist of the
Ottomans and a bloody whip against the Christian Orthodox populace of
Kosovo and Metohija and throughout the Balkans.
 
Great
Migration of 1690 and continued Serb migrations
The Great Migration of the Serbs of 1690 led to a double tragedy for
Kosovo and Metohija Serbs because the migration itself thinned their
ranks, while those who remained, still as the majority population,
suffered further abuse and mistreatment by both the Turks and the
Albanian newcomers. Namely, after the collapse of the Christian,
Austro-Serbian army at Kačanik at the beginning of 1690, where the Turks
were assisted by considerable numbers of Tartars and Albanians, came
their revenge attack on the lands of Old Serbia, with the greatest
destructive frenzies taking place in Kosovo. A total of 37,000 Serb
families (or 185,000 to 200,000 sould) left Kosovo and Metohija at that
time. These Serbs, who migrated to the north, significantly strengthened
the ranks of the Serb population on the other side of the Sava and
Danube Rivers, and took with them the living and unforgettable
traditions of Kosovo and Metohija.
Even after the Great Migration, and despite all decimations and
migrations, the Serb population in Kosovo and Metohija and throughout
the territory of Old Serbia still remained in the great majority. Until
the middle of the 18th century, Kosovo and Metohija remained a
homogenous environment with a Serb majority. However, in the first
decades of the 18th century the Albanians began to massively descend
from the mountains into the cultivated regions of Kosovo and Metohija,
where they formed military bands notorious for crimes, or volunteered as
Janissaries in order to gain special privileges with the Turks, and then
proceeded to loot and confiscate Serb villages, churched and
monasteries, and ultimately began to settle here. Some of these
Albanians came as Roman Catholics and converted to Islam in Kosovo and
Metohija. Records exist even today of how and when villages or entire
regions of Kosovo and Metohija were usurped by the Albanians, and the
Serbian Orthodox population living there forcibly Islamized, and then
Albanized. A second, likewise numerous migration of Serbs from Kosovo
and Metohika took place in 1737 during the time of Patriarch Arsenije IV
Jovanović -Šakabenta, after the second great Austrian-Turkish war.
The suffering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohij continued during the 18th
and 19th centuries until the liberation of Kosovo in the year 1912.
There are numerous examples of the pogroms carried out against the Serb
population, epecially during the second half of the 19th century. The
Serb people lived under the heavy yoke of the Turks and the Albanians,
as evidenced by numerous written records, including the well-known "Plač
Stare Srbije" (The Cry of Old Serbia) by Visoki Dečani Abbot Seraphim
Ristic and the writings of Janicije Popovic, a Serb teacher in
Gračanica. The suffering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija was
particularly intensified after the Berlin Congress in 1875.
Kosovo and Metohija from liberation in 1912 to the end of World War
II
After the liberation of Kosovo and Metohija in 1912-13 there was no
expulsion of the Albanian population from this area, nor did the Serbs
take their revenge against them. At that time the great powers created
the state of Albania, not including, of course, Kosovo and Metohija,
which was recognized by the European states as a historically Serbian
region. The persecution of the Serb population in Kosovo and Metohija
during World War I and the Austrian-Albanian occupation was also great,
beginning with the withdrawal of the Serbian army through Albania and
continuing through the entire occupation, especially in the quelling of
the Serbian Toplica Rebellion of 1917, when the Albanians actively
fought on the side of the Germans, Austrians and Bulgarians. During the
occupation of 1915-18, twenty-two Serbian priests were killed in a
bestial fashion in Kosovo and Metohija, Following the liberation in 1918
and the creation of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and
then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Serb population of Kosovo and
Metohija , thinned out by the war and occupation, was reinforced by
partial colonization. However, it was not systematically implemented nor
did the state pay proper attention to the population of Kosovo. As a
result, it created the conditions and possibility for Communist
propaganda directed by the Comintern to conduct an anti-Serb and
anti-Orthodox campaign during the period between the wars, which was
fanned and utilized by the Albanians. Consequently there were several
"rebellions" by Albanan outlaws (kachaks) during this period, and as a
result the Serb population had no peace and quiet. After the defeat of
Yugoslavia and the Nazi occupation of April 1941 the Serbian lands were
divided up. Kosovo and Metohija fell to the Germans, Italians and
Albanians, who during the occupation had their own army, the Ballists,
who carried out great crimes against the Serbs, Serbian shrines, priests
and monks, and the people. The Nazis created a Greater Albania including
the territory of Kosovo and Metohija.
During the occupation of World War II about 15,000 Serbs were killed and
approximately 100,000 expelled from Kosovo and Metohija. A large number
of Serb villages and churches were destroyed and burned down, especially
in Metohija. The Ballists also murdered 24 priests of the Serbian
Orthodox Church, and Bishop Seraphim of Raška and Prizren was sent to a
prison camp in Albania, where he died in exile.
 
Kosovo and Metohija under Communist rule 1945 - 1990
After the end of the war, Tito's Federal Peoples' Republic of Yugoslavia
(FPRY) banned, at a parliamentary session held on March 6th, 1945, the
return of expelled Kosovo and Metohija Serbs in order to placate the
Albanians and win their loyalty. This unjust decision has not been
repealed to this day, and resulted in a seriously compromised ethnic
profile of the population to the detriment of the Serbs.
Serbs were gradually but systematically persecuted in Kosovo and
Metohija, especially after 1965, and during the period from 1966 to 1971
about 35,000 Serbs were forced to leave their homes. From the end of the
war to 1961 a total of 338 Kosovo and Metohija settlements were
ethnically cleansed of Serbs. From 1961 to 1989 220,000 Serbs left the
Province under pressure, while during the period from 1961 to 1981 a
total of 606 Kosovo and Metohija villages were left without Serbs. At
the same time the Albanian population was rapidly increasing thanks to
the highest birth rate in Europe.
The large Albanians demonstrations in 1968 and 1981 resulted in
increasingly greater and more frequent persecution of the Serb
population and increasingly more brutal attacks against Serbian
churches, monasteries, and cemeteries. Everything of Serb character or
markings was systematically destroyed, as reported by the Western press
(Serbian Orthodox Church published a book with a large collection of
documents - Kosovo Endowments). The goal of the Albanian secessionists
was the separation of the Province from Serbia and Yugoslavia, and
ultimately its unification with Enver Hoxha's Albania. Immediately after
a large demonstration in Priština in the evening of March 16th, 1981, on
the "Sunday of Orthodoxy", the residence hall of the Pec Patriarchate
was set on fire.
 
Kosovo and
Metohija under Miloševic's rule to the NATO bombing
The regime established by Miloševic in Kosovo and Metohija after 1990
only formally sought to prevent the secession of the Province. In
actuality, the difficult life of the Serb population living largely in
poverty continued. The new administration only benefited those who
sympathized with the regime while both Serbs and Albanians who did not
support the regime lived under repression. The regime did not work on
creating long-term conditions for the survival of the Serb people nor
even attempt to rectify the historical mistakes of the Communist
government.
The tragedy of the Kosovo and Metohija drama intensified, especially at
the end of the 1990's when the Kosovo Albanians, thorugh intesive
activity by their lobbies abroad and procurement of large quantities of
weapons after the state crisis in Albania in 1997, created the necessary
conditions for the organization of an armed rebellion. Unfortunately,
the erroneous policies of Miloševic's corrupt state government gave even
greater stimulus to the decades-old plans of the Albanians based on the
idea that all Albanians throughout the Balkans should be unified "in one
state" whose new center would be Kosovo, the richest and most developed
region where they live.
Even though the first serious armed campaigns by the Albanian
separatists began as early as 1996, sporadic violence continued
throughout 1997 and 1998, when the armed conflict in Kosovo and
Metohija, that would gradually grow into open rebellion and war, finally
began. The Western countries, headed by the United States, saw the cause
of the entire problem exclusively in the Serbs who still "kept Miloševic
in power" while at the same time "denying rights to the Albanian
minority". During this period the West solidified its view that
Miloševic must be stopped, even by NATO military intervention if
necessary. Increasingly stronger political and diplomatic pressure
followed on the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
ultimately leading to the bombing of FRY by the NATO alliance.
The conflict between the NATO alliance and FRY began with a massive
bombing of the FRY on March 24th, 1999, and lasted 78 full days, It
concluded on June 10th the same year by the signing of the NATO-dictated
military technical agreement in Kumanovo (FYR Macedonia). The bombing of
the FRY resulted in a more robust phase of the conflict in Kosovo and
Metohija. During this period FRY security forces set out to finally
settle accounts with the Albanian rebels. Even though some Albanians had
left the Province of their own accord out of fear of repression as well
as with the encouragement of Western friends and allies in order to
create the negative impression of a "humanitarian catastrophe", a
significant number of Albanians - out of the 700,000 refugees who left
the Province by June 1999 according to UNHCR statistics - left under
pressute from the state police and army,
Tragic situation of Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo
and Metohija from June 1999 to today
When the Belgrade government finally accepted the international
community's plan for deployment of KFOR (Kosovo Force) and the
withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police by the signing of the
so-called military technical agreement in Kumanovo, chaos and panic
broke out among the Serb people in the Province. During the several days
it tokk the Yugoslav Army to withdraw, together with Serbian security
forces, a significant number of Serbs and Roma also fled from Kosovo and
Metohija out of fear. The first wave consisted of some 30,000 people and
after the first several months the total number of new refugees exceeded
250,000.
More people left after a series of crimes committed by members of the
Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) in the presence of KFOR peacekeeping
forces. Throughout the Province Serb civilians, elderly and women, were
murdered and abducted, Serb housed were burned down, and shrines
destroyed. Among the victims of the first wave of violence was Fr.
Stefan Puljic from Budisavci and Fr. Chariton Lukic, a monk from the
Holy Archangels Monastery near Prizren.
The UCK broke into Devič Monastery on June 10th and stayed until the
arrival of French KFRO on June 12th. For three days they looted the
monastery and maltreated the nuns and Fr. Seraphim, who was beaten up in
the church sanctuary until he bled from injuries to his teeth and jaw.
In just the first few months of the "peacekeeping mission" over 100
Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed and damaged.
Sveti Vrači Monastery in Zočište (14th century) and Holy Trinity
Monastery in Mušutište (14th century) were already burned down in the
summer of 1999. Not far from Suva Reka in the village of Mušutište the
medieval church of the Most Holy Theotokos (from 1315 with frescoes) was
destroyed. On July 24th, 1999, fourteen Serb farmers were killed while
harvesting their fields in Staro Gracko village near Lipljan.
In the entire newly created situation the Serb people acted in a
completely disoriented fashion because the state administrators of the
Miloševic regime were among the first to leave Kosovo and Metohija after
proclaiming a "victory". The only organization that continued to
function, albeit under difficult conditions, was the Serbian Orthodox
Church, gathering people in its parishes and encouraging them to stay
and survive in these difficult conditions. Under the leadership of
Bishop Artemije in September 1999, the Serb National Council (SNC) of
Kosovo and Metohija was established as a politically independent
organization for coordinating the work of the Serbs in the Province with
the Church, the only institution archive in all Serb regions and one
enjoying high moral respect and influence.
The number of murdered and kidnapped persons has exceeded 2,000. UNMIK
and KFOR have not shown the willingness to bring an end to the violence,
avoiding every possible conflict with the Albanian extremists. Many
written and verbal protests, appeals and letters by the Serbian
Patriarch and Bishop Artemije were ignored.
Serbs have survived primarily in a few enclaves, while the biggest
cities, except Mitrovica, have been left almost entirely withouth their
Serb populations. In some cities such as Priština, Gnjilane and Orahovac
only scattered groups, existing under the protection of KFOR forced
remain.
At the beginning of 2000, the international commity apparantly began to
realize that the attacks by Albanians are not just the result of furious
revenge for violence committed during the time of the conflict but have
the clear intent of expelling all the non-Albanians from Kosovo and
Metohika. However, no concrete measures have been undertaken to change
the situation on the ground. Reports by the Kosovo Ombudsperson bear
witness of the lack of basic human rights for the Serbs.
The destruction of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, the
eradication of cemeteries and cultural monuments are part of a broader
Albanian strategy, whose goal is to change not only the demographic but
also the cultural and historical identity of the Province. Newly revised
Albanian history and the educational system are working in tandem to
impose a pseudo identity upon some of our great shrines, such as Dečani,
Patriarchate of Pec and Bogorodica Ljeviska cathedral in Prizren. In
this process some Albanian Roman Catholic circles have pursued a very
dishonorable role, primarily among the Albanians themselves, who claim
that the Serbs have occupied supposedly Albanian Catholic churched built
by "Illyrian and Albanian kings"!?!
The change in the political situation in Serbia on Octover 5th, 2000,
and the departure of Miloševic from power at first created great hopes
among the Serbs in the Province; however, they were soon faced with the
reality that the state, after ten years of destructive policym was not
in a position to change the situation overnight.
The Albanians have become impatient, resulting in an intensification of
violence at the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001, accompanied by
parallel revolts in southern Serbia near Bujanovac and Presevo, and in
northern FYR Macedonia. During this period the process of desecration of
churches and cemeteries has continued, as well as frequent attacks on
the remaining Serb population. In February 2001 Albanian extremists blew
up a Serb bus, killing 11 and wounding 40 Serb civilians. As in numerous
other incidents, the perpetrators of this crime have never been found.
In Auust 2001 the first succesful return of Serbs took place to the
village of Osojane, Istok municipaliy, and work began immediately on the
restoration of destroyed homes. The program continued in 2002 with the
return of a few dozen Serb families to the nearby villages of Biča,
Grabac and Tučep, near Klina. However, it quickly became apparent that
the returnees could subsist only in enclaves where they are protected by
KFOR troops.
During the fall and winter of 2002 and in the first half of 2003 there
have been numerous armed attacks as Albanian extremists sought to
frighten the Serb population and expel it from its ancient home. The
areas surrounding Vitina and Obilic have been especially targeted. The
highest representatives of the Security Council were forced to concede
in their June report that security and freedom of movement remain the
main problem in the area for Serbs and other non-Albanians.
More on
Kosovo and Metohija:
Albanians tighten grip
|
|
