Rakocevic: The return of the monument could be the possible beginning of a normal relationship and an acceptance that we Serbs exist

A journalist, writer, and President of the Journalists’ Association of Serbia in Kosovo, Zivojin Rakocevic, says that the relocation of the monument to Serbian soldiers in Pristina was a grave mistake, which they corrected when they realized that they had deeply hurt the feelings of people who cherish memories of World War I.

"You cannot do anything in someone else's cemetery without asking the descendants and those who live there. You don't understand that Pristina was a city where 40,000 Serbs lived, you don't understand that hundreds of young people, mostly victims of diseases, were buried in that grave, and now, after so much time, you simply negate history and everything that was done, and you say, 'Yes, we will put up this plaque as if nobody is there'. As if these people don't have descendants, as if they aren't living ideas for which they laid down their lives. That is essential. The ideas that moved these young people to seek their freedom and fight against injustice in World War I have revolted", Rakocevic says for Kosovo Online.

Rakocevic asked how it was possible that a great liberating, democratic country like France forgot that these children had given their lives for it and its freedom.

"Essentially, this should be the beginning of an extremely cautious approach to every monument, heritage, culture, and what we inherit together with other European nations. At this moment, the memorial to French soldiers should be moved to Djakovica, to the old Serbian cemetery, where eight Serbian monuments were destroyed in 1999, when the head of UNMIK was Bernard Kouchner. There, the French Ambassador should seek the return and restoration of those monuments, creating a memorial for all French soldiers who perished in World War I. We know there were eight of them, we know they disappeared, and we know this could be the possible beginning of a normal relationship and an acceptance that we Serbs exist", he adds.

When asked if the return of the monument was an acknowledgment that the move had been a mistake, Rakocevic says the first mistake was made the moment the marking of Armistice Day began at the cemetery in Pristina without anyone's knowledge.

"Another mistake was made the moment the plaque for an Austro-Hungarian soldier was placed in the center of the memorial, a meter behind it, there are the graves of Serbian officers, soldiers, and children who died in Pristina. That mistake has not been corrected yet, and we must correct it. If the monument to the Austro-Hungarian soldier with a full name was placed in the center of the cemetery, then next to it, there should be 10, 15, 20 of those small monuments sinking in the background, and their names are known – those are our soldiers", Rakocevic concludes.