Sretenovic: The return of the monument to fallen Serbian soldiers in Pristina is an important victory for Serbia

Diplomats in Kosovo, who committed the barbaric act of relocating the monument to fallen Serbian soldiers from the Balkan Wars and World War I in Pristina, yielded to public pressure and returned it to its original location, historian Stanislav Sretenovic says.

Sretenovic notes for Kosovo Online that Serbia, regarding the relocation of the monument, demonstrated political, ideological, and cultural unity for the first time.

"This is a very important symbolic act, a very significant, symbolically small but a victory for Serbia and the Serbs, showing that when the entire society agrees on some fundamental Christian, civilizational, and humanistic values, certain results can be achieved, like this one, which was a minimum to expect", Sretenovic said.

On the question of whether those who returned the monument acknowledged their mistake, he responds that in diplomatic relations, it is very difficult to say because diplomats in Kosovo who did it have a way to avoid direct responsibility for such an uncivilized act.

However, he emphasizes that what has been done is important, and that is the return of the monument to its place.

"What the formulation will be, we will see. In any case, this act symbolically shows that Serbia is no longer humiliated and that at least on that level, a step has been taken, which can further show the way to influence the international community, regional structures, and private institutions, associations, individuals, to try to force diplomats in Kosovo and Metohija to apologize or at least correct their mistake on other issues. If not towards today's generations of the Serbs, then towards the Serbs who perished for peace, the freedom of Serbia, and all other nations in the Balkans 100 years ago", Sretenovic concluded.