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OPEN LETTER OF BISHOP ARTEMIJE TO PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA, PRIME MINISTER DJINDJIC The Orthodox Bishop of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren Number 106 5 April 2002 Prizren/Gracanica AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA DR. VOJISLAV KOSTUNICA THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA DR. ZORAN DJINDJIC RESPECTED PRESIDENT, After 5 October 5 2000 I could not even imagine that I would so quickly be forced to address this open letter to you. There have been reasons for such an act even earlier but I delayed it in the belief that the position of our country (of whose name I am no longer certain) towards Kosovo and Metohija would be more clearly defined and demonstrated. We waited. And in the end we experienced great and deep disappointment. The cause? The census of the population currently in progress which does not include either the entire territory of our country (no matter what it is called) nor all her citizens. Who, with what right and in accordance with whose authority has excluded and renounced KOSOVO AND METOHIJA and the residents of that Serbian province (or more accurately: cradle)? Here I am not thinking only of us, the few Serbs who remain there, but of all citizens regardless of their nationality, religion or other affiliation. Regardless of whether "everyone" would chose to be included in the census, it is the inalienable right of every individual and national community. It is unacceptable to exclude a priori, by means of legislation, decisions and what not, anyone from a federal census because a part of the country's territory is being amputated along with a part of its population. And when the final status of Kosovo and Metohija is discussed tomorrow, will this not serve as prime evidence that Kosovo and Metohija is ripe for independence, status as a third republic or... We Serbs who still live in Kosovo and Metohija were especially afraid of such an "official policy" on the part of the state leadership and attempted to warn them in a timely and less obtrusive manner with the sincere hope that we would not be so drastically "written off", "cast off" and abandoned by our motherland. At its meeting on March 30, 2002 in Gracanica Monastery one of the conclusions of the Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija was the expression of dissatisfaction and concern due to the fact that the residents of Kosovo and Metohija (especially the Serbs) were exempted from this census for reasons unknown to us. In those conclusions we proposed and expected correction of a shocking injustice toward a part of the citizens of our country because this position is equivalent to an act of suicide by the state, which is renouncing a significant part of itself. This voice of ours, as many others before it, remained "a lone voice in the desert", forcing us to address this letter in its present form to you as a cry from a drowning man. Will they hear it? Will they grant our request? With all due respect and great hope, a citizen and resident of the State of Serbia, President of the Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija, the Bishop of Raska and Prizren and Kosovo and Metohija + ARTEMIJE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decani/message/66150 --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
