Removal of memorial attempt of erasing traces of Serbs' existence in Kosovo - Office

BELGRADE - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Monday the removal of a plaque commemorating fallen Serbian soldiers from the Balkan Wars and WWI in the military section of the Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Pristina was an attempt of obliterating all traces of the existence of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and rewriting history in a brutal manner.

In a statement, the Office said it had informed of this non-civilisational move the OSCE mission and all other international missions operating in Kosovo-Metohija, demanding concrete answers and accountability for the perpetrators of this act of vandalism.

"In collaboration with our Eparchy of Raska and Prizren, we will use all legal mechanisms and options to have the plaque returned to its place and we have been working on that since the day this act of vandalism happened," it said.

"The fact that, according to testimonies by priests, the plaque commemorating the fallen Serbs was removed from a visible location in front of the eyes of international representatives raises the question of whether, in fact, Pristina has been given free rein for its policy of desecrating, denying and obliterating everything that is Serbian," the Office also said.

"After Serbian bones have been ploughed through in Kosovska Mitrovica and after desecration, torching and destruction of Serb graves and memorials, it is clear Pristina has a problem with living Serbs as well as with dead Serbs who gave their lives for peace and freedom in this territory - bright ideals that are of no value to Albin Kurti and his followers," the statement said.

"One thing is certain - no one will ever be able to erase the glorious and heroic past of the Serbs in the territory of Kosovo-Metohija because it is our obligation to cherish the memory of our ancestors who gave their most valuable asset, their lives, to enable future generations to live in a better world," it also said.

The plaque commemorating Serbian soldiers killed in the wars between 1912 and 1918 was removed from the central position in the cemetery's memorial park and replaced with a black marble plaque with the inscription "To French soldiers fallen in Kosovo," written in French, Serbian and Albanian.

This was done before Armistice Day commemorations, during which the German and French ambassadors in Pristina laid a wreath at the memorial to French soldiers.