Eparchy: KLA flags on the fences of Serbian churches confirm deterioration of the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija

The Eparchy of Raska and Prizren has strongly condemned what it described as an act of desecration and an overt nationalist provocation in Lipjan, where two ethnic Albanians placed KLA and Albanian flags on the fence of a church compound that contains the 14th-century Church of the Presentation of the Holy Virgin and the Church of the Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus. The Eparchy also noted that the assessment of an improved security situation does not reflect the reality in which Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church live.

“According to the information available to us, on the evening of August 10, members of the Kosovo Police, while patrolling this part of Lipjan, encountered two perpetrators in the city center while they were putting up the flags, detained them, and subsequently removed the flags from the church fence. Despite the police response, the true attitude of the institutions toward this act will be demonstrated by the subsequent proceedings, its legal classification, and the willingness of the prosecution and the court to establish the motives and responsibility of the perpetrators,” the Eparchy said in a statement.

It stressed that the incident must not be reduced to an ordinary public order offense, inappropriate behavior, or an insignificant act of vandalism.

The Eparchy said it has surveillance camera footage and that, as soon as the Kosovo Police officially provides it with the identities of the detained individuals, it will file a criminal complaint against both with the competent prosecution.

“We will demand an objective investigation into whether this act contains elements of incitement to ethnic and religious hatred, intimidation of the remaining Orthodox Serbs, and the deliberate desecration of a protected medieval religious and cultural heritage site,” the Eparchy announced.

The statement also emphasizes that placing a KLA flag on the fence of a Serbian Orthodox church cannot be regarded as a neutral display of a political symbol, because in the lived experience of the Serbian people in Kosovo, and particularly of the remaining Serbs in Lipjan, KLA symbols are inseparably associated with armed violence, abductions, killings, persecution, the destruction of homes, and the desecration of Orthodox holy sites, for which those responsible have never been brought to justice.

The placing of such a flag on the fence of a 14th-century church represents a deliberate act of intimidation and a symbolic assertion of authority over the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren said.

The statement points out that the placing of Albanian and KLA flags at a Serbian holy site cannot be interpreted as accidental or thoughtless.

“This is an attempt to mark an ancient Serbian Orthodox space with the symbols of Albanian nationalism and an armed formation under whose symbols Serbs from this area suffered and were expelled, while 150 Serbian churches have been destroyed or brutally desecrated since 1999,” the Eparchy added.

It also points out that the situation of the small number of remaining Serbs in Lipjan gives the act particular weight. Of the several thousand Serbs who once lived there, only a few hundred remain in the town today.

The Eparchy also notes that the two churches are their spiritual center and one of the last visible testimonies to the centuries-old Serbian Orthodox presence.

“That is why the attack on the church compound is not merely an attack on a fence or property, but a message to the remaining Serbs that they are not safe even in their holy sites and that even the very symbol of their existence can be subjected to ridicule,” the Eparchy said.

It recalled that last night’s incident was not isolated, noting that in December last year a masked individual forcibly removed the flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the same church complex, where it had been placed for the church’s patron saint’s day, while a similar incident occurred in June 2023.

The failure to identify and appropriately punish the perpetrators in previous cases has deepened the sense of impunity and opened the door to new provocations, the Eparchy warned.

It added that last night’s incident should also be viewed in the context of other events that have seriously alarmed the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in recent weeks.

The Eparchy recalled that after the peaceful conclusion of the memorial service at Gazimestan, 37 Serbs, including a minor, were detained. Several of those detained reported serious allegations of physical and psychological abuse, national insults, and humiliation by police officers. Meanwhile, during the patron saint’s day celebration at the Monastery of the Holy Archangels near Prizren, worshippers, including women, children, elderly people, and clergy, were subjected to treatment by the Kosovo Police that they experienced as humiliating and intimidating.

At the same time, the Eparchy noted, groups of pilgrims have been placed in a situation of legal uncertainty by the announced application of regulations intended for commercial tourism, opening the possibility of administrative restrictions on the arrival of worshippers at holy sites, which is a fundamental aspect of freedom of religion.

Extensive works have once again been carried out in the Special Protective Zone of the Visoki Decani Monastery along the route of a transit road that is prohibited by law, with no response from the authorities responsible for enforcing the law, the statement added.

“Although a police patrol responded last night, the broader pattern of selective treatment remains a cause for deep concern. When Serbs peacefully display their national symbols, sing their songs, or visit their holy sites, their behavior is often treated as a security problem. By contrast, cases involving the display of KLA flags to intimidate Serbs, attacks on church property, and other ethnically and religiously motivated provocations almost invariably remain without appropriate legal classification or judicial outcome. It is precisely this inequality that has brought the Serbian people’s trust in the Kosovo Police to its lowest level in the past 20 years,” the Eparchy said.

It is particularly concerning, it noted, that last night’s incident occurred just a few hours after KFOR, citing an “improved security situation in Kosovo,” announced that it was beginning the gradual integration of Kosovo Police personnel into the security system around the Visoki Decani Monastery as part of a broader “optimization process” of its presence. On the same day, a change in KFOR’s previous deployment at the main bridge over the Ibar was also announced, causing additional concern among Serbian residents of the city.

“Precisely because the Eparchy highly values KFOR’s role to date in protecting our holy sites and our people, we are obliged to state clearly that the assessment of an improved security situation does not reflect the reality in which Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church live. The events of recent weeks show that a security assessment based primarily on the absence of major armed incidents remains incomplete,” the statement said.

The Eparchy said that a community is not safe if its members live in fear of police searches, detention, entry bans, administrative restrictions, desecration of holy sites, and the public display of symbols that, for them, are associated with persecution and suffering. The absence of mass violence is not evidence of normalization if people are discouraged from visiting their churches, encouraged to leave, and gradually pushed out of public life through daily pressure.

It also added that the people’s trust in the police is based on impartial respect for the law.

“The Eparchy takes note of KFOR’s assurance that it will retain the role of the first responsible security actor for the Visoki Decani Monastery. However, the current circumstances provide no objective basis for reducing direct international protection or for transferring primary and immediate responsibility for the security of Visoki Decani to the Kosovo Police,” the Eparchy said.

It therefore stressed that any further involvement of the Kosovo Police around the monastery can only be based on a visible improvement in the attitude of Kosovo institutions toward the monastery, respect for the November 2020 decision of the Implementation and Monitoring Council (IMC) concerning the construction of a bypass road, and must be reversible in the event of a deterioration in the situation and carried out in full coordination with KFOR, the Eparchy, and the monastery.

“Maintaining KFOR’s direct responsibility is not a demand for Church privilege, but a necessary preventive measure at a site of exceptional religious, cultural, and security sensitivity,” the statement noted.

The Eparchy also expressed concern over the absence of sufficiently clear and timely reactions from international representatives to the recent deterioration in the position of Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church. It stressed that in an atmosphere where attacks often remain without effective judicial outcomes, while the public glorification of the KLA and insults against Serbs go without appropriate condemnation, restrained or delayed reactions create a sense of impunity and risk encouraging further provocations.

“Numerous insulting, threatening, and dehumanizing messages in certain media and on social networks, increasingly open denial of the Serbian identity of Orthodox holy sites, and the public justification of attacks further worsen the atmosphere and create an environment of collective guilt directed at all Serbs, encouraging new provocations and acts of violence. In conditions of an ongoing political and institutional crisis, the authorities in Pristina have a particular responsibility to prevent anti-Serb rhetoric and selective institutional treatment from being used as tools of political mobilization and populism,” the Eparchy said.

It also announced that it would demand that the competent prosecution urgently take over the case, investigate the perpetrators’ motives, and legally classify the offense in accordance with its actual seriousness. It also called on the Kosovo Police to provide official information about the detained individuals without delay and to ensure the preservation of all evidence.

The Eparchy expects KFOR, EULEX, the OSCE, the European Union, and diplomatic missions to issue a clear public condemnation, closely monitor the further proceedings, and take concrete action to prevent similar incidents.

The Eparchy called on worshippers, particularly the remaining Serbs in Lipjan and the surrounding area, to remain calm, composed, dignified, and determined, because they must not fall for the provocations of extremists or allow anyone’s threats to lead them into an ill-considered act that could be used against the Serbian people.

“We will defend our homes, holy sites, and graves through peaceful and steadfast presence, lawful means, bearing witness to the truth, and unwavering faith in Christ. We will not respond to hatred with hatred, but neither will we remain silent in the face of injustice. Christian endurance does not mean accepting humiliation, and peacemaking does not mean that those under threat must renounce the truth and their right to remain. The Serbian Orthodox Church remains with its people in Kosovo and Metohija. Our holy sites are not abandoned monuments where our centuries-old history and identity can be denied. They are living houses of God and places where our people have prayed for centuries. We will remain with them, bear witness to the truth, and demand accountability, knowing that true peace is not built by concealing dangers, but by acknowledging them and firmly opposing every form of hatred, discrimination, and violence,” the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren said in its statement.