Dacic: It is not first time ambassadors in Belgrade and Pristina disagree

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said on Monday attempts to rename Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo-Metohija to heritage of the so-called Kosovo were an "old narrative" aimed at erasing all traces of Serbian presence in the province and added that, to the best of its ability, Serbia would use all available means to fight against relativisation of history.

After a visit to the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Visoki Decani on Friday, Germany's ambassador in Pristina said a delegation of German diplomats had visited a "Kosovo monastery inscribed in a UNESCO list."

Speaking to Tanjug, Dacic said this was not the first time ambassadors of the same country had said one thing in Belgrade and another in Pristina.

"On several occasions, we have had situations where the ambassadors of some countries in Belgrade and Pristina had different views," Dacic said, noting that Serbia considered embassies in Pristina illegal because it considered the so-called Kosovo "a part of our state."

"The same was the case with the relocation of a Pristina memorial plaque commemorating Serbian liberation fighters in the Balkan Wars and WWI. The French and the German embassies in Pristina initiated the relocation of the plaque, even though the embassies in Belgrade were against it and no one had asked them about that," Dacic said.

He said the French and German ambassadors to Belgrade had said they were surprised by the move and that they would request that it be reversed.

Dacic said this demonstrated the importance of Serbia's re-election to the UNESCO Executive Board.

"Over the next two years, we will be an Executive Board member state and it is very important that we prevent the heritage from being renamed. There have been such attempts, and they were aimed at showing that those are not Serbian monuments, whereby practically the entire history of Kosovo-Metohija would be relativised and it would be said that it (the heritage) is not Serbian, but 'Kosovo's' or Byzantine, as some are saying," Dacic said.

He said Serbia strictly insisted on the matter and that UNESCO, too, defined the heritage as Serbian.

He said the four Serbian cultural monuments under UNESCO protection - the Patriarachate of Pec, the Church of Our Lady of Ljevis and the Visoki Decani and Gracanica monasteries - were defined as "Serbian cultural heritage and, additionally, as endangered world cultural heritage."

"Who are they endangered by? By ethnic Albanian separatists and terrorists who want to destroy those monuments," Dacic said.

Using all available means, Serbia will fight against relativisation and falsification of history and, of course, also react to the statement that Visoki Decani is a "Kosovo monastery" and the relocation of the memorial plaque in Pristina, he said.

"I am certain no one has the right to take away from Serbia the right to its monuments," Dacic said.