Nastic: Serbs in Kosovo face restrictions on religious rights and threats to their cultural heritage

Former German Bundestag member Zaklin Nastic stated that Serbs in Kosovo are facing restrictions on their religious rights and threats to their cultural identity, adding that the possible introduction of a requirement for pilgrims to be accompanied by licensed Albanian tourist guides would create an additional obstacle for the faithful and represent another form of control over Serbian holy sites.

Nastic said that while Europe speaks about religious freedom and human rights, Serbs in Kosovo are also being subjected to harassment in this area.

"Pilgrims who have been visiting their holy monasteries for centuries would now be treated as tourists. Those who wish to pray to God would be expected to comply with the rules imposed by the Albanian authorities, which, from the Serbian perspective, are increasingly suppressing their history, identity, and cultural heritage on ethnic and religious grounds—thanks to the West's so-called 'war of liberation,'" Nastic wrote on the social media platform X.

She said that she had personally visited Gracanica and that the image of the monastery under the protection of security forces had remained deeply engraved in her memory.

"I will never forget that image: barbed wire, members of the security forces, and a monastery that has to be guarded. Anyone who has been there immediately understands that these places are not tourist attractions, but holy sites of a people who have been fighting for decades to preserve their history and faith and who, in the heart of Europe, must protect them from attacks because, according to this view, Kosovo and Metohija was turned into an artificial state through war and in violation of international law. The numerous attacks on Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, as well as the March 2004 pogrom, remain part of that harsh reality to this day," she emphasized.

Commenting on the possible introduction of a requirement for pilgrims to be accompanied by licensed tourist guides, Nastic assessed that many Serbs do not regard this as a neutral administrative measure, but as a question of control over their cultural and religious heritage.

"And now, those who come to pray are supposed to be accompanied by 'state-licensed' Albanian tourist guides? For many Serbs, this is rightly not a neutral administrative measure, but another step toward taking control of and suppressing their cultural and religious heritage. The monasteries of Visoki Decani and Gracanica, the Patriarchate of Pec, and the Church of the Virgin of Ljevisa are centuries-old witnesses to Serbian history. They deserve protection, not political appropriation. Religious freedom also means that believers must be able to visit their holy sites without unnecessary state-imposed obstacles. According to this view, those obstacles would be enforced by the occupiers," Nastic concluded.