Culture Ministry: Pristina appropriating cultural heritage in Kosovo

Pixabay/ Leonhard_Niederwimmer

Serbia’s Culture and Information Ministry said that the provisional self-government institutions in Pristina are continuing its hypocritical provocations aimed at appropriating the cultural heritage in Kosovo, Fonet reported.

The Ministry’s statement came in reaction to the latest social media posts of the representatives of Pristina institutions.

The Kosovo Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports asked international institutions for their help in returning the musical instrument ocarina form the early Neolithic period which it claims is “illegally held in Serbia” along with over 1,200 other artifacts. “UNESCO, ICOM, Council of Europe, European Commission, help us return ocarina home,” said the Ministry in its Twitter post.

The Serbian Culture Ministry said Pristina was expressing false concern for the cultural heritage in Kosovo just so it could appropriate it and incorporate it into the “fictional heritage of a non-existent state” The method is known from before, it is about misleading international institutions in an attempt to create the impression that there is some new kind of ‘Kosovo’ heritage, the Ministry statement said.

At the same time, this is an attempt to avert attention from the endangerment of the Serb population in Kosovo because Pristina is allegedly concerned about cultural heritage precisely at the time when it is creating an atmosphere of fear and instability by means of various unilateral and violent moves and denying Serbs their rights, said the Serbian Culture Ministry, adding that over 136 churches and monasteries have been destroyed or damaged in Kosovo over the past two decades alone.

The Serbian Ministry once again called on all international organizations dealing with the protection of cultural heritage “not to fall prey to such shows, but to continue their work in line with international law, professional criteria and facts”.