Austria’s Justice Minister, Bosnia-born Alma Zadic, who met with representatives of the union of Bosnian associations in Austria, ‘Consilium Bosniacum’, on Friday, received the ‘Silver Flower of Srebrenica’ from its creator, Mensur Bektic, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide.
“We handed her the Silver Flower of Srebrenica and that's why I came here from Sarajevo. She reacted quite emotionally, with a lot of sympathy for the victims of Srebrenica,” Bektic said, adding that he invited Zadic to visit Potocari and Srebrenica and that she accepted.
According to Bektic, the Flower is meant to remind not only of victims of the Srebrenica Genocide but also of the victims of the massacres in Visegrad, Foca, Podrinje, Sarajevo and other places across Bosnia.
“The Flower of Srebrenica is worn by all those who sympathise with the victims, who want to send a message to ensure that Srebrenica is not forgotten and that it does not happen to anyone ever again,” he said.
Bektic explained that the Silver Srebrenica Flower is not mass-produced and that every one of them is unique and made especially with a certain person in mind.
“I make them for individuals and institutions who wish to gift them to foreign delegations that come to Bosnia for official visits,” he said.
The Flower represents sorrow, but also hope. Even its cost is symbolic: 117 Euros – 11 July.
The Flower has 11 petals and is made up of seven components. The colour white represents the innocence of the victims and the colour green is the colour of the coffins.
“Proceeds from the sales are intended for scholarships for pupils and students from Srebrenica. To date, we have distributed 57 scholarships from 500 to 700 Bosnian Marks, which were chosen by the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica. This year, 14 scholarships were awarded,” he said.
Bektic also pointed out that many celebrities from across the world wore the Flower, such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Ministers of Cameroon, the UK, Malaysia, Germany and others.
