Northern Kosovars Reject Government Authority

In a recent referendum criticized by both the European Union and the Serbian government northern Kosovo's ethnic Serb majority has overwhelmingly rejected the authority of the independent Kosovar government. The Kosovar Parliament downplayed the referendum's results, which saw 99.7% of northern Kosovo's 40,000 Serbs voting against the Albanian-dominated Kosovar government in Pristina, whilst the Serbian government criticized them as harmful to Serbian interests, which under the leadership of Serbian President Boris Tadic have been focused on developing a dialogue with the Kosovar government aimed to allowing for Serbian membership in the EU. More here.

Kosovo's Cemeteries in Poor State

The Kosovo-Metohija mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has released a report on the state of the breakaway region's Serb cemeteries, which receive little to no attention from local authorities and are in an increasingly poor condition. Of the 392 cemeteries in central and southern Kosovo surveyed in the report 229 were listed as being in a poor or bad condition. More here.

Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Supports Northern Kosovar Roadblocks

Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilovic) of the Serbian Orthodox Church has spoken in defense of the right of northern Kosovo's Serbs to maintain their political and economic ties with Serbia in the face of opposition from the Kosovar government and the international community, which want the borders between Kosovo and Serbia to be placed under the control of KFOR and the Kosovar government. Patriarch Irinej expressed his support for Kosovo's Serbs after festal services in honor of the Protection in Pech, Kosovo. More here and here.

KFOR Soldiers Injured in Northern Kosovo Clashes

Four KFOR soldiers have been injured in clashes with northern Kosovo's ethnic Serb majority, which is resisting the efforts of the Kosovar government to instate its control over the region and its borders with Serbia. More here.

Serbian Muslim Leader Call for Autonomy for Sandzhak Region

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls on Serbia to abandon its claims on Kosovo, including predominantly Serb northern Kosovo, to strengthen its candidacy for membership in the European Union a leader of the country's large Serb Muslim minority in Sandzhak, Mufti Muamer Zukorlic, has renewed his calls for the Serbian government to establish Sandzhak as an autonomous region due to its Muslim majority. Sandzhak is one of Serbia's more backward regions, with resentment over its economic state be aggravated by the largely Orthodox Christian composition of its security forces. More here.

Serb Men Marry Albanian Women

As tensions remain high between Serbian and Kosovar authorities an increasing number of men from the southern Serbian region of Raska have begun arranging marriages for themselves with women from neighboring Albania as the ongoing exodus from the Serbian countryside to the cities leaves men in rural areas with fewer marriage options. Roughly 1,000 marriages have already been contracted between the region's Serbian farmers and Albanian women while another 8,000 immigration applications for Albanian fiancees are currently being processed by the Serbian government. More here.

Prizren Diocese Supports KFOR-Serbia Interim Agreement

The Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Raska and Prizren has appealed to its flock in largely Serb northern Kosovo to support the interim agreement reached between the Serbian government and the KFOR over the management of the border crossings in the region between Kosovo and Serbia, arguing that support of the agreement will return peace to northern Kosovo while also displaying the trust of the area's residents in Serbia. More (in Serbian) here.

Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Opposes Partition of Kosovo

Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilovic) has rejected calls for the partition of Kosovo between an independent Albanian-controlled state and the Serb enclave in northern Kosovo, which would remain part of Serbia. The patriarch's opposition was not based on the hope of guaranteeing the freedoms and security of Serbs in an independent Kosovo, but rather on the reincorporation of all of Kosovo into Serbia. More here.

Victims of Operation Storm Commemorated in Belgrade

Bishop Atanasije of Hvosno, auxiliary to the Serbian Orthodox patriarch, led a memorial today in Belgrade's Church of St. Mark in the presence of Serbian President Boris Tadic, other Serbian officials, and a large number of the city's faithful to commemorate the victims of Operation Storm, the offensive by Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina that killed over 3,000 Serbs in Slavonia and Bosnia and resulted in the expulsion of roughly 340,000 Serbs from Slavonia and Muslim-occupied Bosnia.

Although some of the operation's perpetrators have been sentenced by The Hague, the refugees have yet to be allowed to return to Slavonia or Bosnia to reclaim their properties. More here and (in Serbian) here.

Prizren Bishop Calls for Calm in Northern Kosovo

Bishop Teodosije of Raska and Prizren has called on the Kosovar authorities and his flock in northern Kosovo to refrain from resorting to violence in the wake of fighting over the control of border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia, saying that all of the outstanding issues between the Serbian and Kosovar governments should be resolved by negotiation. More (in Serbian) here.

Serbia, Kosovo Tensions Rise

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo rose to new levels overnight as Kosovar police launched attacks intended to seize control of border posts in northern territories still controlled by the surviving remnants of Kosovo's Serb minority. More here.

Bosnian Serbs Commemorate 1992-1995 Victims

On yesterday's feast of Sts. Peter and Paul Bosnia's Serbs, led by Bishop Vasilije (Kacavenda) of Zvornik, commemorated over 3,000 Serb civilians killed between 1992 and 1995 by Bosnian Muslim forces attempting to ethnically cleanse northeastern Bosnia of its Serb population. The leader of this campaign, Naser Oric, was given a 2-year jail term by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, but was later acquitted. More here and (in Serbian) here.

Patriarch Irinej Receives Representatives of Serb Refugees from Croatia

Representatives of associations representing Serb refugees from Croatia have visited the seat of the Pech Patriarchate in Belgrade to bring their concerns to the attention of Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilovich) of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Since the end of the conflict between Croatia and its Serb minority in the 1990s the Croatian government has failed to restore the property of its Serb citizens, identify the remains in unmarked graves across the country, or to establish an impartial system of courts to try those involved in war crimes during the period. More here.

Serbia Protests Reclassification of Kosovar Monuments as 'Byzantine Albanian'

The Serbian government is blocking a Kosovar initiative in UNESCO to reclassify historic Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches in Kosovo as 'Byzantine Albanian' monuments. The move comes as the Kosovar regime has undertaken a sweeping rewrite of its history, recasting the founder of the Serbian Empire and the nobleman who killed Ottoman Padishah Murat during the Battle of Kosovo Polje (among others) as ethnic Albanians. More here.

Memorial Church for Utashe Victims Opened in Bosnia

The foundations of a chapel in Stari Brod, Bosnia, erected in memory of 6,000 Serbs killed there by the Ustashe in 1942 have been consecrated by a representative of Metropolitan Nokolaj of Sarajevo of the Serbian Orthodox Church, with a memorial also being served for the Ustashe victims. More (in Serbian) here.

"Shades of Grey: The Record of Archbishop Stepinac"

An excellent survey on why many have reservations over the veneration of Roman Catholic Archbishop Alojzije Cardinal Stepinac of Zagreb can be found here. Yes, the biases and past political associations of the author, Srdja Trifkovic, are well known. They do not, however, change Cardinal Stepinac's words or actions, and the article is therefore worth a read.

Kosovar Orthodox Bishop Speaks Out Against Partition of Kosovo

Bishop Teodosije (Sibalic) of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and southwestern Serbia has spoken out against proposals by Serbian politicians that Kosovo be partitioned to allow its primarily Serb enclaves to remain part of Serbia, saying that this would result in Kosovo's remaining Serbs suffering even more than they already have. More here.

Serb Referendum Canceled in Bosnia-Herzegovina

A referendum in Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serb Republic over the legitimacy of the country's federal courts, which have been accused of being biased against the country's Serb residents, has been canceled under pressure from the European Union. More here.

Mine Defused in Kosovo Cemetery

A mine planted at a Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko, Kosovo, has been defused by Kosovar police. It is believed the mine was intended to kill Orthodox Christians visiting the cemetery on the upcoming Day of Rejoicing (the Tuesday after St. Thomas' Sunday), on which Orthodox visit cemeteries to leave Paschal eggs on the graves of their loved ones. More here.

Serbian Orthodox Church in Dalmatia Protests Census Irregularities

The Eparchy of Shibenik and Dalmatia of the Serbian Orthodox Church has expressed its concern over the ongoing census in Croatia, saying that it has reports of Serbian Orthodox Christians in Dalmatia being registered as Uniates against their will. More here.