Byzantine Blog

Four Years Since Kosovo Kristallnacht

Today marks four years since the March pogrom of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohia, in which 19 people were killed, hundreds were wounded and thousands forced out of their homes.

Raska-Prizren Bishop Artemije will lead the Memorial Prayer Service for all the Kosovo-Metohia victims.

In the violent outbursts of Kosovo Albanian hordes between March 17-19 2004, dozens of international troops were also hurt. Even though some 20,000 NATO (KFOR) troops and UNMIK police, guaranteeing security and peace in the province, were present in Kosovo and Metohia, in three days more than 4,000 Serbs were forced to flee Kosovo province, close to thousand Serbian houses were torched and 35 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed, 18 of which were listed as cultural and religious treasure.

The Albanian terror was nominally condemned by both the UN Security Council and the EU officials, but no concrete measures were taken to punish the instigators and perpetrators of such a massive, barbaric display of brutality, dubbed Kosovo Kristallnacht by one UN official.

Culmination of Ethnic Cleansing Rewarded with Second Albanian State

The representatives of Kosovo Serbs remaining in this province assessed that the most frightening part is the fact that, four years after the well organized, coordinated pogrom against Serbs, Kosovo Albanians have been rewarded by the part of the international community and given a second Albanian state on the territory of Serbia, while not a single organizer or perpetrator of March 2004 pogrom has been punished for their crimes.

In addition to physical violence, Kosovo and other Serbs were also subjected to the political thuggery by the segment of international community right after the lynching orgies.

The March pogrom was used against Serbs by the official West which, under the guise of fear of more violence, withdrew the earlier request for "standards before status": after March 19 2004, the Western powers reversed their declared objectives, choosing to first decide on the status for Serbian province under siege—which boiled down to non-negotiable independence— and only then try to establish the semblance of legal order and bearable human rights standards that would allow unprotected non-Albanians some degree of safety and dignity.

President of the Community of Serbian Towns and Municipalities Marko Jaksic stressed that March 17 2004 was only the culmination of the ethnic cleansing conducted against Serbs and other non-Albanians in the province, which has been stepped up since June 1999. Since then, over 250,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have been forced to flee their homes, land and property in Kosovo-Metohia.

Biased UNMIK Covers Up Albanian Terror for Eight Years

President of the Serbian National Council Milan Ivanovic said that, since its arrival to the southern Serbian province, UNMIK staff has been prejudiced against the Serbs and continually engages in covering up the crimes and terror conducted in Kosovo-Metohia, thus violating the UN SC Resolution 1244, the only legal framework for their presence in this part of Serbia.

The pretext for the March pogrom was created by the aggressive campaign of Albanian-language media which accused local Serbs on March 16 for the death of three Albanian boys from village Cabar, near Zubin Potok, who have drowned in the river Ibar.

Investigation by the UNMIK police concluded the accusations were false.

According to the international reports, the Kosovo Albanian provisional government has since the March 2004 pogrom built 516 houses Serbs never moved in, fearing for their safety. The majority of expelled victims of March pogrom are still refugees, living in collective centers, improvised temporary settlements or deserted houses — without electricity, telephones and employment. They are surviving on the humanitarian aid.

Recommended: In the aftermath of Kosovo Kristallnacht, Part 1 (YouTube); In the aftermath of Kosovo Kristallnacht, Part 2 (YouTube); Museum of Serb Suffering to Open in Kosovska Mitrovica, Tanjug (Eparhija-Prizren.com); Serbs! Don't Join the EU, by William Markiewicz