Albanian separatists hope EU will allow them to appropriate Serbian churches
A correspondent for the Kosovo TV channel RTK, Jeracina Tukhina, said that as the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina continues, the issue of “changing the status of Orthodox churches” will be considered.
Koha reported this, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“One of the most sensitive topics of this process is what will happen to the status of Orthodox churches in Kosovo,” Tukhina said.
According to the journalist, she does not call the Orthodox churches in Kosovo Serbian Orthodox churches, because, according to her, this is a wide topic for discussion: who built these churches and in what period.
“These places of worship are likely to be discussed and the status of these buildings in Kosovo is expected to change,” added Jeracina Tuhina.
It should be noted that Kosovo Albanians continue their attempts to appropriate Serbian medieval spiritual heritage, including by publishing “scientific” works in the spirit of alternative history, which, in particular, claim that Serbian monasteries and churches were in fact built by Albanians.
At the same time, in Kosovo there are practically no Orthodox Christians among local Albanians (with the exception of isolated cases), and the number of local Catholics does not even reach 3% of the population of the region (while in Albania itself there is an Albanian Orthodox Church and about 10% of the population of this country are Orthodox ; in Kosovo the predominant ethnographic group is the Ghegs, with a characteristic archaic clan structure; in the south of Albania lives a more Europeanized group, which is noticeable even externally - melancholy).
Also, during the war of the 90s and the pogroms that followed, Kosovo Albanians purposefully destroyed and desecrated the Serbian spiritual heritage, many of which are medieval monuments of Orthodox culture. In particular, about 76 churches were destroyed by Albanian pogromists, and 150 were damaged and desecrated. Many surviving objects were turned into landfills and latrines; looting of churches and monasteries continues to this day.
In addition, hoping to become a recognized part of the world community, the Kosovo authorities changed tactics, trying to secure Serbian architectural and spiritual monuments for themselves in order to enter UNESCO and subsequently achieve international investment and tourist flow to the region.
Albanian separatists hope the EU will allow them to seize Serbian churches.