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Shkatërrimi i trashëgimisë shqiptare në Kosovë

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Monumente Islamike të dëmtuara e të shkatërruara gjatë Konfliktit të Kosovës (1998-1999).

Gjatë periudhës së sundimit jugosllav në Kosovë, ndaj trashëgimisë arkitekturore që u përkiste shqiptarëve të Kosovës u tregua një përçmim i institucionalizuar dekada para luftës së fundit të shekullit të 20-të.[1] Shumë objekte kulturore të shqiptarëve në Kosovë u shkatërruan gjatë periudhës së sundimit jugosllav dhe veçanërisht gjatë Luftës së Kosovës (1998–1999), që përbënte një krim lufte e që shkeli Konventën e Hagës e të Gjenevës.[1] Gjatë luftës, 225 nga 600 xhamitë në Kosovë u dëmtuan, vandalizuan ose shkatërruan, së bashku me objekte tjera islame.[2][3] Përveç kësaj, 500 kulla shqiptare (shtëpi tradicionale guri) dhe tre nga katër qendrat e mirëmbajtura urbane të periudhës osmane në qytetet e Kosovës u dëmtuan rëndë duke rezultuar në humbje të madhe të arkitekturës tradicionale.[4][5] Bibliotekat publike të Kosovës, në veçanti 65 nga 183 ekzistuese u shkatërruan plotësisht dhe humbën 900,588 vëllime, ndërsa bibliotekat islame pësuan dëme dhe që rezultuan në humbjen e librave të rrallë, dorëshkrimeve dhe koleksioneve të tjera të rëndësishme të letërsisë e kulturës.[6][7] Arkivat e Bashkësisë Islame të Kosovës me të dhënat që përfshinin 500 vjet gjithashtu u shkatërruan.[6][7] Gjatë luftës, trashëgimia arkitekturore islame është konsideruar si pronë shqiptare për forcat paraushtarake dhe ushtarake serbe, e shkatërrimi i trashëgimisë arkitekturore jo-serbe ishte një pjesë përbërëse e spastrimit metodik dhe të planifikuar etnik të shqiptarëve në Kosovë.[5][8]

Historia

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Periudha jugosllave

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Pazari i Prishtinës, shkatërruar nga brigadat komuniste të punës të quajtur Fronti populluer

Kosova, duke qenë për rreth pesë shekuj pjesë e Perandorisë Osmane, kishte shembuj të shumtë së arkitekturës osmane.[9] Pas Luftës së Dytë Botërore, në Jugosllavi qeverisnin autoritetet komuniste, të cilat zbatonin plane për modernizimin e peizazhit arkitekturor dhe projektimit të vendbanimeve urbane.[10] Këto masa synonin ndryshimin e pamjes së vendbanimeve që konsideroheshin të kenë elemente që lidhen me periudhën osmane. Sipas komunistëve ato elemente konsideroheshin si "të prapambetura".[10] Duke filluar nga fundi i viteve 1940-të, trashëgimia arkitekturore e qendrave kryesore urban të Kosovës filloi të shkatërrohet, kryesisht nga dora e pushtetit vendas, si pjesë e skemave të modernizimit urban.[9] Gjatë viteve 1950-të ky proces u ndërmor nga Instituti i Planifikimit Urban (serbokroatisht: Urbanistički zavod) i Jugosllavisë, me shembullin më të mirënjohur në Kosovë, atë të projektit të modernizimit socialist të Prishtinës.[9] Pazari osman i Prishtinës përmbante 200 dyqane, të ndara në blloqe për zeje e shoqëri artizane, nën pronësinë e shqiptarëve. Pazari ishte mbledhur rreth një xhamie e i vendosur në qendër të qytetit.[9] Ky kompleks u shpronësua në vitin 1947 dhe u shkatërrua nga brigadat e punës, të njohur në shqip si Fronti populluer dhe në serbisht si Narodni front.[9]

Pazari i Prishtinës, me ndërtimin e ndërtesave të reja dhe ndërtesat të shkatërruara dhe të pa shkatërruara

Në vitin 1952, qeveria jugosllave themeloi Institutin për Mbrojtjen e Monumenteve Kulturor të Kosovës, të ngarkuar me trajtimin e çështjeve që kanë të bëjnë me trashëgiminë kulturore në Kosovë.[11] Pas Luftës së Dytë Botërore, në Jugosllavinë komuniste, vetëm një monument prej periudhës osmane kishte statusin monument kulturor, e ai monument ishte Tyrbja e Sulltan Muratit, ndërsa statusi i mbrojtjes shtetërore i është dhënë kryesisht objekteve të Kishës Ortodokse Serbe në Kosovë.[9] Kriteret për listimin e xhamive si monumente historik ishin shumë më kufizuese sesa për arkitekturën ortodokse serbe.[11] Ndërtesat që kishin statusin merrnin fonde për restaurime, ndërsa xhamitë e shumta nga periudha osmane që nuk ishin të mbrojtura u rinovuan gjatë kësaj kohe pa mbikëqyrjen e institutit, gjë që rezultoi shpesh në dëmtimin e elementeve arkitekturore origjinale.[11] Në prag të Luftës së Kosovës, vetëm 15 nga 600 xhamitë e Kosovës kishin statusin e monumenteve historike, kurse 210 kisha ortodokse serbe, varreza dhe manastire kishin statusin e monumenteve historike, edhe pse mëse gjysma e xhamive datonin nga periudha osmane, pra nga shekujt XV-XIX.[11]

Lufta e Kosovës (1998–1999)

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Një shtëpi e shkatërruar me xhaminë e dëmtuar në sfond, në një fshat të Kosovës, 1999.

Lufta e Kosovës ishte një luftë çlirimtare e luftëtarëve shqiptarë, kryesisht nga rradhët e Ushtrisë Çlirimtare të Kosovës (UÇK), që luftonin kundër forcave paraushtarake dhe ushtarake serbo-jugosllave (JNA) gjatë viteve 1998–1999, luftë që përfundoi me ndërhyrjen ushtarake të Organizatës së Traktatit të Atlantikut Verior (NATO).[12][13][14] Gjatë luftës, forcat serbo-jugosllave vunë në shënjestër arkivat dhe ndërtesat e ndryshme shtetërore, muzetë dhe bibliotekat; bibliotekat islame, shkollat myslimane dhe teqetë.[12]

Para luftës, koleksioni rezervë që përbëhej nga kopje të shumta të botimeve të Bibliotekës Kombëtare të Kosovës në Prishtinë, i mbajtur për përdorim brenda Kosovës për bibliotekat e tjera, u shkatërruan në një fabrikë letre në Lipjan me urdhër nga drejtorit serb të bibliotekës.[15] Gjatë luftës, 65 (ose një e treta) nga gjithsej 183 bibliotekat publike të Kosovës ishin plotësisht të shkatërruara, ku rezultuan 900,588 vëllime të shkatërruara.[16] Bibliotekat e shkollave të Kosovës u shkatërruan gjithashtu gjatë luftës.[16] Në vitin 1999 disa arkiva dhe përmbjedhje kulturore dhe shtetërore të caktuara u çuan nga Kosova në Serbi, si për shembull arkivi i Institutit për Mbrojtjen e Monumenteve të Kosovës u hoq nga ndërtesa e institutin në Prishtinë nga punonjësit e Ministrisë së Brendshme të Jugosllavisë.[12][17] Ministria serbo-jugosllav e Drejtësisë deklaroi se heqja e të dhënave publike nga Kosova në Serbi në vitin 1999 ishte "për të parandaluar separatistët shqiptar shkatërrimin, ose falsifikimin [e tyre]".[17] Disa regjistra komunalë të Kosovës u dogjën gjithashtu në vendet ku u mbajtën.[17]

Arkivi qendror historik i Bashkësisë Islame të Kosovës që përmbante të dhënat e bashkësisë myslimane të 500 viteve u dogj më 13 qershor 1999 nga policia serbo-jugosllave pas një armëpushimi dhe fare pak orë para ardhjes së trupave paqeruajtëse të NATO-s në Prishtinë.[16] Në Gjakovë, teqeja e Bektash Axhiz Babait u dogj gjatë majit nga ushtarët serbo-jugosllavë me granata ndezëse të lëshuara nga shpatullat, dhe rezultoi në humbjen e 2,000 librave dhe 250 dorëshkrimeve tejet të rrallë, si përshembull një dorëshkrim në gjuhën perse i shekullit të 12.[18][19] Biblioteka Hadum Suleiman Aga (themeluar më 1595) në Gjakovë u dogj më 24 mars nga ushtarët serbo-jugosllav, duke rezultuar në humbjen e 1300 librave të rrallë dhe 200 dorëshkrimeve të shkruara në arabishti, osmanisht, e me alfabetin arab të shqipes, së bashku me arkivat rajonale të Bashkësisë Islame që përfshinin dokumente deri në shekullit 17.[16][19] Në Pejë, biblioteka e Atik Medresesë ishte djegur me vetëm muret e jashtme të mbetura duke rezultuar në humbjen e 100 kodeve të dorëshkrimeve dhe 2,000 librave të shtypur.[19] Shkolla teologjike Atik Medrese në Ferizaj që daton nga periudha osmane u dogj dhe me mbetjet e saj u buldozuan.[19] Muzeu i Lidhjes së Prizrenit në Prizren u shkatërrua nga granatat e gjuajtur nga policia serbo-jugosllave gjatë marsit 1999.[20]

Simboli kryq serb me katër C-të cirilik gdhendur në një ndërtesë gjatë luftës në Kosovë, 1999.

Pas luftës, një raport i gushtit të vitit 1999 nga Mjekët për të Drejtat e Njeriut (PHR) dokumentoi se brenda Kosovës u shkatërruan 155 xhami, bazuar në llogaritë e refugjatëve.[21] Sipas Bashkësisë Islame të Kosovës, kohëzgjatja e luftës ka rezultuar në dëmtimin, shkatërrimin dhe shembin të 217 xhamive, 4 medreseve dhe 3 teqeve.[22] Nga 498 xhamitë aktive në Kosovë, Tribunali Penal Ndërkombëtar për ish-Jugosllavinë (TPNJ) ka dokumentuar se 225 xhami kanë pësuar dëmtime ose shkatërrime nga ushtria serbo-jugosllave.[23] Gjithsej, tetëmbëdhjetë muajt e luftës kunduer ushtrisë serb-jugosllave në vitet 1998–1999 brenda Kosovës rezultouan në dëmtimin e 225 (ose një e treta) nga 600 xhami, të cilat u vandalizuan ose shkatërruan.[24][20] Disa objekte islame u dëmtuan brenda kontekstit të luftimeve.[22]

Xhamitë dhe ndërtesat e tjera islame në disa lagje urbane dhe fshatra u bënë objektivat e vetme të dhunës kundër arkitekturës, ndërsa në vende të tjera çdo xhami dhe të gjitha ndërtesat Islame u bënë shënjestër.[24] Shpesh në përfundimin e një sulmi ndaj një fshat dhe nga ikja e popullsisë nga fshatrat, qytezat dhe qytetet, sulme ndaj xhamive, ndërtesave të tjera islame dhe arkitekturës u ndërmorën gjerësisht nga ushtria serbo-jugosllave.[24][25] Sulmet në disa raste konsistonin në rrëzimin e minareve të xhamive, në majat e minareve të hequra nga qitje artilerie, në mjetet shpërthyese të vëna brenda minareve dhe në xhami, në rrafshimin e xhamive me buldozer, në zjarre të filluara në xhami, në minaretët të qëlluara nga artileri, dhe në mure të mbushura me plumba.[26][27][23][18] Gjithashtu ndodhi edhe vandalizmi i xhamive, vandalizmi antishqiptar dhe anti-islam, me grafitimin e fasadave me imazhe dhe tekst, edhe në disa shembuj, mbishkrime antishqiptare dhe pro-serbe janë gdhendur në muret të xhamive.[26][27][23] Mbishkrimet lënë mbi xhami nga ushtria serbo-jugosllave shpesh kishin fjalët "Kosovo je Srbija" (Kosova është Serbi), "Srbija" (Serbia), "Mi smo Srbi" (Ne jemi Serbët), ndërsa grafitët më të zakonshme ishte një kryq me katër C cirilik në çdo qoshe, që është një simbol kombëtar serb.[26] Një studim të thelluar nga Mjekët për të Drejtat e Njeriut për refugjatët shqiptar të Kosovës, gjeti se shqiptarët shpesh nuk ishin të pranishëm që të shihnin shkatërrimin e arkitekturës islame për shkak të ikjes të tyre.[25] Këto ngjarje u vërtetuan gjithashtu në raportet nga organizatat e të drejtave të njeriut për aktivitetet e forcave serbo-jugosllave dhe viktimave të tyre që ishin të synuara e të fokusuara për të arritur një shkatërrimin të tillë.[25] Në disa raste kishte dëshmitarë për këtyre sulmeve kundër monumenteve historike.[13]

Xhamia me minare të shpërthyer në Skënderaj, Kosovë 1999.

Gjithashtu ndodhi një vandalizmi i kishave katolike shqiptare të Kosovës.[18] Kisha Katolike e Shën Antonit në Gjakovë kishte dëme të mëdha bërë nga ushtarët serbo-jugosllav.[20] Oficerët serbo-jugosllavë në Prishtinë përzunë murgeshat dhe një prift nga kisha katolike e Shën Antonit dhe instaluan radar avionësh në kambanore, që rezultoi në bombardimin e NATO-s të kishës dhe shtëpive përreth.[18] Kurse 500 (ose 90 për qind) e banesave të kullave, që u përkisnin familjeve të shquara shqiptare, së bashku me pazaret historike ishin në shënjestër; ku tre nga katër qendrat urbane të periudhës osmane të ruajtura mirë në qytetet e Kosovës janë dëmtuar rëndë duke rezultuar në humbje të madhe të arkitekturës tradicionale.[13][20] Arkitektura e goditur ka pësuar dëme që nuk nuk mund të kenë zëvendësim.[27] Monumentet e shkatërruara dhe dëmtuara shpesh ishin në zonat relativisht të qeta, që dëshmon se dëmet e bëra ishin të qëllimshme dhe jo si rezultat shkëmbimeve ushtarake të luftës.[27] Gjatë luftës (mars-qershor 1999), Komisioneri i Lartë i Kombeve të Bashkuara për Refugjatë (UNHCR) vlerësoi se 70,000 shtëpi në Kosovë u shkatërruan.[27]

Shkatërrimi i arkitekturës historike të Kosovës ndodhi në kontekstin e fushatës serbe të spastrimit etnik, i cili pasoi një model që ka ndodhur në Bosnjë dhe u përkeqësua, për shkak të mësimeve të efikasitetit të mësuar nga ky konflikt.[20] Shkatërrimi i trashëgimisë arkitekturore joserbe ishte një pjesë përbërëse metodike dhe e planifikuar e spastrimit etnik në Kosovë.[20] Studiuesit e Universitetit të Harvardit Andrew Herscher dhe András Riedlmayer[20] theksojnë se shkatërrimi i shtëpive dhe pronave individuale, përveç arkitekturës historike, kuptohet se e gjithë popullata shqiptar e Kosovës ishte shënjestruar si një entitet i përcaktuar kulturor gjatë luftës.[27]

Trashëgimi kulturore pas luftës në Kosovë

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Pas luftës së Kosovës (1999) u shfaqën raportet nga gazetarët dhe refugjatët për shkatërrimin e trashëgimisë kulturore të Kosovës dhe u ngrit nevoja për të hetuar këto pohime dhe për të dokumentuar dëmet.[28] Kombet e Bashkuara (OKB) krijuan një administratë civile në Kosovë, megjithatë një nga agjencitë e saj, Organizata e Kombeve të Bashkuara për Edukim, Shkencë, dhe Kulturë (UNESCO), që merret me çështjet e trashëgimisë kulturore, nuk kishte plane për të ndërmarrë një aktivitet të tillë.[28] Andrew Herscher dhe Andras Riedlmayer kanë kryer hulumtime, ngritën fonde dhe 3 muaj pas luftës mbaroi në 1999, shkuan në Kosovë në tetor dhe dokumentuan dëmin bërë ndaj institucioneve dhe ndërtesave të trashëgimisë kulturore.[28] Me përfundimin e hulumtimit në terren, gjetjet dhe dokumentacioni i tyre u vendosën në një bazë të dhënash, dhe një raport përfundimtar u shkrua me kopjet e dhëna Departamentit të Kulturës së Misionit të OKB-së në Kosovë dhe Zyrës së Prokurorit që kryesonte gjykatën e OKB-së për krimet e luftës në Hagë.[28]

Gjyqi i Sllobodan Millosheviçit

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Në gjyqin e Sllobodan Millosheviçit (2002-2006), presidenti serbo-jugosllav gjatë luftës në Kosovë (1999), padia e TPNJ-së kundër tij iu referua metodave të persekutimit kundër shqiptarëve të Kosovës për të "bërë shkatërrime sistematike të papërmbajtura, me qëllim dëmtimin e bashkësive të tyre fetare dhe monumenteve kulturore".[29] Prokuroria në gjykim u përpoq të provonte Millosheviçin fajtor për këto veprimet dhe ngjarjet.[29] Në mbrojtjen gjyqësore të tij, Millosheviçi pohoi se vendet e trashëgimisë shqiptar të Kosovës, përveç monumenteve historike dhe fetare serbo-ortodokse, u dëmtuan nga bombardimet e NATO-s.[30] Autoritetet serbo-jugosllave në disa raste pretenduan se NATO shkatërroi monumentet, megjithatë ekipi hetues i udhëhequr nga Andras Riedlmayer, i gjeti ato të paprekura, si përshembull dy ura osmane dhe Xhaminë e Sinan Pashës.[30] Hetuesit e shfajësuan NATO-n nga përgjegjësia, përveç dëmtimit të një çatie të xhamisë së fshatit dhe një kishe katolike të braktisur e cila u dëmtua përmes një shpërthimi ajror pasi një bazë ushtarake aty pranë ish goditur nga një raketë.[30] Raporti i Riedlmayerit në gjyq arriti në përfundimin se kullat dhe një e treta e xhamive ishin të dëmtuara dhe shkatërruara, me tre qendrat urbane të periudhës osmane të shkatërruara prej zjarreve të ndezura qëllimisht.[30] Raporti gjithashtu vuri në dukje se ushtria serbo-jugosllave, forcat paraushtarake dhe policore dhe në disa raste civilët serbë i kishin bërë ato sulme, sipas dëshmitarëve okularë.[30] Riedlmayer zbuloi se forcat serbo-jugosllav përdorën si baza veprimi dy kisha katolike, gjë që në të drejtën ndërkombëtare është e ndaluar.[30] Ekipi hetues theksoi se shkatërrimi dhe dëmtimi i vendeve të trashëgimisë shqiptare të Kosovës u bë gjatë luftës së vitit 1999 përmes sulmeve tokësore dhe jo sulmeve ajrore.[30] Me javët e mbetura para përfundimit të gjykimit, nuk u arrit asnjë vendim gjyqi për shkak të vdekjes së Millosheviçit në mars, 2006.[31]

Pas luftës në Kosovë

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Pamje e një qyteti të shkatërruar gjatë luftës së Kosovës, 1999.

Shkatërrimi i kishave të shumta serbe ka ndodhur në një mjedis pas luftës bërë nga disa shqiptarë, të cilët e konsideronin këtë trashëgimi arkitekturore si hakmarrje ndaj qeverisë së Milosheviçit dhe forcave të saj ushtarake për dhunën e kryer gjatë luftës në Kosovë (1998-1999).[32][33] Qeveria serbe ka përdorur sulme të tilla si bazë për të kërkuar nga Kombet e Bashkuara të lejojnë policinë e saj dhe forcat e armatosura të kthehen dhe ruajnë monumentet historike në Kosovë.[33] Kërkesa nuk pati sukses dhe sulmet pas luftës ndaj trashëgimisë kulturore serb janë përdorur nga institucionet kulturore serb për të shmangur vëmendjen nga sulmet mbi trashëgiminë kulturore shqiptar të bëra gjatë luftës.[33] Këto institucione raportuan për dëmin bërë pas ludtës ndaj trashëgimisë serbo-ortodokse dhe prodhuan raporte që janë pranuar nga institucionet ndërkombëtare të trashëgimisë kulturor si vlerësime neutrale dhe objektive.[33]

Në botë, pak vetëdije ose shqetësim është shfaqur për trashëgiminë kulturore që i përkaset shqiptarëve të Kosovës, e cila u dëmtua gjatë luftës.[33] Qeveria serbe vetëm një herë e pranonte zyrtarisht se trashëgimia kulturore shqiptar ishte dëmtuar brenda kontekstit të një vlerësimi të krimeve të luftës i NATO-s, gjë që përfshinte edhe bombardimet ajrore të disa monumentet historike shqiptare.[33] Vëmendja e vogël ligjore ndaj trashëgimisë islame të dëmtuar rëndë ka ndodhur, pavarësisht nga dokumentacionit i TPNJ-së për xhamitë e shkatërruara dhe të dëmtuara të Kosovës.[23] Ka pasur ngurrime për të pranuar dëmtimet e bëra ndaj trashëgimisë kulturore shqiptar në Kosovë nga ana e bashkësisë ndërkombëtare.[34] Bashkësia ndërkombëtare e ka parë misionin e saj si humanitar në Kosovë për të siguruar popullatën e saj dhe çështja e trashëgimisë kulturore të dëmtuar është lënë mënjanë drejt përqëndrimit për "rindërtimin" e Kosovës.[34]

Bashkësia Islame e Kosovës prej 1999 përmes financimit nga burime të ndryshme, është angazhuar në rindërtimin e 113 xhamive të dëmtuara nga luftës në Kosovë.[35] Gjithsej 211 xhami të dëmtuara nga luftës në Kosovë janë (ri)ndërtuar përmes kontributeve nga dhuruesit dhe komunitetet vendas, agjencitë joqeveritare dhe qeveritë e huaja, si ndihma nga disa vende muslimane, veçanërisht Turqia dhe shtetet arabe.[36][23] Organizatat bamirëse islam hynë në Kosovë dhe rindërtuan xhamitë e periudhës osmane të shkatërruara gjatë luftës në stilin arab të gjirit Persik dhe ishin përgjegjës për shkatërrimin e komplekseve shekullor fetare dhe xhamitë nën mbulesën e "rindërtimit".[37] Gazetarët në Kosovë raportuan se ndihma për komunitetet vendas ishte e varur nga ata të lejuan bamirësit islame të veçantë për rindërtimin e xhamive vendor.[37] Bibliotekat, varrezat dhe mauzolet që ishin shekullore u bënë subjekt i shkatërrimit nga bamirësit islame, që i konsideronin ata të jenë "idhujsh".[37]

Ndihmë ka ardhur nga institucionet e perëndimit për rindërtimin e xhamive, si nga qeveria italiane që rindërtoi dy xhamitë në Pejë dhe Universiteti i Harvardit, i cii rindërtoi një xhami të rëndësishme në Gjakovë.[38] Hebrenjtë të Kosovës gjithashtu financuan rindërtimin e një xhamisë në Gjakovë.[39] Mbrojtja, restaurimi dhe rindërtimi i monumenteve dhe trashëgimisë arkitekturore islam nuk ka marrë shumë interes nga autoritetet shtetërore të Kosovës në kontrast me arkitekturën që i përket kishës ortodokse serbe.[23]

Referime

[Redakto | Redakto nëpërmjet kodit]
  1. ^ a b Herscher, Andrew; Riedlmayer, András (2000). "Monument and crime: The destruction of historic architecture in Kosovo". Grey Room (1): 109-110. "Reciprocally, architectural heritage associated with Kosovo’s Albanian majority has been subjected to institutionalized disregard in the management of Kosovo’s cultural heritage and, during the 1998-1999 conflict, catastrophic destruction. While this destruction constitutes a war crime in violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, it is also the counterpart to a sanctioned cultural heritage policy carried out for decades before the war."
  2. ^ Herscher, Andrew (2010). Violence taking place: The architecture of the Kosovo conflict. Stanford: Stanford University Press. fq. 87. "The attack on Landovica’s mosque was reprised throughout Kosovo during the eighteen months of the Serb counterinsurgency campaign. Approximately 225 of Kosovo’s 600 mosques were vandalized, damaged, or destroyed during that campaign. In some urban neighborhoods and villages, mosques and other Islamic buildings were the only targets of architectural violence; in other settings, all mosques and Islamic buildings were targeted. In the trial of Slobodan Milošević, and in an emerging historical discourse, as well, the above serves as key evidence of the “ethnic” dimension of the violence inflicted against Kosovar Albanians, with mosques posed as objective ethno-religious signs or symbols. But this destruction provides, more fundamentally evidence of the performative dimension of “ethnic violence”—of the way in which violence “does not essentially limit itself to transporting an already constituted semantic content guarded by its own aiming at truth.”In Landovica, Serb forces toppled the minaret of the village mosque following their attack on the village and the flight of its inhabitants. This was typical of attacks on mosques and other buildings identified as examples of Islamic heritage."
  3. ^ Mehmeti, Jeton (2015). "Faith and Politics in Kosovo: The status of Religious Communities in a Secular Country". In Roy, Olivier; Elbasani, Arolda. The Revival of Islam in the Balkans: From Identity to Religiosity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. fq. 72.
  4. ^ Herscher & Riedlmayer, Monument and crime, 2000. fq. 111-112. "Serb forces initiated a counterinsurgency campaign in March 1998, directed against the KLA and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. In this campaign, as large numbers of Kosovo’s Albanian population were forcibly deported from their homes, the historic architecture associated with that population was systematically targeted for destruction. This targeting took place both as groups of people were being expelled from their places of residence, apparently to diminish these people’s incentive to return to their hometowns and villages, but also after expulsions took place, apparently to remove visible evidence of Kosovo’s deported Albanian community. The primary buildings singled out, by Serb forces for destruction in 1998 and 1999 were mosques; at least 207 of the approximately 609 mosques in Kosovo sustained damage or were destroyed in that period. Other architectural targets of Serb forces were Islamic religious schools and libraries, more than 500 kullas (traditional stone mansions, often associated with prominent Albanian families), and historic bazaars. Three out of four well-preserved Ottoman- era urban cores in Kosovo cities were also severely damaged, in each case with great loss of historic architecture."
  5. ^ a b Bevan, Robert (2007). The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War. Reaktion books. fq. 85. "A similar propaganda war developed when the conflict expanded into Kosovo, with both sides, Serbs and Kosovars, making sweeping claims regarding the extent of deliberate damage and cultural cleansing. The Serbian government and the Serbian Orthodox Church maintain websites that go further in charging NATO air attacks with causing enormous destruction to the churches and monasteries of their religious heartland. This damage was widely reported in the media internationally. Careful post-war research by Harvard University academics Andrew Herscher and András Riedimayer nailed many of the lies, while making an objective assessment of the very real and extensive damage to mosques, churches, archives and vernacular buildings made by forces on the ground. Two Ottoman bridges supposedly destroyed by NATO, for example, were in fact intact. Major damage to the Roman Catholic church of St Anthony in Gjakova, reportedly bombed by NATO, was actually committed by Serbian soldiers. The Memorial Museum of the League of Prizren was not destroyed by a 'NATO missile' but by Serbian police in March 1999 using rifle-propelled grenades. Although the priceless Serbian Orthodox heritage of Kosovo was damaged during the Kosovo conflict and after (and Serbia itself did indeed lose some buildings to NATO raids), it is the Muslim heritage, as in Bosnia, that was devastated by the war. A third of Kosovo’s historic mosques were destroyed or damaged, as were 90 per cent of the traditional kulla (stone tower-houses), as part of the Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing that followed the pattern set in Bosnia, and made worse by the efficiency lessons learned there. The destruction of Kosovo's non-Serb architectural heritage was a planned and methodical element of ethnic cleansing."
  6. ^ a b Riedlmayer, András (2007). "Crimes of War, Crimes of Peace: Destruction of Libraries during and after the Balkan Wars of the 1990s". Library Trends. 56 (1): 124. "By the end of the eleven week war, 65 of Kosovo’s 183 public libraries, a third of the total, had been completely destroyed. The Kosovo public library network’s combined losses were assessed at 900,588 volumes. More than a third of school libraries in Kosovo were also destroyed in the war (Fredericksen & Bakken, 2000). A number of religious libraries and archives of Kosovo’s Islamic community were also burned. Among them was the Islamic endowment (waqf) library of Hadum Suleiman Aga in the western Kosovo town of Gjakova/Djakovica, founded in 1595 and burned by Serb troops at the end of March 1999 with the complete loss of its collection of 200 ancient manuscripts and 1,300 old printed books. Another irretrievable loss was that of the central historical archive of the Islamic Community of Kosovo, in Priština, with community records going back more than five hundred years, which was burned by Serbian police on June 13, 1999, after the armistice and just hours before the arrival of the first NATO peacekeeping troops in the city (Riedlmayer, 2000)."
  7. ^ a b Frederiksen, Carsten; Bakken, Frode (2000). Libraries in Kosova/Kosovo: A General Assessment and a Short and Medium-term Development Plan (raport). IFLA/FAIFE. fq. 38-39. "The burning on 24 March of the library of Hadum Suleiman Aga in Djakovica with holdings of ca. 200 manuscripts and 1,300 rare books in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and Aljamiado (Albanian in Arabic script), and the regional archives of the Islamic Community (KBI) with records going back to the 17th century. The destruction of the Bektashi tekke (dervish lodge) of Axhize Baba in Djakovica (Gjakova), which had one of the most valuable collections of Islamic manuscripts in the region. The fire consumed 250 manuscripts and more than 2,000 rare books; the computerized catalogue was burned along with the library. The tekke was burned to the ground at the beginning of May 1999 by Serbian troops using shoulder-launched incendiary grenades. The library of the Atik Medrese, in Peja, was burned to the ground, with only parts of the outer walls still standing and its collection of 2,000 printed books and ca. 100 manuscript codices a total loss. The Ottoman-era theological school, the Atik Medrese in Urosevac (Ferizaj) was also burned down and the remains levelled by bulldozer."
  8. ^ Herscher, Violence taking place, 2010. fq. 13. "One aspect of this consolidation involved the narration of late-socialist vandalism against Serbian Orthodox graves and cemeteries as "ethnic violence" carried out by Kosovar Albanians against Serbs; another involved the postsocialist destruction of Islamic buildings posed as Albanian patrimony by Serb military and paramilitary forces."
  9. ^ a b c d e f Herscher, Violence taking place, 2010. fq. 29-30. "Kosovo was a province of the Ottoman empire for five centuries and its territory contained many examples of Ottoman architecture, yet only one Ottoman-era monument, the Sultan Murat Turbe, was classified as “cultural monument” in this period; the other such monuments were drawn from the patrimony of the Serbian Orthodox Church.... Premodernity was reified not only by preservation of its treasured signs, however, but also by the elimination of its obsolete components: an abject heritage whose purpose, in modernization, was to be destroyed. This destruction was also institutionalized in socialist modernization. By the 1950s, this modernization was the responsibility of the Urban Planning Institute (Urbanistički zavod) in the capital cities of all republics. Before then, however, destruction was also planned and managed by local governments as part of urban modernization schemes. In Kosovo, beginning in the late 1940s, the destruction of abject heritage took place in each major city, most prominently in Kosovo’s capital city of Prishtina. The modernization of Prishtina was initiated with the destruction of the Ottoman-era bazaar (čaršija) at the center of the city: in 1947, the provincial government expropriated the buildings in the bazaar in the name of urban renewal and then demolished them.... Laid out in the fifteenth century, Prishtina’s bazaar was composed of some two hundred shops arranged around a mosque (xhami in Albanian, džamija in Serbian); these shops were owned by and operated by members of Prishtina’s Albanian community. The shops were set within blocks, each devoted to a particular guild or craft.... Like other public works at the time in Yugoslavia, the destruction of Prishtina’s bazaar was organized by labor brigades called Popular Fronts (Fronti populluer in Albanian, Narodnifront in Serbian)."
  10. ^ a b Herscher, Violence taking place, 2010. fq. 28-29.
  11. ^ a b c d Herscher & Riedlmayer, Monument and crime, 2000. fq. 110-111. "While the construction of religious buildings in Yugoslavia was restricted from the establishment of Tito’s Communist government in 1945 until the relaxation of church-state relations in the mid-1970s, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Kosovo, founded in 1952, institutionalized the production of cultural heritage in Kosovo and provided another field on which an ideology of culture would play itself out. By the time of last year’s war, some 210 Serbian Orthodox churches, monasteries, and gravesites were listed as protected historic monuments in Kosovo, including over forty churches built between the 1930s and the 1990s. In contrast, only fifteen of the more than six hundred mosques in Kosovo were listed as historic monuments, even though well over half of these mosques date from the Ottoman era (fourteenth through nineteenth centuries). As the criteria for considering mosques as “historic monuments” were far more restrictive than those for Serbian Orthodox buildings, Kosovo’s cultural heritage was materially transformed: while listed buildings received all funds designated for historic preservation, the renovation of unlisted mosques was undertaken without the Institute’s supervision and frequently resulted in the damaging or destruction of original architectural elements."
  12. ^ a b c Herscher, Violence taking place, 2010. fq. 11. "The 1998-99 counter-insurgency campaign conducted by Serb forces in Kosovo comprised such a catastrophe, as its targets included the buildings and collections of various state archives, libraries, and museums; and Islamic libraries, theological schools, and Sufi lodges. Some archives and collections were also removed from Kosovo into Serbia proper; in 1999, for example, the archives of the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of Kosovo were taken from the institute's building in Prishtina/Priština by staff from the Yugoslav Ministry of Interior, as of the writing of this books, these materials remain in the ministry's possession."
  13. ^ a b c Herscher & Riedlmayer, Monument and crime, 2000. fq. 111-112. "Serb forces initiated a counterinsurgency campaign in March 1998, directed against the KLA and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population. In this campaign, as large numbers of Kosovo’s Albanian population were forcibly deported from their homes, the historic architecture associated with that population was systematically targeted for destruction. This targeting took place both as groups of people were being expelled from their places of residence, apparently to diminish these people’s incentive to return to their hometowns and villages, but also after expulsions took place, apparently to remove visible evidence of Kosovo’s deported Albanian community. The primary buildings singled out, by Serb forces for destruction in 1998 and 1999 were mosques; at least 207 of the approximately 609 mosques in Kosovo sustained damage or were destroyed in that period. Other architectural targets of Serb forces were Islamic religious schools and libraries, more than 500 kullas (traditional stone mansions, often associated with prominent Albanian families), and historic bazaars. Three out of four well-preserved Ottoman- era urban cores in Kosovo cities were also severely damaged, in each case with great loss of historic architecture."
  14. ^ Koktsidis, Pavlos Ioannis; Dam, Caspar Ten (2008). "A success story? Analysing Albanian ethno-nationalist extremism in the Balkans". East European Quarterly. 42 (2): 164-171.
  15. ^ Teijgeler, René (2006). "Preserving cultural heritage in times of conflict". In Gorman, Gary Eugene; Shep, Sydney J. Preservation management for libraries, archives and museums. Facet Publishing. fq. 158. "The situation of the archives in the Kosovo Conflict also applied to the libraries. At the beginning of October 1990, ethnic Albanian faculty arid students were ejected by Serbian police from classrooms and offices, and the University of Priština became an apartheid institution reserved for ethnic Serbs only. At the same time, non-Serb readers were banned from the National and University Library and Albanian professionals were summarily dismissed from their positions at the libraries. The acquisition of Albanian-language library materials effectively ceased. No records and printed books relating to the Albanian community were acquired after 1990 and only 22,000 items were added to the collections in Kosovo in that period. A few years later a number of library facilities in Kosovo were converted to other uses. Parts of the National and University Library building in Priština were turned over to a Serbian Orthodox religious school; library offices were used to house Serb refugees from Croatia and Bosnia. For almost a decade, Kosovar Albanians, the majority of Kosovo’s inhabitants, were not allowed to set foot inside their libraries. The Library’s reserve collection — multiple deposit copies of publications in Albanian kept for exchange and for distribution to public libraries elsewhere in Kosovo — were gone; they had been sent to the Lipljan paper mill for pulping before the war by order of the Serbian library director (Riedlmayer, 1995, 2000a)."
  16. ^ a b c d Riedlmayer, András (2007). "Crimes of War, Crimes of Peace: Destruction of Libraries during and after the Balkan Wars of the 1990s". Library Trends. 56 (1): 124. "By the end of the eleven week war, 65 of Kosovo’s 183 public libraries, a third of the total, had been completely destroyed. The Kosovo public library network’s combined losses were assessed at 900,588 volumes. More than a third of school libraries in Kosovo were also destroyed in the war (Fredericksen & Bakken, 2000). A number of religious libraries and archives of Kosovo’s Islamic community were also burned. Among them was the Islamic endowment (waqf) library of Hadum Suleiman Aga in the western Kosovo town of Gjakova/Djakovica, founded in 1595 and burned by Serb troops at the end of March 1999 with the complete loss of its collection of 200 ancient manuscripts and 1,300 old printed books. Another irretrievable loss was that of the central historical archive of the Islamic Community of Kosovo, in Priština, with community records going back more than five hundred years, which was burned by Serbian police on June 13, 1999, after the armistice and just hours before the arrival of the first NATO peacekeeping troops in the city (Riedlmayer, 2000)."
  17. ^ a b c Teijgeler, Preserving cultural heritage, 2006. fq. 157-158. "As early as March 1991, records appear to have been deliberately removed. When the Serbs finally withdrew in 1999 public records and archives comprising almost the entire documentary base for the orderly functioning of government and society in Kosovo were removed; some municipal registries were even burned on the spot. The Ministry of Justice in Belgrade announced that public records in Kosovo had been removed to Serbia ‘to prevent the Albanian secessionists from destroying or forging [them]’ (Jackson and Stepniak, 2000). Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Kosovars, who were deprived of their personal documents when they were expelled in the spring of 1999, whose passports or licences have expired, who wish to register a marriage, buy or sell property, settle a legal dispute or claim an inheritance, are left stranded in a legal and documentary limbo (Frederiksen and Bakken, 2000; MacKenzie 1996; Riedlmayer, 2000a)."
  18. ^ a b c d Schwartz, Stephen (2000). Kosovo: Background to a War. London: Anthem Press. fq. 161. "Elsewhere in Gjakova, the Axhize Baba Bektashi teqe, the largest and oldest in the city, was burned in May, with the loss of 2,000 rare books and more than 250 manuscripts, including a 12th century manuscript in Persian. One of the Bektashis told Riedlmayer, "Five hundred years of Bektashi history and culture in this area perished in the ... roof collapsed, and the library of the Atik medresa was burned, with 2,000 books and around 100 manuscripts destroyed. Riedlmayer also found sites where all that remained of mosques were bulldozed, empty lots. Albanian Catholic churches were also vandalized. Riedlmayer learned that Serb officers had installed anti-aircraft radar in the steeple of St. Anthony's Catholic church in Prishtina, after ejecting the priest and nuns; NATO bombing of the radar, and therefore the church and surrounding houses, would have been labelled an atrocity."
  19. ^ a b c d Frederiksen, Carsten; Bakken, Frode (2000). Libraries in Kosova/Kosovo: A General Assessment and a Short and Medium-term Development Plan (raport). IFLA/FAIFE. fq. 38-39. "The burning on 24 March of the library of Hadum Suleiman Aga in Djakovica with holdings of ca. 200 manuscripts and 1,300 rare books in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and Aljamiado (Albanian in Arabic script), and the regional archives of the Islamic Community (KBI) with records going back to the 17th century. The destruction of the Bektashi tekke (dervish lodge) of Axhize Baba in Djakovica (Gjakova), which had one of the most valuable collections of Islamic manuscripts in the region. The fire consumed 250 manuscripts and more than 2,000 rare books; the computerized catalogue was burned along with the library. The tekke was burned to the ground at the beginning of May 1999 by Serbian troops using shoulder-launched incendiary grenades. The library of the Atik Medrese, in Peja, was burned to the ground, with only parts of the outer walls still standing and its collection of 2,000 printed books and ca. 100 manuscript codices a total loss. The Ottoman-era theological school, the Atik Medrese in Urosevac (Ferizaj) was also burned down and the remains levelled by bulldozer."
  20. ^ a b c d e f g Bevan, Robert (2007). The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War. Reaktion books. fq. 85. "A similar propaganda war developed when the conflict expanded into Kosovo, with both sides, Serbs and Kosovars, making sweeping claims regarding the extent of deliberate damage and cultural cleansing. The Serbian government and the Serbian Orthodox Church maintain websites that go further in charging NATO air attacks with causing enormous destruction to the churches and monasteries of their religious heartland. This damage was widely reported in the media internationally. Careful post-war research by Harvard University academics Andrew Herscher and András Riedimayer nailed many of the lies, while making an objective assessment of the very real and extensive damage to mosques, churches, archives and vernacular buildings made by forces on the ground. Two Ottoman bridges supposedly destroyed by NATO, for example, were in fact intact. Major damage to the Roman Catholic church of St Anthony in Gjakova, reportedly bombed by NATO, was actually committed by Serbian soldiers. The Memorial Museum of the League of Prizren was not destroyed by a 'NATO missile' but by Serbian police in March 1999 using rifle-propelled grenades. Although the priceless Serbian Orthodox heritage of Kosovo was damaged during the Kosovo conflict and after (and Serbia itself did indeed lose some buildings to NATO raids), it is the Muslim heritage, as in Bosnia, that was devastated by the war. A third of Kosovo’s historic mosques were destroyed or damaged, as were 90 per cent of the traditional kulla (stone tower-houses), as part of the Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing that followed the pattern set in Bosnia, and made worse by the efficiency lessons learned there. The destruction of Kosovo's non-Serb architectural heritage was a planned and methodical element of ethnic cleansing."
  21. ^ Human Rights Watch (2001). Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. United States: Human Rights Watch. fq. 145.
  22. ^ a b Tawil, Edward (February 2009). "Property Rights in Kosovo: A Haunting Legacy of a Society in Transition". International Center for Transitional Justice. fq. 11. "The Board of the Islamic Community of Kosovo estimates that 217 mosques were damaged, demolished or destroyed as well as four Medresses (traditional Islamic schools) and three Tekkes (traditional Sufi prayer halls). Although some of these buildings were damaged in the course of the fighting, it is clear that others were deliberately targeted."
  23. ^ a b c d e f Mehmeti, Jeton (2015). "Faith and Politics in Kosovo: The status of Religious Communities in a Secular Country". In Roy, Olivier; Elbasani, Arolda. The Revival of Islam in the Balkans: From Identity to Religiosity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. fq. 72.
  24. ^ a b c Herscher, Andrew (2010). Violence taking place: The architecture of the Kosovo conflict. Stanford: Stanford University Press. fq. 87. "The attack on Landovica’s mosque was reprised throughout Kosovo during the eighteen months of the Serb counterinsurgency campaign. Approximately 225 of Kosovo’s 600 mosques were vandalized, damaged, or destroyed during that campaign. In some urban neighborhoods and villages, mosques and other Islamic buildings were the only targets of architectural violence; in other settings, all mosques and Islamic buildings were targeted. In the trial of Slobodan Milošević, and in an emerging historical discourse, as well, the above serves as key evidence of the “ethnic” dimension of the violence inflicted against Kosovar Albanians, with mosques posed as objective ethno-religious signs or symbols. But this destruction provides, more fundamentally evidence of the performative dimension of “ethnic violence”—of the way in which violence “does not essentially limit itself to transporting an already constituted semantic content guarded by its own aiming at truth.”In Landovica, Serb forces toppled the minaret of the village mosque following their attack on the village and the flight of its inhabitants. This was typical of attacks on mosques and other buildings identified as examples of Islamic heritage."
  25. ^ a b c Herscher, Violence taking place, 2010. fq. 87-88. "Though widespread, most violence against mosques and Islamic architecture occurred after the populations who used those buildings had been expelled from their villages, towns, and cities. In the most comprehensive survey of Kosovar refugees, for examples, less than half of respondents reported seeing mosques or other places of worship attacked. [18] Reports by human rights organizations on the actions of Serb forces during the counterinsurgency also corroborate the limited visibility of violence against religious sites to their intended victims. The initial audience of violence against putative ethnic “signs” or “symbols,” that is, was composed of the authors of that violence. Considered instrumentally, violence against architecture is understood to intend the eradication of its targets."; p.168. [18]."Physicians for Human Rights"
  26. ^ a b c Herscher, Violence taking place, 2010. fq. 88. "Typically, rather, they were transformed through particular sorts of damage and vandalism: mosques were vandalized; minarets were toppled or their tops were shot off; walls were riddled with bullets; and facades were graffitied with texts and images (Figures 3.5—3.8).... As graffiti, some of the representations comprised by violence were linguistic texts. Frequent graffiti on mosques were “Srbija” (Serbia), “Kosovo je Srbija” (Kosovo is Serbia), and “Mi smo Srbi” (We are Serbs) (Figures 3.6—3.8). In these graffiti, that is, Serbs represented that they were Serbs and that Kosovo was Serbian: the very presumptions of Serb collective agency in Kosovo. The most common graffiti was a cross with the Cyrillic C in each corner (Figures 3.6 and 3.8). This cross, a Serbian national symbol, was used by Serbs in Kosovo during the 1998—99 war to identify their homes and apartments to Serb military and paramilitary forces; identified as such, these properties were marked as Serb-occupied so that military and paramilitary forces passed over them as they moved through towns and cities to expel Kosovar Albanians. Yet these forces often graffitied this same symbol on mosques, appropriating a representation of ethnic identity and ethnic space and inscribing it on a representation of ethnic alterity."
  27. ^ a b c d e f Herscher & Riedlmayer, Monument and crime, 2000. fq. 112. "The damage sustained by these buildings was not collateral. Damaged and destroyed monuments were often situated in undisturbed or lightly-damaged contexts, and the types of damage which monuments received (buildings burned from the interior, minarets of mosques toppled with explosives, anti-Islamic and anti-Albanian vandalism) indicate that this damage was deliberate, rather than the result of monuments being caught in the cross-fire of military operations. In a number of cases, eyewitnesses have also been able to precisely describe attacks on historic monuments. While the United Nations High Commission on Refugees has estimated that 70,000 homes were destroyed in Kosovo from March to June 1999, the destruction of historic architecture has a unique significance in that it signifies the attempt to target not just the homes and properties of individual members of Kosovo’s Albanian population, but that entire population as a culturally defined entity."
  28. ^ a b c d Riedlmayer, Crimes of War, Crimes of Peace, 2007. fq. 124-125. "Reports by journalists and refugees during the Kosovo war, indicating that the destruction of cultural heritage that had accompanied ethnic cleansing in Croatia and Bosnia during the wars of the early 1990s was now happening again in Kosovo, suggested the need for a systematic postwar field survey to examine allegations and to document the damage. As the United Nations was taking over civil administration of the territory, it seemed logical that UNESCO would conduct such a survey. But inquiries with UNESCO headquarters in Paris revealed that the international body had no such plans. In the end, it seemed like the only way to make such a survey happen was to do it on one’s own. After raising the requisite funds and doing a considerable amount of library research, I went to Kosovo in October 1999, three months after the end of the war, in the company of architect Andrew Herscher, to document damage to cultural heritage buildings and institutions (Herscher & Riedlmayer, 2001). After completing our field survey, we consolidated our findings and documentation into a database and wrote up a final report, copies of which were presented to the Department of Culture of the UN Mission in Kosovo and to the Office of the Prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague."
  29. ^ a b Armatta, Judith (2010). Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic. Durham: Duke University Press. fq. 92. "One of the methods used to persecute the Kosovar population was to wreak systematic and wanton destruction and damage to their religious sites and cultural monuments, according to the indictment. Such destruction committed on political, racial, or religious grounds is a crime against humanity. Through the testimony of Andras Riedlmayer, an international expert on the Balkan cultural heritage of the Ottoman era, the prosecution sought to prove Milosevic guilty of it."
  30. ^ a b c d e f g Armatta, Twilight of Impunity, 2010. fq. 93-94. "Riedlmayer, associated with Harvard University, provided a report of his investigations of war damage to cultural and religious sites in Kosova. Based on a two-year study that he undertook with the architect and Balkan specialist Andrew Herscher between July 1999 and the summer of 2001, sponsored by Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the report concluded that three out of four urban centers dating to the Ottoman years were devastated as a result of intentionally set fires. Serbian police, army troops, paramilitaries, and in some cases Serb civilians perpetrated these attacks, according to eyewitnesses. In addition, traditional Albanian residential buildings, called kullas, were targeted for destruction. Over one-third of all mosques in Kosova were damaged or destroyed. While Milosevic asserted that NATO bombardment was responsible for damage to Kosova Albanian heritage sites as well as for damage and destruction to Serbian Orthodox religious and historical monuments, Riedlmayer’s study absolved NATO of responsibility for all but damage to the roof of one village mosque and to a disused Catholic church, damaged by an air blast during a missile strike on a nearby army base. In several cases where Serb authorities alleged complete destruction of monuments by NATO (such as the Sinan Pasha Mosque and two Ottoman bridges), investigators found the monuments completely intact. Riedlmayer described how investigators reached their conclusions that damage was not caused by air strikes.... Throughout the province Riedlmayer and his co-investigators found damage and destruction of Kosova Albanian cultural heritage sites from ground attack during the war and what appeared to be Kosovar attacks against Serbian cultural heritage sites after the war. He also learned that Serbian forces used two Catholic churches as bases of operation, which was prohibited by international law. Riedlmayer later testified to similar destruction of Islamic religious and cultural sites during the Bosnian war."
  31. ^ Riedlmayer, Crimes of War, Crimes of Peace, 2007. fq. 126.
  32. ^ Herscher, Violence taking place, 2010. fq. 14. "Part III examines the destruction of architectural surrogates of unavenged violence in postwar Kosovo. After the 1998—99 war, calls for retribution for prior violence inflicted by Serb forces against Kosovar Albanians circulated through Kosovar Albanian public culture. The postconflict destruction of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries was narrated as a form of this retribution, with architecture becoming a surrogate for the agencies deemed responsible for the violence to be avenged—initially the Milošević regime and its military forces. The fabrication of architecture as a surrogate for unavenged violence, however, not only mediated an already constituted concept of violence but also ramified on that concept; the destruction of churches and monasteries represented not only revenge for the violence of the 1998—99 war but also a continuous sequence of actual or imagined violent acts stretching back to the medieval construction of churches on crypto-Albanian religious sites. The destruction of architectural surrogates of violence thereby elicited a potentially endless justification for destruction rather than a politics of justice."
  33. ^ a b c d e f Herscher & Riedlmayer, Monument and crime, 2000. fq. 112-113. "The Serbian government has used these attacks as the basis to petition the United Nations to allow the return of its troops and police to Kosovo to guard historic monuments. While this petition was unsuccessful, the postwar attack on Serbian cultural heritage has been appropriated by Serbian cultural institutions as a means to deflect attention from the assault on Albanian cultural heritage that preceded it. These institutions have reported only on the postwar damage sustained by Serbian Orthodox heritage and these reports have been regarded as neutral and objective assessments by international cultural heritage institutions. As a result, there has been little awareness of or concern for the damaged cultural heritage of Kosovo’s Albanian majority. The only official acknowledgment by the Serbian government that damage was done to Albanian cultural heritage in Kosovo was made in the frame of an assessment of NATO war crimes, which ostensibly included the aerial bombardment of several Albanian historic monuments."
  34. ^ a b Herscher & Riedlmayer, Monument and crime, 2000. fq. 113. "The international community in Kosovo has also been reluctant to acknowledge the damage that was done to Albanian cultural heritage in Kosovo. The initial UNESCO report on the state of cultural heritage in Kosovo after the war was based primarily on information supplied by Serbian cultural heritage institutions. More generally, however, the international community has conceived of its mission in Kosovo as simply a humanitarian triage to provide for the basic needs of Kosovo’s ravaged postwar population, a population which is dealt with less as peoples with distinct and valuable cultural heritages than as generic refugees. As some commentators have pointed out, the NATO intervention in Kosovo was based on an ideology of victimization: “when NATO intervened to protect Kosovar victims, it ensured at the same time that they would remain victims, inhabitants of a devastated country with a passive population.” The same ideology also underlays the bracketing-off of cultural heritage from what is called the “reconstruction” of Kosovo."
  35. ^ Blumi, Isa; Krasniqi, Gëzim (2014). "Albanians’ Islam". In Cesari, Jocelyne. The Oxford Handbook of European Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. fq. 503.
  36. ^ Ismaili, Besa; Hamiti, Xhabir (2010). "Kosovo". In Nielsen, Jørgen; Akgönül, Samim; Alibašić, Ahmet; Maréchal, Brigitte; Moe, Christian. Yearbook of Muslims in Europe: Volume 4. Leiden: Brill. fq. 293.
  37. ^ a b c Ghodsee, Kristen (2009). Muslim lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Transformation of Islam in postsocialist Bulgaria. Princeton: Princeton University Press. fq. 137.
  38. ^ Mehmeti, Faith and Politics in Kosovo, 2015. fq. 72-73.
  39. ^ Mehmeti, Faith and Politics in Kosovo, 2015. fq. 73.

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  • Targeting History and Memory, SENSE - Qendra e Drejtësisë Tranzicionale {{citation}}: Mungon ose është bosh parametri |language= (Ndihmë!) (të përkushtuar ndaj studimit, hulumtimit dhe dokumentimit të shkatërrimit dhe dëmtimit të trashëgimisë historike gjatë luftës Ballkanike të viteve 1990-të. Kjo ueb-faqja përmban dokumente gjyqësore nga Tribunali Penal Ndërkombëtar për ish Jugosllavinë (TPNJ)).
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