Today is July 11th. 26th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide. Funeral prayers will be held for the bodies removed from the mass graves, as every year. This year, again, tears will flow. That day, the pain of which still burns the hearts, will once again ravage everyone. And again this year, what happened that day, which is one of the shameful pages of humanity, will be announced to the whole world with the words of the witnesses.
I was there on July 11, 2009, and I was in Srebrenica. We went to Bosnia and Herzegovina with a delegation to attend the commemoration meetings. It was one of those days when I felt the pain and desperation to the very marrow of my bones. It was a day that I cannot forget.
In the last days of the 20th century, those who lived in the heart of Europe, the so-called cradle of civilization, were the kind that would make people ashamed of their humanity. On the contrary, the Dutch UN soldiers who were alleged to have been there to establish peace, on the contrary, became accomplices of the genocide and handed over our 8372 Bosnian brothers, who were entrusted to them, to the Serbs, according to official figures.
When we set out from Sarajevo on July 11, we did not know exactly what we would encounter in Srebrenica, which we saw on the screens, listened to and read from the news. The first thing that caught your eye as you passed through the Serbian areas was the police taking gear along the way. They were especially waiting around their own cemeteries. When we asked the reason, we learned from those who went to Srebrenica that they did it to protect their cemeteries. Even today, I remember very well how involuntary and bitter expression was put on the face of the delegation at that moment.
The Bosnians who flocked to Srebrenica were like a living funeral. Nobody wanted to say anything, everyone's lips were constantly moving and they were praying all the way. Think about it, they directly experienced the massacres and genocide that you couldn't stand even when we were far away.
Traffic was heavy at times along the road. There was some movement on the bus. Our Bosnian brothers began to talk in an angry tone. When we asked why, he said, “Serbs do not allow entry to Srebrenica by the usual route. The road will be longer,” they said. Reluctantly, the bus headed into the forest and left Srebrenica behind, heading towards the rear entrance. After time, we saw that we were approaching the city from the opposite side. And we saw the first house, it had two floors. Our flag was hanging on the balcony. We had an old grandmother and another lady who was younger than her. Our grandmother wore a white blanket that our mothers used for prayer. Both of them were in tears. They were watching the people entering the city from the balcony wall they put their hands on and giving a message with the Turkish flag. I was devastated by their sight. I didn't have time to get up from my seat. Srebrenica greeted us with tears. Then we went to Potocari cemetery. We toured the factory where the Dutch soldiers delivered the Bosnians to the Serbs. We saw traces of blood mixed into the dirt on the walls. The cemetery was near the factory. The bodies, which were taken out of mass graves and identified by DNA tests, were handed over to their owners and were waiting for their prayers to be performed. They did not want to see eye to eye with anyone, they were shedding their tears with their heads bowed at the head of those green coffins. After the ceremony, speeches and funeral prayers, light coffins with only bones were taken to the shoulders and everyone started running to bury their relatives. I have never forgotten what I saw that day. I had witnessed the photograph of desperation with all its nakedness. It was the greatest human tragedy since the Second World War. The Serbs acted so systematically that they put metal pieces in the graves so that the mass graves could not be detected by satellites. However, the corpses gave another life to the land, and Artemis began to bloom. Later, it was determined that 'Blue Butterflies' feeding on these flowers multiplied in certain regions. The Serbs, who made careful calculations, did not calculate the 'Blue Butterflies'. Mass graves were started to be identified with the help of these butterflies.
It's been 26 years today. The pain is still fresh and very new. A collective consciousness is essential so that no more Srebrenica events will occur. Later, when I went to Bosnia, I observed that the situation there was still on a knife-edge. The responsibility of everyone, especially Turkey, is to protect Bosnia and never forget Srebrenica.