About 40 cases of injuries to religious objects

Kosovo police, until July, have recorded 38 cases of injuries to objects of various religious concessions.

These cases, according to Kosovo Police spokesman Baki Kelani, are damage to religious objects or cemeteries, theft and writing of graphs.

As Kelani points out, the religious objects of various religious confessions, most affected by various attacks, have been Muslim religious objects.

“During the period from January to July 2017, various cases have been recorded, where damaged, were religious objects of various religious confessions”.

“So 21 cases have been recorded when they have been attacked, in some form, Muslim religious objects; 14 cases have been recorded when they were punished, in some form Orthodox religious objects; as well as 3 cases have been recorded when they were attacked, in some form, Catholic religious objects”, suggests Kelan.

In preserving religious cultural heritage, according to Police spokesman Kelani, special police units are engaged.

The “Police have special units for the preservation of religious objects and depending on the need for police presence, making the security of these facilities throughout the territory of Kosovo”, Kelani points out.

Meanwhile, the latest report by the U.S. State Department for Religious Freedoms in 2016 had highlighted incidents of religious character, although it says that often because of the situation in the country, it is difficult to separate the problems of ethnic character and religious character.

The report stresses that the government has worked with the Islamic Community of Kosovo to combat violent extremism and has condemned the damage to religious objects.

Burim Ramadani, from the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies, in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, says this report, in general, has highlighted some of the trends taking place in this area.

The key “problem remains the impact and spread of influence within religious communities, and this is mainly related to the Islamic community of faith. Even in past years, the problems most daily affecting the ideology of violent extremism are primarily within the Islamic religious community, and this has been conveyed for years with certain incidents, primarily to imams or theologians”, Ramadani points out.

Religious artefacts in Kosovo are part of cultural and spiritual heritage.

Regarding the latest report by the US State Department for Religious Freedoms for 2016, representatives of the Ministry of Culture in the Government of Kosovo say that all the suggestions, criticism and remarks of this report have been taken into account, to later become part of political action.

Partue Ukaj from this ministry tells Radio Free Europe that they have increased investments in all areas of heritage in Kosovo.

“The MKRS has worked in many areas for Kosovo's cultural heritage to preserve, help and promote, as the value of all residents living in Kosovo. The 2017 budget in the area of cultural heritage has increased year-on-year. We have 3, 125 684 euros in investments and subsidies” this year, Ukaj says.

However, according to him, for protection of cultural heritage there should be greater support even from municipalities.

Kosovo has the strategy for protecting cultural monuments and other monuments of cult or material and spiritual culture.

Under this strategy, cultural heritage, in the next ten years, will be an important pillar of the country's sustainable development.

The National Strategy for Cultural Heritage 2017-2027 is a comprehensive strategy of the Government of Kosovo in the field of cultural heritage, which reportedly aims at advancing the system and mechanisms for the protection and preservation of Kosovo's cultural heritage, in line with the legal framework, principles and international standards, as well as on the basis of sustainable economic, social and cultural development. Choose a working directory