Page 895 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

about 100 000 Serbs have moved out of Kosovo and Meto- hija, in the last ten days, and that about 70 000 Serbs were displaced prior to this and remained in other parts of Ser- biaandMontenegro Ifthesituationdoesnotbecomestabi- lized soon these areas will remain completely free from both Serbs and members of other ethnic communities and ethni- callypureAlbanian Itwillbeakindofgenocideandethno- cideofthesenationalcommunities If,however,thesituation becomes stabilized, we can soon expect the return of the exiled,wholefttheirhouses,apartments,propertyhere We understand the anger of the Albanians because of what they experienced during the conflict We also know of outstand- ing examples of how Albanians protected their Serb neigh- bors But the forces and anarchy have grown to such an ex- tent that they nullify any hope for a peaceful life in these regions
Honorable Gentlemen! The fate of the Serbs is in your hands and the hands of those Albanians who think and work rationally and peacefully However, this voice is rarely heard Complete darkness and silence have been enthroned Only the muffled cries of the Serbs are heared How long is this chaos going to last and where is its end?
We would like to believe in your good intentions that you would like to build a civilized, multiethnic, multicultural, multi-religious Kosovo and Metohija With this hope and de- sire, we invite you to take all possible to put an end to the ag- ony of the Serbs, to the horror and hopelessness the members of other ethnic communities have also found themselves in
In the past two days in Gnjilane, Kamenica and Vitina, seven people have been killed The most drastic atrocity took place in Peć Ten persons have been massacred there At the Faculty of Economics in Priština, three people were killed on June 23 while being on their night duty—Milenko Leković, one of the Faculty professors, Miodrag Mladenović, a por- ter, and Jovica Stamenković, a waiter at the Faculty dinning hall In Gnjilane, the telephone lines have been cut off with all the villages inhabited by Serbs (This is not a complete report) A new killings of Serbs happen every day...”
In Priština, June 23, 1999
On behalf of the National and Political Council of the Pan-Serbian Church—National Assembly,
Bishop Artemije Radosavljević, PhD
...
Today we have made the following Press release for the domestic and international public:
Today, in the evening of June 23, we inform the domestic and international public that the last Serbs are leaving Me- tohija under the enormous pressure from the KLA terrorists and other various despicable groups These groups are either recruited from local Albanians and some Roma, or from Al- bania herself! When a Serbian woman was raped, people in the Albanian military uniforms were seen, while the triple murder in the village of Belo Polje and many other murders were committed by the Balllists and the Blackshirts, among others
The Yugoslav government after the withdrawal of the army and police, left the nation at the mercy, hatred and terror, of hundreds of thousands of returnees and displaced Albanians, but also Albanians—the citizens of Albania, ea- ger to plunder and murder; the violence is so sad and terri- ble, as many return to the ashes of their homes, to destroyed and plundered towns and villages These days this madness got even stronger when this same government and its minis- ters began to deceive the Serbs into returning literally under the knife of the angry vigilante mob Just today, and these past few days, about twenty persons have been killed here in Peć, ten of whom are in a pit, as well as ten in Djakovica, six in Obilić Many have been abducted
Looking at it, it is with astonishment that we found that the greatest enemy could not have done what this govern- ment has done to Kosovo and Metohija Here the state has literally destroyed her own self, destroying and striping the last remnants of the Serbian people off their honor before God and before the world in their holy catholic Hearst The ring is being tightened stronger and stronger around the Pa- triarchate of Peć, Dečani and other holy sites of Kosovo where Bishop Artemije, the priesthood and monastics will remain for the first time in history, with so few people, in some plac- es without a single person
This 610th Anniversary of the Battle in Kosovo is going to be the most terrible of all previous anniversaries, since the time of Kosovo Battle in 1389 The only thing we have left is the hope in the living God, the Holy Cross and the venerable Holy Martyr Prince Lazar, St Stefan Dečanski, the Arch- bishops and Patriarchs of the Patriarchate of Peć, where the lamp is still burning, lit by the hands of monks and old nuns, its faithful guardians
at the meeting with reporters we added: “Nowhere else has it happened that the state abolished her own self. The Belgrade authorities give medals to themselves on the ru- ins of their country and slaughtered Serbs in Kosovo. Let them continue to celebrate their great victories and ap- plaud their leader, but the Serbian Church will fervently pray to God to porect us, enlighten and save all of us!“
The Chronicles of the Renewed Crucifixion of Kosovo
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