Albanian occupiers seize library from residents of largest Serbian enclave Kosovo
The so-called "Kosovo police" officers have occupied the building of the "Vuk Karadzic" library in the largest Serbian enclave of Kosovo - North Mitrovica.
The separatists intend to appropriate the cultural site, clearing it of Serbian cultural heritage, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The Serbian Ministry of Culture issued a statement in which it "strongly condemned the barbaric act of seizure of the Vuk Karadzic City Library in North Mitrovica by Pristina and the ongoing usurpation of Serbian heritage by seizing Serbian institutions with the aim of erasing Serbian identity in this part of Serbian territory."
“It is no coincidence that the Nazis began the bombing of Belgrade with the destruction of the National Library of Serbia, just as the fabrication of the “Kosovo nation” implies the destruction of centuries-old cultural monuments and an attempt to seize cultural institutions as witnesses and guardians of the truth about the history of Kosovo and Metohija,” the Ministry of Culture notes.
The text states that, as in all previous historical episodes orchestrated by those who burned and banned books, the fact remains that Kosovo will not become a state through violence, the seizure of territory and the persecution of Serbs, and cultural heritage cannot be created through the usurpation of someone else's culture.
In the meantime, the separatist authorities have sealed the library and the collection of 40 Serbian books remains there.
"They told me to call and tell them when I can pick up the books. I will do it next week," library director Nikola Elezovic told KoSSev.
It was stated that the library building was transferred to the ownership of the Kosovo Privatization Agency.
The library, named after the Serbian linguist and folklorist, foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Vuk Karadzic, has been located on Oslobodzhenja Street since 2022.
In 2022, the head of the Chancellery for Kosovo and Metohija and the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, ceremonially opened the building, and a few months later, the then Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, opened the multimedia center together with cultural institutions: the city library, museum and cultural center.
However, already at the end of 2024, that is, at the beginning of 2025, these establishments were closed by the Albanian separatist authorities.
Albanian occupiers seized a library from residents of Kosovo's largest Serbian enclave.