U.S., K. Albanians trying to falsify history - deputy PM

BELGRADE -- The agreement on cultural heritage in Kosovo signed by U.S. and Kosovo is an attempt to falsify history, says Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dačić.
A view of the Gračanica monastery
A view of the Gračanica monastery
The Agreement on Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga on Wednesday.
According to him, the agreement presents Serbian Orthodox churches in Kosovo as Kosovo’s cultural heritage.

“We have mixed up things a little. Serbs and Turks clashed in Kosovo in 1389, not Serbs and Albanians and the battle was in Kosovo Field,” he pointed out.

According to the deputy prime minister, it now turns out that Kosovo’s cultural heritage are things they have been trying to destroy for centuries.

“They built mosques on foundations of the Serbian churches and they say today that it is Kosovo’s cultural heritage,” Dačić pointed out.

“All that is being done in order to prove that the Serbian history in Kosovo and Metohija does not go back to the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th century,” he stated and added that this was falsification of history the state of Serbia needed to react to.

Serbia to request protection of its heritage in UNESCO

“Serbia will call for depoliticization of the issue of protection of cultural heritage that is of world importance in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee,” said National Committee for Cooperation with UNESCO Secretary General Jasna Zrnović.

“We will fight to prevent any attempt to ‘Kosovize’ Serbian heritage in Kosovo and Metohija. It is totally unacceptable for anyone to try to present Gračanica, Dečani or Peć Patriarchate are ‘Kosovo’s cultural heritage’,” she pointed out.

“This is a direct attack on the Serbian identity and it therefore represents violation of rights of all Serbs, wherever they are at the moment,” Zrnović explained, commenting on the agreement signed by Clinton and Jahjaga.

She also stressed that the agreement “is not legally relevant” for Serbia.