Why are Kosovo officials silent after Patriarch Irinej’s death? With this move, they are sending a clear message to the Serbs.

Jelena Milić, Photo: Tanjug / Sava Radovanović

The director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS) Jelena Milic said that the “strong silence” of Albanian officials in Kosovo and Metohija on the death of Serbian Patriarch Irinej, who patriarch and Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, the message that Serbs are not equal citizens and that Albanian officials do not respect civil and religious rights.

“Unfortunately, we noted in the last 24 hours, and we wish we were wrong, that literally no Kosovo official expressed condolences to the Serbs in Kosovo, which we consider an organized message that Kosovo Serbs are not citizens of the Kosovo province with equality and fair treatment, “Milic said. for Kosovo online.

He noted that an intensive reworking of the past has been orchestrated in the last two years, a historical revisionism that attempts to relativize unquestionable facts about the Serbian and Orthodox heritage in Kosovo and Metohija.

“This order is not made with silence or with the discreet support of the Western international community, but with its active support in the role of weakening the Serbian position in the negotiations on the new status of Kosovo and the obvious efforts to push Kosovo to UNESCO and thus further complicate the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. ” This process violates all principles, “Milic said.

He noted that a few weeks ago, at the “Mirdita – Good morning” festival, it was said that the religious heritage of Kosovo belongs to all the people who live in peace and love in Kosovo and Metohija and that they are used equally by all It has been said ever since. that of, as he put it, “professors from the Faculty of Philosophy in Pristina at a festival paid for by Western donors.”

“If so, why were the shrines burned in 2004? If so, then why is Biden, who was then supposed to prevent the burning of Serbian shrines, and not common ones, now not oppose this? historical revisionism? “asked Jelena Milić.

Patriarch Irinej, Photo: Tanjug / Sava Radovanovic

She believes that the “strong silence” from Pristina officials on the death of the Serbian patriarch, who is also the patriarch of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, “is also a message that they never had anything against the burning in 2004 , that they do not respect civil and religious rights, and that the story that through Ahtisaari’s plan, the Kosovo Serbs were given I don’t know what freedoms, rights, participation in institutions, are absolutely null and void ” .

“I was defeated by the magnitude of the gesture that French President Emanuel Macron expressed his condolences to all of us in Cyrillic, and that no official from Kosovo, and what pains me particularly, no representative of a civil society organization did that,” Milic pointed out.

He noted that the CEAS organization was founded mainly by agnostics, but that he expressed his condolences not only to Serbian believers, but also to all citizens of Serbia who respect democracy and collective rights, both majority and minority.

He recalled that in Serbia, when there is a Jewish, Catholic or Muslim holiday, all civil society organizations congratulate all who celebrate.

“What happened now? The patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church has died, there are no declarations of condolences to the NGO believers in Serbia, at least. That amount of hypocrisy must be presented urgently to the representatives of the Western international community, to put things in a proper context. ” negotiations on Kosovo, rather than preventing possible future violence, which is obviously tolerated by such indifference, in accordance with a historically difficult time for all Serbian believers in Kosovo, ”Miliceva concluded.