Representatives of the Pupin Initiative in Gorazdevac: The situation is worse than we expected

Representatives of the Pupin Initiative, which includes Serbian and American citizens, visited Gorazdevac during their multi-day visit to Kosovo. They had the opportunity to speak with locals, priest Nenad Naspalic, and the editor-in-chief of Radio Gorazdevac, Darko Dimitrijevic.

The representatives of the Pupin Initiative began their visit with a tour of the Visoki Decani Monastery and continued with a visit to Gorazdevac.

Vuk Velebit, the executive director of the Pupin Initiative, emphasized that the visit to Kosovo aims to ascertain the factual situation on the ground.

"Our goal is to learn about the state of human and religious rights, primarily of the Serbian community and other minorities, through conversations with local Serbian representatives, members of the American administration, the Serbian Church, and Albanian representatives in Kosovo. For us in the Pupin Initiative, this is a very important issue. Following the recent attacks, the announcement of the opening of the bridge on the Ibar, and the arrest of Serbian political representatives in the north, we are here on this visit. We will address everything we hear from the Serbian community here in our discussions with both Serbian and American administration representatives. And what's very important is that in September, we will be in Washington, where we will prepare a report based on this visit and present it to the US Congress and the State Department," Velebit said.

Ivan Trifunovic, a member of the Pupin Initiative's Advisory Board from Pennsylvania, expressed concern after speaking with the residents of Gorazdevac and the priests in Visoki Decani, noting that the situation might be worse than how it was portrayed in the media.

"Indeed, the rights of Serbs here are being threatened at a very basic level. We know what we read in the newspapers, but seeing it firsthand and talking to people leaves an even stronger impression. We hope to convey this information in America and Serbia through the media, but it is even more important that we bring this issue to the attention of American political circles so that people understand that things cannot continue this way. For any de-escalation in Kosovo to happen, the American administration must be more engaged and more neutral to help the Serbian community achieve its rights," Trifunovic said.

Vladimir Milosevic, co-founder of the Pupin Initiative from San Francisco, emphasized that the initiative members will spend four days in Kosovo on a fact-finding mission to gain insight into the current situation, given that the latest events are quite worrying and also how the situation is unfolding.

"We hope to talk to everybody, from political leaders, the NGO sector, and religious leaders, on the Serbian and the Albanian side, and gain a full picture of how things stand. As my colleagues have mentioned, we are going to be in Washington in September,  talking to the people from the State Department, Congress, and others, presenting our findings from this trip, and hopefully helping to contribute to a better understanding but also improvement of the situation," he said.

After visiting Gorazdevac, Milosevic stated that the situation is clearly very difficult.

"We hope to find concrete facts that we can present and use as steps to improve the situation," the co-founder of the Pupin Initiative emphasized.

The representatives of the initiative visited the school, church, and Radio Gorazdevac offices in Gorazdevac and spoke with residents and the priest.

They also attempted to speak with the Kosovo Police stationed in the village center, but without success. The police station told them to return in ten minutes after they finished lunch. However, when the initiative representatives returned, they were informed that the responsible officers were no longer at the station.