Serb Orthodox Church and Negotiations in Rambouillet

Parallel Delegation

The Church proposes regionalisation of Serbia and cantonisation of Kosovo. Why did the bishops argue about whether the delegation of the Church should travel to France

AIM Podgorica, 8 February, 1999 (By AIM correspondent from Belgrade)

"We especially welcome the talks in Rambouillet in France hoping that God's and human justice will be administered there for all, with no difference. In Kosovo and Metohija like everywhere else in the world, all inhabitants must have a right to life, sun, bread, property, language, faith, customs, universal and creative freedom and development", it is said, among other, in the statement of the Bishops' conference of the Serb Orthodox Church which was held last week on the occasion of the beginning of Serb-Albanian negotiations.

At this gathering, however, opinions of bishops were divided concerning the question whether a delegation of the Serb Orthodox Church (SPC) should travel to France. A number of Church dignitaries remained firm in their belief that the Church had no business going to the gathering to which it had not been officially invited. Regardless of that the delegation is in Paris and it will try to "indirectly" make its stand known to mediators in the negotiations, in which apart from regionalization of Serbia and decentralisation of the authorities, "cantonisation of Kosovo" is proposed.

This was to some detail explained by historian Dusan Tabakovic, member of this "parallel" delegation who said that "cantonisation is one of the solutions which enables preservation of multicultural and multiethnic structure of Kosovo with the possibility of giving each ethnic community additional guarantees of protection of its rights". The common stand of all members of the delegation (Amfilohije, metropolitan of Montenegro and the sea coast region, Artemije, bishop of Raska and Prizren region, father Sava, Momcilo Trajkovic, president of the Serb Resistance Movement and historian Dusan Batakovic) is that they do not trust the state delegation. Interlocutor of AIM from the ranks of the Church who wishes to remain anonymous claims that the organisers are not to blame why the delegation of the SPC has not been invited to the negotiations:

"They would rather see bishop Artemije in Rambouillet than all the representatives of ethnic minorities in Kosovo whose political influence is insifignificant, which does not mean that I am against their participation, but... The problem is on our side. Representatives of the authorities are against participation of the Church because it has a more realistic proposal closer to the framework proposed by the Contact Group than the one Ratko Markovic, vice prime minister of Serbian government has taken there. That is the 'problem'".

This allegation is founded on a few facts. First, even before the armed conflicts broke out, through its bishop Artemije, the Church had advocated Serb-Albanian dialogue, even at the time when the officials in Belgrade claimed that the problem of Kosovo did not even exist. That is why the Church dignitaries often repeated that the current authorities were not capable of solving this problem which was indeed gradually slipping out of hand because they failed to inform the public about the actual state of affairs. Instead of that, high political figures used to declare that the economy and everything else operated well in Kosovo.

In November last year, an emergency session of the Holy Bishops' Assembly was held and the conclusion was reached that "SPC is not a political subject, but it has a unique moral right and duty to demand equality for all...".

These are just some of the details which have led to the open conflict between the Church and the state concerning particiation of the highest clerical institutions in the negotiations - talks on Kosovo. Then vice prime minister of Serbia and the head of the Serb Radical Party Vojislav Seselj, seriously insulted bishop Artemije. His statement about departure of the delegation of the Church to France was not less fierce:

"Unfortunately, there are obviously some persons in the hierarchy of the SPC who appear in public with statements aimed against their own nation and their own state. They meddle, engage themselves in petty politicking and wish to turn the Church into a political party, causing severe, very severe damage to the SPC".

The interlocutor of AIM comments on this as follows: "Our Church, thanks to its current peace-making engagement, is appreaciated by the most significant protagonists in the world, but there are certian domestic politicians who underestimate it. I will be grateful if someone should tell me what is the reason for that. Ambassadors of Britain and France in Belgrade served his Holyness the original document of the Contact Group. Besides, our Patriarch can be received by the head of such a great and friendly state such as France, but do you know how much time he needed to reach the president of Serbia...".

Obviously, a great turn has occurred in the stand of the SPC concerning the conflicts in the former Yugoslav space. While during the war in B&H it passed over in silence bombing of Sarajevo from Trebevic, in the developments in Kosovo it has a completely different attitude. Many claim that the heads of the Church have learnt their lesson in B&H and Croatia and become aware how disastrous it had been for it that it had supported the former leaders of the Serb entity, but at certain intervals those in Belgrade as well. Just as a reminder, when the then president of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, had signed the peace agreement in Dayton, Amfilohije, metropolitan of Montenegro and the sea coast region, literally said: "Cursed be the hand that signed it". Such a curse is equal to anathema. That same metropolitan is nowadays the head of the delegation of the SPC in France which will try to do its best, and the impression is that it does not wish to support solely the Serb party, but to fight to keep Kosovo multiethnic. There is a special reason for that, of course, in view of the fact that ethnic Albanians have absolute majority not only in respect to the Serbs, but also in respect to members of other ethnic communities in the province.

If however, certain other facts are taken into account, the situation in Kosovo after signing of the peace agreement should be resolved as far as the Church is concerned. In one of the articles of the draft prepared by the Contact Group it is stated that parishes even in regions ruled by ethnic Albanians will enjoy full autonomy and local authorities will not have the right to meddle in their affairs on any grounds. According to statements of several Serbian politicians and historians, based on the land register, the Serb Orthodox Church owns about 60 per cent of the land in Kosovo which was nationalised after the Second World which is not impossible since there are 1300 monasteries and churches there. Perhaps the state would nowadays gladly return this land to the real owner for tactical reasons, but if it did that in the southern province, it would have to apply the same measure in other parts of FR Yugoslavia. One could hardly expect it to do anything of the kind though.

Ejub Stitkovac (AIM)