If someone is deserving that we live in peace today then those are the genocide victims' families, who were calling for peace while seeking for justice and truth, Bosnia Presidency member Zeljko Komsic said Monday in a virtual conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
The conference titled ‘Preserving the peace, keeping the victims in our memories’ was held under auspices of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, on the day marking the anniversary of the peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
Related news
“Today we can tell with certainty that the agreement was not just but at that moment it was a necessity. It was necessary to end the unseen suffering the people in this country was going through,” said Komsic, the Croat member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency.
He also said that “besides the Greater Serbia regime, the UN are also responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica, by allowing it to happen in a zone under their protection.”
Komsic expressed his deepest respect for the genocide victims and those who survived, stressing that they are the ones to thank for the peace today.
“If someone is deserving that we have the peace and the state today, 25 years after the signing of the Dayton Agreement, not an ideal one but our state, then those are the victims’ families who were calling for peace and not conflict or revenge, while seeking for truth and justice,” he underlined.
Addressing the video conference, Bosniak member of the Presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, recalled of the messages that the world leaders conveyed this year on July 11, the genocide anniversary, noting that they speak volumes about “the biggest crime on Europe's soil since the World War II.”
He also said that the genocide in Srebrenica was “one of the best documented crimes in history, thanks to the work of The Hague Tribunal.”
“The narrative that was grounded on facts from the international courts’ judgements will always stand above all attempts to establish anti-civilisational narratives,” he added.
Husein Kavazovic, the Head of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warned that the “political and economic aggression on our country” lasts even today, although the Dayton Agreement ended the sufferings 25 years ago.
“Denial of crimes has continued, our people is still stigmatised and denied, the diminishing of crimes and criminals with silent approval of our neighbours’ governments has continued. The time has come for the civilised world to stop the denial of Srebrenica genocide after 25 years now that our neighbours are not willing to do so alone, the same way they had to be stopped from doing those crimes,” said Kavazovic.
