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MULTIMEDIA
May 27, 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 

Serbian parliament prepares to express ‘sadness’ over Srebrenica

8 March 2010 / SERVET YANATMA, ANKARA
Serbia is preparing to take a historic step in its ongoing Turkey-mediated reconciliation efforts with Bosnia and Herzegovina by strongly voicing its sadness over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

In February 2007 the International Court of Justice exonerated Serbia of direct responsibility for the mass slaughter of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnia war but ruled that it had failed to prevent genocide.

The Serbian National Assembly is set to release a declaration in which it will “express sadness for all innocent people” who lost their lives in Srebrenica. The declaration, expected to be released later this month, will not contain any expression of apology since that could lead to taking responsibility for what happened in Srebrenica in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

“It is a difficult decision to make, but it was time,” Serbian Ambassador to Turkey Vladimir Curgus told Today’s Zaman, emphasizing that the declaration would be a clear signal of the importance attached by Serbia to peace and stability in the Balkans.

Serbian President Boris Tadic is currently holding consultations with partners of the coalition government so that a declaration with full agreement can be released. Belgrade-based Turkish sources, speaking with Today’s Zaman on condition of anonymity, said offering an apology is a very difficult move for any state. The declaration will, meanwhile, almost certainly lead to anger among Serbians living in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, Curgus highlighted that his country attaches importance to the territorial and political unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Earlier, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic had stated that Belgrade would not lend support to separatist Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The same Turkish sources pointed out that a remarkable change of mentality has been observed in Serbia under during the Tadic administration. The sources expect that the declaration by the Serbian National Assembly will not be satisfactory to any parties, with Serbians in Bosnia and Herzegovina showing counter reactions and Bosniaks saying that the expressions within the declaration are not sufficiently strong. Still, the same sources believe that the declaration will mark an important step as it will reflect a vision for regional cooperation.

Last month, as a result of long-running efforts initiated by Turkey to create a climate of peaceful coexistence in the Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina announced its decision to appoint an ambassador to Serbia following a three-year-long hiatus, as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu hosted Bosnian Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj and Jeremic in Ankara for a trilateral meeting that marked the fifth such meeting between the foreign ministers.

The sixth of those meetings will be held in Sarajevo on Tuesday.

The first meetings was held in October, on the sidelines of a ministerial-level gathering of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in İstanbul, when Davutoğlu, as the foreign minister of Turkey, which holds the chairmanship-in-office of the SEECP, brought together Jeremic and Alkalaj.

Following the third trilateral meeting held in Sarajevo in December, the foreign ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey had reached consensus over steps to be taken for the reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina, drawing up an action plan for these steps.
 
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© Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş. 2007, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Cad. No: 6, Bahçelievler - İstanbul 34194 Turkey, +90 (212) 454 1454, +90 (212) 454 1497(fax)