Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Đurić: Serbs will not disappear from Kosovo and Metohija

Serbia and Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija will not be extinguished, suppressed, exiled and will not disappear, Marko Đurić, the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija said today.

“I wish to clearly state to all those well-meaning and not well-meaning persons that Serbs and Serbia are here to stay and subsist in Kosovo and Metohija”, Đurić said while opening a meeting of the representatives of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija aimed at actualizing support for the Fund of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren.

Đurić pointed out that the goal of this meeting is to agree on how to more efficiently give financial help for the work of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren, the church which has, for the last 16 years, been a pillar of support where our institutions have caved and where, because of difficult local and international circumstances, we have not managed to preserve our country.

“As representatives of the Government, local self-government in Kosovo and Metohija and Serbian institutions, we have an obligation to recognize, support and valorize through our concrete contribution the strength, energy and endurance which the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Diocese of Raška and Prizren have displayed in the darkest periods of our history”, Đurić said, adding that on this day, eight years ago, the majority in Kosovo and Metohija, which is a minority on the territory of Serbia, tried to impose its will on our people by force and injustice.

He stressed that if tens of thousands of users of budgetary funds exist, he believes it is normal if those people, first among them the ones who attended the meeting today, set aside a portion of their own income and revenue to support the Fund of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren.

“The fund and all means will be under the watchful, attentive, and proper management of the church, and will aim at strengthening the functioning of our people in municipalities and areas where they are most vulnerable, at supporting their subsistence through financial support for the most vulnerable families and areas and at preventing the sale of land and other resources of our people”, Đurić said.

While addressing the meeting, he said that their task is to lead by example and renounce a part of their income.

According to him, there will be no obtrusion and no one will be ordered how much to allocate, but everyone will act according to their conscience.

As he said, it is important to know that in this way they are not taking anything away from themselves, but investing into the future – their own, church’s, nation’s, state’s.

“The best way the Serbs can behave on February 17th is to gather, assemble, look each other directly in the eyes and say – we want to survive, work together, pool our resources and our power in order to survive”, Đurić said.

The Bishop of Raška and Prizren, Teodosije, said at the meeting that the current situation the Serbs are living in, in Kosovo and Metohija, must be examined, but at the same time, the best way and means for Serbs to subsist and improve their living conditions must be found.

“Great commitments and responsibilities lie before us, to do everything in order to achieve the goal”, Teodosije said, and urged all Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija to allocate funds, as much as they can.

The pointed out that this fund will not be used for current needs, but to implement joint priorities of general interest, essential for all Serbs living in Kosovo and Metohija.

The meeting was also attended by Serbian Members of Parliament, members of the provincial government and mayors, as well as heads of administrative districts and presidents of interim municipal authorities in Kosovo and Metohija.