Srebrenica is just a focal point of the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as similar crimes were committed in other cities with the same intentions and the same genocidal consequences during the 1992-95 war,the Bosnian Croat member of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, said in the Memorial Church in Berlin ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide.
“Had all the evils and suffering that happened in the Second World War, which left unforeseeable consequences, not been repeated in my country at the end of the last century, I would have said that it is easy to remember. Today, given my experiences, I cannot say that” Komsic said.
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“Remembering is difficult. But although it is difficult, it is necessary. We in Bosnia and Herzegovina can not, will not, and don’t want to forget what happened to us. If we do, we admit that all those who wanted to destroy our country and eliminate an entire people from the face of the earth were right,” he said.
Srebrenica will remain a burden to the world as it is remembered as a stain in modern history, he said, adding that rulings by international and domestic courts so far have only partly satisfied justice.
“However, it is as if some, even in our neighbourhood, who are responsible for the genocide, expect the victim to extend a hand to the perpetrator for the sake of some more comfortable future – instead of the perpetrator kneeling before the victim in the name of a just and peaceful future,” he said.
The victims of the genocide have shown many times that they are ready for reconciliation, although such a crime was committed against them, he said.
“They like reconciliation, but they like the truth more, and I believe they are completely right as reconciliation without the truth is fake reconciliation and an introduction into new tragedies,” he said.
“We need a partnership based on common interest, and we believe that peace is the common interest of all. Nobody wants that more than we do in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that is why we insist more than others in the region on suppressing any sign of an emergence of ideologies that could repeat or try to repeat a genocide,” he said.
“We will never stop insisting on that because it is not only a political but also a moral responsibility. We want to be responsible to ourselves and to others. We want to break the chain of suffering that permeates our common history once and for all,” he concluded.
