'Kosovo' Joining UNESCO Is Unacceptable - Serbian Ambassador

The unrecognized state of Kosovo's admission to UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural heritage body, is completely unacceptable, Serbia's ambassador to the organization, Darko Tanaskovic, told Sputnik Serbia.

"If Kosovo joins UNESCO, from the administrative point of view, Serbian heritage would belong to the territory of the 'state of Kosovo' and it cannot be excluded that there would be attempts to appropriate it," Tanaskovic told Sputnik Serbia.

According to Tanaskovic, the ideology of "Greater Albania" advocates the destruction of remnants of Serbian culture and attempts to create a Kosovo culture which would appropriate everything on its territory. Over 100 Serbian Orthodox churches were destroyed in Kosovo between 1999 and 2004, when the breakaway territory was administered by the United Nations.

"The law of Kosovo's cultural heritage, which still has not been reviewed in the self-proclaimed republic's parliament, stipulated that all heritage would be considered property of the 'state of Kosovo,' which is absolutely unacceptable," Tanaskovic added.

Taskanovic also said that granting the unrecognized state of Kosovo membership in UNESCO cannot happen, even despite partial international recognition.