ALBANIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE

The civilized tradition of religious tolerance should be kept intact

Lately, there have been worrying press reports on some vandal acts againstchurch objects and symbols. These acts, which were first thought to beisolated episodes of some irresponsible hand, have become more frequent inthe last two years.

The chronicle of these vandal acts comprises a considerable number ofincidents. Many objects, of both religious and artistic values, havesuffered damages: the Old Church of St. Spyridon at Vuno of Himara and theChurch of St.Michael at Voskopoja were both damaged in 1996.

But, in the last two years, 1998 and 1999, there have been about 10 casesof such attacks. Let us mention some of them: the Monasteries of Kostar andKomena and the Church 'The Sleeping of St.Mary', burnt by unidentifiedpeople, in the district of Delvina; the Orthodox Church of Ksamil wasdesecrated; the Church of St.George at Metoq of Saranda was set on fire;only a week ago, on August 17, the vandal hand damaged seriously the cultobjects in the Church of St.George at Mborje in Korce.

It is widely known that some of these objects have been declared 'monumentsof culture' and they are protected by State.

The AHC regards these vandal acts as dangerous attempts upon the oldcivilized tradition of religious tolerance, that has characterized theAlbanian society. This tolerance has been and still remains a solidfoundation of our national unity. It is clear that, under the actualcircumstances, there exist certain forces who aim at sowing the seed ofsplit and fanaticism.

These repeated criminal acts constitute an open attack against one of thebasic principles of the Constitution, which declares the freedom and theequality of religious beliefs. We express our conviction that they will notsucceed in shaking the harmony of the religious communities in our country.However, it is an urgent task of the authorities to react with thenecessary seriousness, in order to identify and punish the authors of theabove vandal acts. The tradition of the religious tolerance should be keptintact. This is also a moral obligation to the history of this country.