Serbia's Metohija street Gracanica, institutional response required

At the entrance of Gracanica, very few metres from Pristina, a road is named as “Kosovo Metohija”. This notion, which has not rarely caused verbal tensions between Serbs and Albanians.

According to historian Muhamet Malaj, this term implies the space that today in Kosovo is the region of Dukagjin.

Unfortunately this term with political cootation has started to be used because of Serbia's large policy, which in fact the territory of Dukagjini, or the western part of Kosovo, known since 1281, under the name of “Dukagine”, replace it with another term, but during the Middle Ages, we do not have the term “Metohija<4>, in the sense that today, so it was church property. Today, however, it has received a political conclusion and is a tendency to testify allegedly about the church rule of the Serbian Orthodox Church in these territories. So a church category has taken on a political conclusion and as a kind of reaction to the term “Dukagjin”, Malaj says.

Since 1974, this term has been removed from use and for the territory of Kosovo has been used “Kosovo”.

However, with the tendency to return to that policy, that term has been reusable. Such a term is even being found on the streets of Kosovo.

KosovoPress has tried to get an answer from Dejan Jovanovic, director of Urbanism in the municipality of Grazanices, but that has been impossible.

Neither has the Ministry of Management and Local Power spoken of it, despite our insistences.

Historian Muhamet Malaj says Serbia has never been freed from these old Steoroipes.

Unfortunately, Serbian politics has not yet been freed from these old Stevoipes, rather it is returning to the political market these terminologies, which have been removed from both time and history, because they are historical categories, are not political, contemporary... Tendence so it is political that the Kosovo term is divided another element of Orthodox-Serbian religious proviency<1>, Malaj continues.

As Malaj says, this is among the many concessions Kosovo politics has made.

Gani Hyseni, resident of this municipality, says Kosovo institutions should react quickly.

“In this country at the entrance of Gracanica, the road is named “Kosovo Metohija”, should react to central institutions in the first place, and it's not right that 20 years of running this system like this, because I don't know what way the politicians see this situation. Here is Kosovo, it is not Metohija, but it is Kosovo, but it must urgently handle these things as soon as... Kosovo is Kosovo, not Metohija”, says Hyseni.

While for Kosovo residents in this municipality, such appointment is disturbing, it is not the same as those Serbs.

“For these questions go directly to the municipality”, he says.

Kosovo's team has tried to ask even some Serb citizens of this municipality, but neither of them has spoken before the camera on the issue.

According to historian Muhamet Malaj, if Kosovo were a more serious state, then the use of the term “Kosovo Metohija”, in the sense of Serbs using it, would have to be banned legally. This tendency to use it is aschronic and biased.