Today, Berkovo is a deserted village. Albanian houses still stand untouched and they are the only remaining objects in the village. Golub Jevtic and his son Radovan have recently visited Berkovo in a visit organized by KFOR. They encountered a horrific scene.
"We had been told that the village had been burnt down, but that is not true. It was methodically destroyed. All Serb houses have been looted and demolished. Everything that could be taken away, has been taken apart and taken away by the Albanians. When I say everything, I mean literally everything. Furniture, household objects, doors, windows, roof tiles, roof beams, floors, even outhouses. Wells were mined and destroyed, all the trees were cut down. We had a wonderful orchard. In the whole village of Berkovo, today there is only one inhabitant: my friend Bozo's dog," says Golub.
In mid June of last year all Serbs from Berkovo escaped to Serbia. Only the two most courageous locals stayed behind and they were murdered. During the presence of Serbian authorities no Albanians were killed or hurt in the village.
"We had no problems with our Albanian neighbors," says Radovan, "we even protected them from our policemen and soldiers. They kept asking whether we had problems with Albanians. They said that if we had any we should let them know and they would take care of that. There was no need to report anything. When the bombardment started, the Albanians packed up and left for Albania. A neighbor, an Albanian, took on departure a pendant with the picture of mother Theresa and gave it to me. He said: 'Thank you, you could have killed us hundred times over'
"We are angry with our Albanian neighbors, although we know that they did not demolish our houses. They could have protected our houses the way we protected theirs. They could have used their influence with their Catholic brothers, Italians from KFOR. They could have done a lot and they did not try anything. Some witnesses even claim that our Albanian neighbors killed the last two locals who stayed in the village".
Father and son Jevtic's visit to their village was approved by KFOR. They took a bus from Kraljevo to the village of Gorazdevac. There they were taken over by KFOR and escorted to the Pec Patriarchy. From there, in a convoy of Italian armored troop carriers they traveled to their villages.
"We paid 340 dinars for a ticket to Gorazdevac," continues Radovan. "In Gorazdevac we were searched. They were looking for weapons. Then they escorted us to the Patriarchy, put us in troop carriers and took us to our villages. They allowed us only five minutes next to the remains of our houses. Nevertheless, even that was too much. There was nothing to see. Devastation and only devastation. As if someone systematically tried to destroy any possibility of our return."
However, the Jevtics believe that there is a winning combination for their return. Golub's second son Radosav attended in mid April a meeting with Oliver Ivanovic, the president of the Executive Council of the Serb National Council of Kosovska Mitrovica, in Kraljevo.
"There is no reason not to trust Oliver Ivanovic, but also there is no reason to unnecessarily risk the only thing we have left: our lives. We are dreaming about the return to our village, but he and all others who are trying to convince us to return will have to offer very serious guarantees for our security. That is the only condition for our return. Everything else will be easy. We shall build new houses, dig new wells, if KFOR provides security for us. KFOR can do it. They only need to show the will to do it."