Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem falling within the competence of the Government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem does not fall within our competence, we will forward your message to the competent institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

March pogrom must never happen again

Gracanica, 17 March 2022

Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic attended in Gracanica today the event marking 18 years since the pogrom against the Serbian population in the province.

Petkovic underlined that 17 March 2004 represents the suffering of the Serbian people at the beginning of the 21^st century in the heart of Europe and an unpunished crime.

On this day 18 years ago, not only 19 people were killed, 4,012 Serbs expelled, several cities and villages ethnically cleansed and 935 Serbian homes burned, but also 35 Serbian churches, monasteries and residencies were destroyed, from the martyrs’ Monastery of the Holy Archangels, Our Lady of Ljevis and the Devic Monastery, to other Medieval pearls of our and world cultural heritage, Petkovic stated.

According to Petkovic, we must observe and remember 17 March because we must never again allow the ideology of evil because it destroys everything it comes across.

He added that even today, despite all pressures and attacks, we are fighting to preserve peace and stability which we need more than anything in these lands.

Every year we will mark 17 March as a day of unforgettable, the day which must never happen again, but it is also important that we turn to the future and say that we need coexistence and dialogue with Albanians because destiny has determined that we live together in these lands, Petkovic underlined.