Ceku blames Serbia for the debate over Xhafer Deva's house: He likes it and he likes somebody, it'll be done.

Culture Minister Hajrkull Ceku has written a long explanation in his account in the FB, over the debate on the restoration of Xhafer Deva's home.

The debate also included German Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde, who reacted with concern after news of the restoration of Xhafer Deva's home, indicating that he had been an associate of the Nazis who performed the Holocaust, the genocide of Jews during World War II.

Minister Ceku's complete scripture: 

The restoration of monuments is designed to serve the community, not for historical revision or figure rehabilitation.

The monument is public property, has great aesthetic values, and for the construction typeology presents among the first examples in Kosovo of transition to modern European architecture. It is part of the collective memory of Mitrovica residents and recently a symbol of civic resistance against concrete. It was built in 1930 and in the Cultural Heritage List it figures as “Xhaferra Deva's house” although there was mainly public use, including as a health home. Hence, it is not necessarily to bear that name at any cost. For years it has been the target of certain interest groups, except it has been set on fire, new multistory construction has narrowed it from all sides. The name bearing the monument is the most irreverent marker compared to the public functions and the values this building represents for the city and its citizens.

The building has received the status of cultural heritage asset in defence of the law in 2011. In 2010, the project for the first time was drafted, while the same was revised in 2017. Past restorative intervention by the Ministry of Culture was made in 2018 (first phase, mainly structural consolidation). The latest initiative for restoring this monument belongs to last summer (the second and last stage, functionalisation), and is part of the Ministry of Culture's joint programme with the European Union and UNDP, which includes other monuments (jam, church, house, tower, museum). The selection of these monuments has been made in co-operation with international partners. We first published the news about this in June of last year and then on several other occasions, while this subject has been widely covered by media. It's amazing how the months later and all of a sudden this turned into “disturbing questions”.

After the restoration, the monument is planned to serve the community, and besides the accommodation of the Mitrovica Regional Cultural Heritage Centre, there will be space for art galleries, museum function and other cultural events. Photos and evidence on the past of Xhafer Deva or any other historical personality (he liked someone or not), or the stories of Jews who migrated to Kosovo and the Balkans to save the Holocaust, can be displayed. Museum space can be dedicated to killing during World War II. But the background of the personality cannot be a determining factor if that monument deserves to be restored. May the restored monument also serve as a space of confrontation with the past, where the dark side of our history can be documented and exposed.

Attempting to shift the debate to the Narration Plain on the relevant historical personality severely undermines efforts to protect cultural heritage. Moreover, this approach legitimizes violence against architecture and artefacts. No one is opposed to historical facts, they should be loud and unreserved, before primarily by professionals. However, the rejection of restoration by calling to historical narration is contrary to world conventions and advanced European practices for the protection of cultural heritage.

We don't do the historical revision and rehabilitation of the figures. In fact, the source of all this unnecessary noise is our northern neighbour who has historical revisionism and national policy and who reacts to any positive development in Kosovo. Our job is to protect our monuments. Because by protecting them, we can use them in the ministry. Our monuments are spaces that facilitate the peace dialogue between communities, once helping the economic development of municipalities. Dialogue may not be easy, history may not like one or the other, but the existence of the artifact is a prerequisite for dialogue. The disk that legitimizes violence against architecture is dangerous because it leads to extinction of material culture. Civilised peoples preserve their material culture - the tangible evidence of their history - while history, as we all know, is not always glorious. The latter should neither fear us nor turn into arguments against cultural heritage.

The Ministry of Culture is investing in our entire cultural heritage, indiscriminately, including Islamic mosques and monuments, Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, traditional homes, archaeological sites, spiritual heritage, museums, public buildings and others.

This year the building will be restored that will accommodate the Hebrew Centre in Prizren, while we agree in principle that the Jewish Museum Vienna will help us in treating space. This year's Ministry of Culture plans include the Mother Teresa Museum in Prizren, the Catholic Church in Ferizaj, Jamaica “Suudi Efendi” in Pristina, the Sylejman Vokshi Tower in Gjakova, the City Hamami in Mitrovica.

There will be interference in many other monuments bearing names of personalities from early and late history. Gjikocas mill, Musa Gorani's store, Emin Gjiku complex, Etkem Goden Tower, Hamam of Gazi Mehmed Pasha, the House of Concreters, the Residence of Ibrahim Rugova, the Hajdini Quarter, the Jeronim de Rada School.

On the list of protection are many monuments bearing names of sultans and martyrs, kings and saints, families of traditional towerhouses, political, military, and religious leaders. Each individual story, at different times and regimes, questionable opportunities and wills. The common of all this? Material evidence of the past, or what is called the cultural heritage of Kosovo.

And for the end, it should be explicitly said that helping Kosovo's friendly states in our struggle to save cultural heritage is vital. Therefore, I urge them, as in the past, to be with us even further. With their help, our monuments will rescue more quickly degradation so that they serve the socioeconomic needs of all Kosovo citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion or other affiliation.