Avni Spahiu, editor of the book
Adem Lushaj's study book "Deçani Monastery and Social Properties" deserves to be seen on at least two important levels, from which it sheds light on the history, affiliation, role and historical, ethnic and political complications of a monastery which, at least in the recent past it has been used by the Serbian regime as a tool to extend its hegemonic and predatory policy towards Albanians. Secondly, it is a proof of how necessary it is to work with dedication for the illumination of a certain topic, very little affected by Albanian historiography, and how important such studies are, to clarify the historical truth, especially in this case, a vital issue for the Dečani region, since cases like this are similar in other parts of Kosovo regarding the role of the Serbian church in the service of Serbia's politics of the day.
Such a study would be welcome especially before a decision was made by UNESCO to incorporate the Kosovar churches under Serbian heritage, as well as, moreover, to help Kosovo's politicians to have material in this regard and enough facts to defend the truth about Serbian monasteries and churches in Kosovo. Of course, it would help them to defend the truth about these cult objects in front of the world even in the case of the publication a few years ago by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the truth based on Serbian myths about the cultural heritage of Kosovo in the framework of the request for admission to UNESCO . In that context, our side has accepted quite openly and without hesitation that the entire medieval heritage of Kosovo belongs to Serbian provenance, together with the following period which is accepted as Eastern Ottoman. Given that this "reasoning" does not even contain antiquity, in fact, this MFA pamphlet represents a complete denial of the Albanian heritage in Kosovo. In this respect, a book-study of this type, as written by Adem Lushaj, would be more than welcome and would present an aid to learn some simple and undeniable facts related to this issue. Of course, it would also help the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, which, in the absence of facts and relying only on the decisions of the law of the Milosevic regime, recognizes the Dečani Monastery the right to appropriate a significant property of the territory that belongs to the municipality of Deçan.
That Kosovar politics was just as unworthy in post-war Kosovo is also proven by the fact that it has never been insisted that all laws approved by the Milosevic regime be declared illegal and discriminatory with retroactive effect, so that cases like the one of Deçan Monastery the legal basis on which decisive decisions like that of the Constitutional Court could be taken is removed. As a result, the problem has grown to such a moment that today it represents one of the key issues of the dialogue with Serbia and the request of the internationals for the implementation of the decision and the delivery and transfer of the properties and the expansion of the territory of the Monastery of Deçan to the detriment of public interests and private of the Municipality of Deçan.
Other aspects in the book are looked at and studied through analyzes and arguments related to the problem, legal, historical, social and ethnographic arguments related to the truth about the properties and territory of the Monastery, which has not only become a "thorn in the side" for Kosovo but also in perpetrating injustice once again to the detriment of Albanians. These arguments are abundant and supported by documented data from the past to the present day…
The importance of this book, therefore, is multidimensional and presents as an example how to work in the approach of different aspects of the enlightenment of the truth. This is also necessary as a reminder for our historians to deal with this issue of the history of Serbian myths since we are faced with such similar cases almost every day when Serbia calls and trumpets everything from Kosovo's past as Serbian. Often, it achieves this precisely because of the fact that the Albanians are very little concerned with clarifying the historical truth regarding the antiquity and continuous presence of the Albanians in these lands.
