Minister Pusić attends commemoration of Srebrenica genocide 20th anniversary

“Twenty years have passed, and even though everything seems normal, it’s still unbelievable that that could have happened...

“Twenty years have passed, and even though everything seems normal, it’s still unbelievable that that could have happened. When you see these young women who were obviously little girls at the time, as they carry the remains of their fathers, brothers and other loved ones up the hill to the cemetery, when you see the ruins of the factories where these people had been detained, then everything is truly horrifying. It is good that there are calls for reconciliation and forgiveness here, but only Bosniaks can call for reconciliation. Everyone else needs to have a long hard think,” said First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić after the commemoration of the 20^th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.

The number of delegations that turned up to the commemoration shows how much respect the world has for the Srebrenica victims because of the feeling of collective responsibility of the entire world as it did not react in time and prevent that crime, the minister said. “The commemoration was appropriate even though it is difficult to say what is appropriate for such a huge tragedy,” said Pusić, adding that “it is good that a lot of countries came to pay respect to the victims, including Croatia.”

Commenting on the presence of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić at the commemoration, Pusić said that that was absolutely where he had to be. “No one who came to Srebrenica today was personally responsible, but the policies that led to these atrocious crimes should serve as a warning to us to do everything we can so that something like this doesn’t crawl from under some rock again,” Pusić said. 

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