Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, Turkish Parliament member, said he believes that the ruling AKP party rejected the proposal of law recognising the Srebrenica massacre of 1995 as an act of genocide in order not to damage the relations with Serbia. Speaking to N1, Gerleglioglu said the adoption of this law would raise the matter of Srebrenica genocide onto the higher level and would introduce the Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide.

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) reported that the ruling coalition in Turkey led by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP rejected on Wednesday a parliamentary proposal from the main opposition CHP party to recognise the Srebrenica massacre of 1995 as genocide, sparking heated discussion in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

The media outlet reported that the CHP proposal also called for July 11 to be declared the Remembrance Day to commemorate the mass killing of the Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica genocide, done by the Bosnian Serb forces in 1995 but that the AKP-led coalition which has a majority in the Parliament blocked the proposal.

“It was a very serious proposal that would legalise the day of remembrance of the genocide in Srebrenica, and they probably rejected it, considering that it would upset Serbia,” Gergerlioglu told N1.

He explained that the AKP party is the ruling party in Turkey and has established an alliance with other parties including the MHP. Gergerlioglu, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party, said that what the AKP MPs decide does not make much sense, “because one man is making decisions on everything and they only support it by voting.”

“And when they voted against our proposal, they were not guided by their conscience and logic, but voted only because they were ordered to do so. And we all know that this is Erdogan's decision. This is actually a reflection of his foreign policy,” according to him.

He stressed that there is an overall condemning stand on the Srebrenica genocide in Turkey and that the vote against the proposed law is a reflection of Turkey's foreign policy.

“Since the political relations with Serbia are very good at the moment, I assume that he wants to steer the ship so as not to hurt either side,” said the opposition lawmaker speaking to N1.

Turkish embassy in Sarajevo denied the media reports, calling them malicious. The embassy said that the parliament adopted a joint declaration on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, with support of both the AKP and MHP parties.

The embassy did not specifically deny the allegations of the rejected bill.