bojan

🧵(1/3) Diocese Raška-Prizren (Serbian Orthodox Church) warns of escalating repression by the Kosovo authorities against the Serbian people and its Church eparhija-prizren.com/en/stat… Despite international calls for de-escalation in northern Kosovo, Serbia’s release of three arrested Kosovo police officers, and a clear denial yesterday by KFOR in connection with unfounded and dangerously malicious accusations by British Parliament member, Ms. Alicia Kearns, against the Serbian Orthodox Church regarding alleged “arms smuggling”, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Mr. Kurti, regrettably, has continued with making inflammatory statements, which openly incite ethnic and religious intolerance against the Serbian people and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo. These statements, which call for the collective criminalisation of Serbs, further exacerbate an already extremely difficult and fragile situation. The Serbian Orthodox Diocese in Kosovo has received confidential and reliable information indicating that in the coming days and weeks, the Kosovo government allegedly intends to launch a series of activities aimed at further discrediting the Serbian Orthodox Church. These activities may involve continued systematic media defamation of our Church and its believers, planting false evidence, repressive actions, and further encouragement of ethnic and religious intolerance. The Diocese will share all additional information we manage to obtain with leading Western embassies and KFOR in Pristina for further verification and taking necessary measures to prevent further escalation of ethnic repression and attacks against the Serbian Orthodox Church. Yesterday (5/7/23) Mr. Kurti initially stated in a press conference that the allegations against the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) would be thoroughly investigated and the Kosovo government would provide the ultimate conclusion. However, following a meeting with a high NATO representative later in the day, he accused via Twitter the SOC of using ambulances to transport and subsequently store weapons in Orthodox churches within Kosovo. This all happened after KFOR stated in its media announcement yesterday morning that there was no substantiating evidence for such grave allegations against the Church. This whole situation illustrates a disturbing reality in Kosovo: the Prime Minister is the chief prosecutor and the primary adjudicator. At the same time we consider the allegations of British Member of Parliament, Mrs. Kearns, against the Church to be a perilous misuse of information and a blatant libel. It should be noted that her statements do not reflect the official position of the UK Government or NATO, but are more likely based on information received from Mr. Kurti during his recent visit to London. In her interview yesterday, Mrs. Kearns maintained her accusations against the Serbian Orthodox Church, disregarding the KFOR’s statement that declared these allegations as baseless. We must underscore that this is just one example among many of the perilous media manipulations that the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija has endured over the years. Such false reports have served as a pretext for attacks on our holy sites, 150 of which have been ruthlessly destroyed and desecrated. Manipulating public opinion by spreading false information is, in fact, part of the political platform of Mr. Kurti’s Self-Determination movement, which is well known to at least part of the impartial and objective public. We sincerely believe that many moderate Kosovo Albanians do not support such behaviour, as such policy does not pave the way for the European future of this part of the Balkans, but rather leads to prolonged conflicts and instability.⏩️ – at Kosovo