The Srebrenica Veterans Organization, the Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians of Srebrenica, and the Srebrenica Veterans Association have strongly condemned recent statements by Emir Suljagić, Director of the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center, saying that they insult Serb organizations, institutions and representatives of the Serb people in Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Organizations born out of suffering and loss
In an open letter sent to the media, representatives of the organizations said that referring to their associations as “so-called” amounted to directly belittling the people whose suffering and losses led to their establishment.
“These organizations were not created in offices, but emerged from suffering, loss and the Defensive-Patriotic War. They were established by demobilized soldiers and people who lost their loved ones during the war. We are not ‘Bosnian Serbs,’ we are Serbs, and no one has the right to label us as they see fit or determine who we are and how we will refer to our victims and our war,” the statement said.
They particularly condemned what they described as personal insults directed at Branimir Kojić, whom Suljagić had publicly referred to as a “clown” and “some nobody.”
“Branimir Kojić is not ‘some nobody.’ He is a representative of an organization that brings together families of Serb victims and a man who publicly speaks about their suffering. You may criticize his views, but you have no right to humiliate him,” the associations said.
The statement added that Suljagić’s recent public appearances, including claims about an alleged arrest and police raid on the Memorial Center, which the Republika Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs explicitly denied, represented a continuation of what the associations described as a policy of escalating tensions.
“Instead of calming the situation, we are hearing increasingly harsh rhetoric that is perceived by the public as invoking conflict and a wartime atmosphere. Srebrenica and Podrinje do not need a new language of war. We do not need threats, fabrications and constant escalation of tensions. We do not need anyone using victims to gain political capital or attempting to portray the institutions of Republika Srpska as illegitimate,” the letter said.
Representatives of the Srebrenica associations said they had no intention of remaining silent or withdrawing.
“Enough with the ‘so-called’ labels, enough with the ‘clowns,’ enough with insults against Serb organizations and attacks on the institutions of Srpska. The more you try to silence us, the louder we will speak. The more you insult our representatives, the more firmly we will defend them. And the more you try to erase Serb victims from the public sphere, the more we will speak about them. We will not forget our victims, we will not humiliate our soldiers, and we will not renounce our truth,” the joint statement concluded.
Podrinje does not need new tensions
Kojić told Glas Srpske that the statement was a response to what he described as continued insults against Serb organizations, their representatives and the institutions of Republika Srpska.
“These organizations did not emerge from politics, but from suffering, loss and wartime tragedy. Behind them are families, soldiers and veterans who have the right to speak about their victims. It is particularly dangerous when a person heading a public institution makes serious claims about Republika Srpska institutions that are responsible for carrying out their duties. The Republika Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs explicitly denied his claims about an alleged plan to arrest him and raid the Memorial Center,” Kojić said.
He said that Srebrenica and Podrinje did not need new tensions, threats or wartime rhetoric.
“What we need is peace and responsibility, but peace does not mean that we will remain silent while someone insults our families, our soldiers, our representatives and our institutions. We will respect the victims of others, but we also demand respect for ours. And we will not allow anyone to tell us that our organizations are ‘so-called’ or that our representatives are ‘clowns,’” Kojić said.
He added that insults would be answered with facts and dignity, while attempts to raise tensions would be met with calls for peace and for all issues to be resolved through institutions.
Source: Glas Srpske
