 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
April 12, 2004 ERP KIM Newsletter 12-04-04 Saving Serbian church bells After the members of the Czech-Slovak battalion confiscated the church bell from an Albanian family and transferred it to their base, Albanian representatives from the municipality of Podujevo came to the base no less than three times asking that the bell be returned to them because it supposedly belongs to the municipality, which the Czech-Slovak KFOR battalion firmly refused to do because the bell is the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The chaplain of the battalion personally cleaned the bell, which can be clearly seen by comparing the photo of the bell next to the destroyed church and the photo of the bell returned to the monastery of Gracanica.
Gracanica, April 8, 2004 On Wednesday, April 7, soldiers from the combined Czech and Slovak KFOR contingent returned a church bell stolen by Albanians from Podujevo after the torching and destruction of the church of the Holy Prophet Elijah on March 17 to the monastery of Gracanica. The members of the Czech-Slovak battalion managed to find the bell in the possession of an Albanian family in Podujevo, and have turned over the entire case to UNMIK police for further consideration. They confiscated the church bell from the Albanians and transferred it to their base. Albanian representatives from the municipality of Podujevo came to the base no less than three times asking that the bell be returned to them because it supposedly belongs to the municipality, which the Czech-Slovak KFOR battalion firmly refused to do because the bell is the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The chaplain of the battalion personally cleaned the bell, which can be clearly seen by comparing the photo of the bell next to the destroyed church and the photo of the bell returned to the monastery of Gracanica. The bell was given as a gift to the church by King Alexander I Karadjordjevic in 1932, according to an inscription on the bell, or two years prior to his assassination in Marseilles. Lieutenant colonel Kopecky is to meet briefly with Bishop Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija on Great and Holy Friday, April 9, who will provide him with an official receipt for the bell and most probably ask him to continue providing protection for the church in the future so that the church is not again dynamited. The possibility of further protection for the heavily damaged church of St. Elijah remains uncertain as the Czech-Slovak battalion was engaged during and after the Albanian riots outside the Podujevo area and the Serb villages of Plemetina and Babin Most. During the riots they were also engaged in Caglavica, Gracanica and Lipljan. Conveying his impressions to monk Jezekilje (Ezekiel) Stakic, who received the bell on behalf of the Diocese, lieutenant colonel Kopecky could not find the words to express his repugnance in response to events he and his soldiers witnessed. One eyewitness account by a Czech officer was published on March 25 in The Prague Post. In the article (see below), captain Jindrich Plescher describes the torching of the church and the wild rampage of the Albanian mob at the Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Podujevo.
THE PRAGUE POST KFOR soldiers defend Serb
enclaves against By Eva Munk
For The Prague Post (March 25,
2004)
Captain Jindrich Plescher had never seen anything like it. "We were defending a Serb Orthodox church in the town of Podujevo against a mob of 500 Albanians, but there were too many for us," he recalled. "When they broke through the wall [around the church], we got orders to retreat. "They smashed everything inside, including our communications center, made a big pile in front and set it on fire. Then they turned their attention to the adjacent Serb cemetery. They knocked over tombstones, dug up the coffins and scattered the bones in them." (08.JPG) For the first time March 21, the professionally optimistic voice of Plescher, press spokesman for the Czech-Slovak KFOR battalion in Kosovo, sounded tired. "Sorry, we've been on our feet since last week," he said. "Our boys have been rounding up Serb families, pulling them out of cellars and out of burning houses -- saving their lives." Czech and Slovak soldiers have been supporting KFOR's Brigade center -- a multinational unit consisting of Finnish, Swedish and Irish troops, located around the administrative center of Pristina -- since mobs of ethnic Albanians went on a rampage against Kosovo's Serb minority March 17. "The Serbs are very happy to see Czech and Slovak troops. They see us as keepers of the peace," Plescher said. For most of the week, they helped defend Serb enclaves in the towns
of Lipljan, Plemetina, Babin Most, Caglavica and Gracanica. By March 21
they had consolidated around the village of Obiliç, a Serb enclave
northwest of Pristina, and were evacuating the remaining Serb inhabitants
to military headquarters in the city. The Serb homes in the village were
ransacked and burned, said unit commander Josef Kopecky.
Albanian rage FACE TO FACE
The rampage broke out March 17 after two Albanian boys were drowned
in the Ibar river, reportedly chased there by Serbs. That event triggered
the worst violence the province has seen since 1999. Mobs of ethnic
Albanians attacked Serb enclaves and KFOR units, leaving 24 dead and about
850 more wounded, 22 of them seriously.
Mobs razed hundreds of Serb houses and 17 Orthodox churches and monasteries. Ironically, the riots started days after UN Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno praised evident progress in Kosovo and urged displaced persons to return to their homes. That hardly seems likely now. Instead, NATO plans to augment its 17,000-strong presence in the province with 2,000 more troops. UN officials and the commander of NATO forces in Southern Europe, Admiral Gregory Johnson, are now saying the riots appear to have been well-planned and organized. In Serbia, the violence triggered anti-Albanian protests, and several mosques were burned. Serbian Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said the riots prove that
KFOR and UN forces have no real authority in the province and are
incapable of protecting Kosovo's minorities.
Independence demand For their part, Kosovar leaders say the only way to resolve the underlying causes of the conflict is to give the province independence. But European leaders agree that such a move could again destabilize the Balkans -- not to mention what such a move would mean for Kosovo's Serb and Romany minorities. "Of course they would kill us or drive us out," said Romany journalist Jackie Buzoli. So far, according to Romany activist and Kosovo correspondent Paul Polansky, the Albanians' rage has bypassed the Roma, who are merely being urged not to help the Serbs.
Photo 08.JPG shows the dug up
and desecrated ERP KIM Info-Service is the official Information Service of the
Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren and works with the blessing
of His Grace Bishop Artemije. Additional information on our Diocese and the life of the
Kosovo Serb Community may be found at: http://www.kosovo.com |
Subscribe to our mailing lists: