Persecution
of Kosovo Christians Said to Reveal Larger Threat -- 08/15/2005
Persecution of Kosovo Christians Said
to Reveal Larger Threat
By
Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 15,
2005
(CNSNews.com) - International intervention to halt the
persecution of Christians in Kosovo is a "complete failure," according to a
former diplomat and other political analysts who briefed Capitol Hill staff late
last week, pointing to the destruction of 150 churches and the simultaneous
construction of 200 mosques.
Cybercast News Service obtained
video of the burning and desecrating of the churches by ethnic Albanians, most
of them Muslim. See Video
The new mosques are funded by "Wahhabist
nations," the diplomats said, raising the specter of radical Islam incubating on
the doorstep of Europe in a province rife with illegal arms and narcotics
trafficking.
The religious persecution is also part of a political
strategy of violence, which if rewarded in the granting of independence to
Kosovo, could trigger similar violent secessionist movements throughout
neighboring states and countries, they warned.
Unfolding events in
Kosovo have already sent shock waves to as far away as China, which has now
expressed concern to the U.S. over possible copycat attempts at secession in its
predominantly Muslim Xinjiang Province.
Kosovo, an international
protectorate administered by the United Nations, is part of Serbia and
Montenegro, but the legal authority of the region is the U.N. Interim Mission in
Kosovo (UNMIK).
The province is considered one of the jewels of
Christian heritage, having served as the "Vatican" of Serbian Christian
Orthodoxy from the 12th century onward.
Serbs, who are predominantly
Orthodox Christians, constitute a minority, as do Turks, Roma (gypsies) and
Muslim Slavs. Eighty-eight percent of Kosovo's population is made up of Muslim
Albanians.
The attacks and ongoing persecution are seen by some as the
purposeful targeting of the very symbols of Christian European civilization.
Between 1999 and 2004 approximately150 churches, monasteries,
seminaries, and bishop residences were attacked by ethnic Albanian mobs. Many of
the churches contained priceless Byzantine frescoes and other religious
artifacts dating as far back as the 13th century. Many of the sites were reduced
to rubble.
In a Capitol Hill press conference Aug. 11, former U.S.
Ambassador Thomas Patrick Melady called for a heightened international presence
in Kosovo and the continuation of that presence for another 12 years. Melady,
former ambassador to the Vatican, Uganda and Burundi, is senior diplomat in
residence at the Institute of World Politics. The Capitol Hill briefing was
sponsored by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy.
Melady
cautioned politicians against rushing into decisions regarding Kosovo's status.
Final status talks are expected this fall with Albania pushing for an
independent Kosovo.
"Undersecretary of State [R. Nicholas] Burns was
recently in Kosovo and he is drafting a policy paper for [President Bush]," said
Melady. "Sometime between now and November, we'll hear the decision" on how the
Bush administration will handle the independence movement in
Kosovo.
Those attending the Aug. 11 press conference, and a follow-up
congressional briefing on Aug. 12, expressed disappointment over the lack of
media coverage of the church destruction. "I've been quite disappointed," Melady
told Cybercast News Service, "It wasn't a major headline
story."
He compared the destruction to Kristallnacht, or "the Night of
Broken Glass" -- the Nazi-sponsored violent persecution against German Jews
launched on Nov. 9, 1938. Gangs of Nazi youth fanned out into Jewish
neighborhoods vandalizing and burning Jewish property and businesses, including
101 synagogues.
The official Nazi government response at the time was
that such outbreaks were spontaneous, not organized. In the Kosovo situation,
analysts are also expressing doubt over a similar line touted by the government.
Referring to the destruction of 34 churches in March of last year Melady
said, "Thanks to a few amateur films that were made when the protests broke out,
we can see how things unfolded. At all the scenes someone would climb to the top
and tear down the cross, then stomp on it. Then they would set fire to the
church."
During the Aug. 12 congressional staff briefing, Melady's
research assistant, Ivan Djurovski, showed footage of the destruction of St.
Andrew the Apostle Church in Podujevo.
The 17-minute video obtained by
Cybercast News Service shows crowds of men ranging in age from about 15
to 50, calmly and methodically fanning out around the church after marching
through town. After setting the church on fire, one of the vandals enters the
bell tower to ring the church bell, which draws cheers from the crowd. Men scale
the roof of the church to tear down three crosses, resulting in more cheers.
Cybercast News Service edited the 17 minute video down to approximately
two-and-a-half minutes.
The video also shows the presence of a Kosovo
Force tank and soldiers. The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a NATO-led international
contingent responsible for establishing and maintaining security in the
province. French and German forces later said their mandate was to protect
lives, not property. However, according to Djurovski, "Italian and American KFOR
soldiers risked their lives to not only save people at monasteries, but to also
protect the sites.
"In these villages the church is the physical and
spiritual center of the town," said Djurovski. "This is the center of hope for
the people. This is where they go to learn about their faith. Where can they go
now?"
Melady, who recently visited the area, said that sisters and monks
at the historic monastery in Pec could not go outdoors to fetch water without
military escort, for fear of being shot by snipers.
Some 200,000 Serbs
have fled from Kosovo and those remaining are encircled in military-ringed
enclaves. "It's not a normal life. There's no freedom of movement due to fear,"
said Melady. Djurovski added that many are not able to obtain needed medicine
and there are no high schools or universities in the enclaves, resulting in a
"brain drain." Those who have assets have sold them and fled, while most of the
poor remain.
More than 18,000 legal complaints have accused Albanians
with confiscating church and private property and building on the property,
according to Djurovski. Whether church property remains as such or is handed
over to the government remains a serious concern, he added.
Melody R.
Divine - judiciary counsel and foreign policy advisor to Rep. Trent Franks
(R-Ariz), who attended the briefing - said, "Albanians have also overtaken
entire areas where Roma lived.
"Congressional interest and involvement
will be key in ensuring that the international community places a high premium
on the protection and integration of the minority communities within Kosovo and
the preservation of the remaining cultural sites, "Divine said.
Defense
analyst Frederick Peterson said the media around the globe are ignoring the
issue of Saudi Arabian and other sources flooding the economically depressed
region with money to pay for new mosques as the churches are being
destroyed.
"With money comes influence," Peterson told Cybercast News
Service. "They are building a substantial ideological and brick and mortar
infrastructure there." Peterson is a defense and counter-terrorism analyst with
the Institute for Security Studies at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He
also serves as military policy advisor to Joseph K. Grieboski, president of the
Institute on Religion and Public Policy.
Peterson and Djurovski both
said many of the new mosques funded by Saudi and Iranian funds are currently
empty, but reflect plans to indoctrinate residents with the radical Wahhabist
form of Islam. The new mosques carry plaques acknowledging funding from Saudi
Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, said Grieboski.
"This is a
very grave threat," said Peterson. "With final status changing from Serbian
Orthodox hegemony into at very best a gray line, the dividing line between the
Christian and Islamic world moves closer to the European Union, and we're at
great risk of tolerating what should not be tolerated in order to buy some peace
in our time."
In the war against an expanding radical Islam, Peterson
said, "We have three choices: convert, submit or die. But there's a fourth
choice and that's to fight.
"What is going on in Kosovo today is the
future of Europe tomorrow," he added.
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