The genocide, which started after the capture of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina by Serb troops under the command of Ratko Mladic on July 11, 1995, in which more than 8 thousand Bosniak civilians were brutally killed in a short time, continues to be the bleeding wound of the Bosnian people. The Srebrenica genocide, which is described as the greatest human tragedy in Europe after the Second World War, maintains its place in the hearts as the deepest pain of the victims' relatives, despite the 26 years that have passed. As part of the 26th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, on Sunday, July 11, when the commemoration program and funeral ceremony will be held, 19 more genocide victims, whose identity has been identified and approved by their families, will be buried in the Potocari Memorial Cemetery. Even after 26 years, more than 1000 victims' bodies are still being searched. The fact that the bodies of more than a thousand victims of the genocide still have not been found despite the years that have passed is considered one of the most important indicators of the extent of the persecution in Srebrenica.
ONLY THE SKULL OF THE YOUNG VICTIM WILL BE BURIED
It is known that thousands of genocide victims buried in mass graves after being killed by Serbian forces in Srebrenica were later transferred to other places. Although the remains of corpses excavated from the mass graves opened after the Genocide are not complete, thousands of family members experience both the sadness and the peace of the thought of burying a few bones of their loved ones and "get a tombstone". Only the skull remains of Azmir Osmanovic, the youngest of the victims to be buried this year, who was 16 when he was killed, will be buried. To date, 6,652 victims of genocide have been buried in the Potocari Memorial Cemetery.
BLOOD-CILLING EXPLANATIONS FROM MLADIC
Cruel Ratko Mladic, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for many war crimes, including the Srebrenica genocide, by the international court in The Hague, captured Srebrenica with the brutal Serbian soldiers under his command on July 11, 1995. Mladic said that they gifted Srebrenica to the Serbian nation on the eve of the Serbian holiday.
"Finally, it is time to take revenge on the Turks (the expression used for Muslims in the region) in these lands," he said.
Although the civilians living in the city hoped to survive by taking refuge with the Dutch soldiers serving in the region under the United Nations (UN), the Dutch handed over everyone without exception to the Serbian troops. Ultimately, in just a few days, at least 8,372 people were brutally murdered in Srebrenica and its surrounding settlements, and many families were exiled from their homes.
ETHNIC CLEANING HAS BEEN DONE
After Srebrenica fell into the hands of Serbian soldiers, some of the Bosnians who did not want to take refuge in the Dutch wanted to reach the region under the control of the Bosnian Army through the forest road. The fate of the majority of those who chose the forest road was the same as the fate of those who took refuge in the UN base. Thousands of Bosniak civilians who went through the forest road, which is also known as the "death road" among the people, were martyred in the traps set by the Serbs. While the civilians who took shelter in the Dutch soldiers realized what would happen to them after the first night, the Serbs, who entered the civilians kept in the accumulator factory used as a base, checked their identity and took some men with an arbitrary choice. The next day, Serbian soldiers waiting just outside the base, just meters away from the Dutch soldiers, put the women and children on buses and separated the men from their families right there. Thousands of men separated from their families were murdered and buried in different mass graves, while women and children were exiled from their hometowns where they had lived for years. While the Serbs aimed to destroy the Bosniak population by killing the men, they called it ethnic cleansing.
NETHERLANDS IS THE PARTNER IN CRIMINAL
In the images taken after the occupation of the city and familiar to the public, the Dutch commander Thom Karremans is holding hands in front of Mladic, where he met on July 11, 1995. It is seen that Mladic, who took Karremans' statement because the Serbs who entered the city were shot at, buys Karremans a drink at the end of the footage and the duo raise a glass together. Another interesting detail is that Mladic gave various gifts to Karremans and his family before the Dutch soldiers were sent off from Srebrenica. While Karremans was never tried for what happened, the Dutch state was found "partially" guilty of the genocide in Srebrenica.