The Srebrenica Municipal Assembly held a commemorative session, Tuesday, amid the marking of the Srebrenica genocide, from which the councillors, the Head of the Municipality and his Deputy Head sent messages of peace and paid respects to all the innocent Srebrenica victims of the recent war.

Head of the Municipality Mladen Grujicic addressed the present councillors saying:

“The commemorative session shows that it is possible to be united and shows everyone that coexistence in Srebrenica is possible. We cannot change the past, but we must build the future. Everyone who committed a crime against anyone and on anyone’s behalf must answer for his actions. Our task is to create the environment that would provide our citizens with a better life,” he added.

Deputy Head of Srebrenica Municipality Nermin Alivukovic said the commemorative session is a way to remember all the victims from Srebrenica.

“This is another evidence that Serbs and Bosniaks are ready to pay respects to all victims, but also to turn to our common future which has no alternative in Srebrenica,” Alivukovic said.

After the session, Grujicic and the Party of Democratic Action’s (SDA) Alija Tabakovic spoke to N1 about the session. Grujicic told N1’s Adisa Imamovic the Srebrenica residents “must forgive each other,” but “we mustn't forget what happened, so it wouldn’t happen again to our children.”

“We’ve sent a message of peace and coexistence and we really mean it. It’s not a political trick. We want and must create conditions for Srebrenica residents to live better because they deserve it regardless of their nationality. Serbs and Bosniaks have died here and no one can deny that fact,” Grujicic said. “Over 10,000 people have left Srebrenica after the war and we mustn't allow this to continue to happen. Every person is important and they will stay in Srebrenica only if they have the proper conditions to stay.”

He concluded that one of the session conclusions was not to insult anyone, regardless of how different are they to them, “because we are all the same and similar in some way but we must respect each other’s victims.”

He called on everyone to make sure that the following days go without a single incident or a situation that could insult anyone.  

SDA’s Alija Tabakovic told N1 that Srebrenica residents must live in the future, not the past, but they must not forget the past so it wouldn’t happen again.

“This commemorative session has been taking place for the past 10 years. This is good for both Bosniaks and Serbs. We’ll probably never agree on many things concerning the qualification of the crime of genocide against Bosniaks, however, it is no reason not to give attention to the victims regardless to their religious and national background,” he said.