Three lines of attack on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija

Over the past five years, the Albanian authorities in Pristina have set three main directions and targets for their attacks in Kosovo and Metohija: the expulsion of the Serbian state and its institutions, the elimination of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the imprisonment of a large number of innocent people under charges of committing war crimes or undermining the constitutional order of Kosovo.

The confrontation with Serbian institutions, especially brutal in northern Kosovo and Metohija, has become the dominant content of the Pristina regime. Armored vehicles, long rifles, beatings, and an atmosphere of occupation have overwhelmed and exhausted the Albanian public, as it began to miss the fear of Serbs. In order to make it clear that Serbs are still a fundamental threat to Albanians and Kosovo, it was necessary to stage a spectacular operation where there were fewest Serbs, and where they were least expected. Thus, the producers of Albanian fear decided to carry out arrests in Djakovica, a city forbidden for Serbs, and in Prizren, which has only four permanent Serbian residents, in the far south of Kosovo and Metohija.

In Djakovica, four Serbs decided, as announced at an emergency session of the Kosovo Security Council on behalf of Serbia, to carry out "destabilizing plans and criminal interventions." They were traveling in a car with Belgrade license plates, carrying two knives and an axe.

This special team did not know that it is easy to spot Belgrade plates in Djakovica, and that this would lead to their quick identification. However, this was not enough, so a new dangerous group was noticed in Prizren, which also had to be eliminated.

The outcome was as follows: now in prison are soldiers, police officers, former officers, relatives, and associates of the most dangerous Serbs, one of whom even worked against NATO by stealing information about bombing attacks on Serbia. This was enough for extreme caution and panic, as attacking the forbidden city with such logistics would disturb the territorial integrity of Kosovo.

However, this construction lacks one key element – the Serbian Orthodox Church. Kosovo's Minister of Police, Xhelaj Svecla, included the "Orthodox Theological Seminary" in the story, where they found a group of twelve people, including "two active officers of Serbian security services."

For the uninitiated, the "Orthodox Theological Seminary" is the Serbian Orthodox Theological Seminary of Saint Cyril and Methodius, and the group was not detained in the Seminary, but in the city of Prizren.

It is clear that this is a repetition of the model from the tragedy in Banjska, and there is an intense search for an incident that would involve the Serbian Orthodox Church in hiding, supporting, and participating in "terrorist activities that are destroying Kosovo." Using the negative stigma and the symbol of tragedy, it was necessary to connect this Prizren group of Serbian pilgrims with the Banjska case.

That is why Minister Svecla clearly identifies the target: "The fact that they sought refuge in the Orthodox Theological Seminary may indicate an attempt to use religious institutions for camouflage or to provoke interethnic/religious tensions by using fabricated events to incite violent reactions or unrest." This rhetoric burned, destroyed, killed, severely injured, displaced, and devastated everything that Serbs had in Prizren on March 17 and 18, 2004.

In this case, the Serbian Orthodox Church issued a timely statement that exposes the manipulation and presents the real situation on the ground. The basis of the latest statement from the Raska-Prizren Diocese reads: No one was arrested in the Seminary, nor did the police enter the building; they found out everything from the media; the detained individuals were, like others, placed in guest rooms; the guests legally crossed the borders and checkpoints. None of this is true. What is the truth? The truth is that yesterday in Visoki Decani, there were 800 pilgrims. The truth is that the administration in Pristina is doing everything to prevent and interrupt these visits, connections, and relationships because on "its territory, it controls Kosovo heritage that it wants to govern and dispose of."

On the other hand, an attempt was made to connect all three main lines of attack on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija in one incident: the state of Serbia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and innocent people in prisons. This last category is the least mentioned victims of repression. Among the dozens of Serbs in Kosovo prisons, most of them are political prisoners, and the basis for their imprisonment are ethnic confrontations or false charges regarding land or property that Albanians have taken from them.

In the broad mosaic of injustice, manipulation, lies, and aggression that happens daily, only the most extreme examples stand out, from which we can see the essence of the position of Kosovo Serbs and their lives.

From the many attacks on the Serbian Orthodox Church before this Easter, the self-proclaimed Nikola Dzufka has again come to the center of attention. He is not a cleric, he is not recognized by the Orthodox Churches, and recently, some schismatic groups in Palermo appointed him as the "bishop of Kosovo." For Easter, he scheduled the "inauguration of the first Albanian Orthodox Metropolis" in Pristina, and on social media, he is already presenting himself as the first Archbishop of Pristina, Pec, and all of Kosovo. Representatives of the authorities, religious leaders, and intellectuals are expected, and all of this will happen in front of the Catholic Church in Pristina.

The Serbian Orthodox Church has been carefully monitoring his activities since the moment he entered the Church of St. Archangel Michael in Rakitnica near Podujevo and proclaimed it an Albanian Orthodox Church dedicated to Fan Noli. A criminal complaint has been filed with the Kosovo Prosecutor's Office for breaking into the church and inciting religious intolerance. Given his previous statements, actions, and the announced establishment of a para-Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija, the Raska-Prizren Diocese believes that there is again a possibility he may appear in Kosovo, as they say, to spread intolerance and confusion.

In the dynamic daily life, which represents a combination of various attacks, provocations, and the falsification of incendiary and unverified news, as well as the unlawful actions of institutions, chaos with incalculable consequences could be triggered.

Written for Politika by Zivojin Rakocevic, a writer.