prijava
SREBRENICA, May 19 (FENA) - Head of the European Union Delegation and the EU Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Johann Sattler, visited the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center today and paid tribute to the victims of genocide.
At the beginning of the visit, he laid flowers at the memorial, and then visited the complex of the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center.
Ambassador Sattler was accompanied by Austrian Ambassador to BiH Urlike Hartmann, German Ambassador to BiH Margret Uebber, Slovak Ambassador to BiH Martin Kačo and the Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands to BiH Noora Mina.
After laying a wreath at the Memorial Center and a tour of the complex, they officially opened the Archives of the Memorial Center.
Head of the EU Delegation and the EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Johann Sattler, said in a statement to the media that there is no true reconciliation without the truth and that there is no reconciliation without learning the lessons of the past.
"What happened here twenty-six years ago is unspeakable. It was one of the darkest moments in the history of Europe. Some half a century after the Holocaust, Europe had witnessed these unimaginable crimes again, although we were assured that such things would never happen again.
I am here with the representatives of the countries of the European Union - Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands, and we are standing here in front of you with our heads bowed, this shame that I feel because of my own inability to prevent terrible events that had happened here. If dealing with such things is done on the basis of truth and facts, it can certainly lead in a direction of a better future for all.
As the European Union, we continue to assist communities and societies in the process of dealing with the past in the process of healing through various means, and one of the processes is the identification of the missing. We are trying to fight to establish the truth because unfortunately, there are many who deny that the crimes had happened and deny the scale of the genocide that happened. We have continuously condemned and will always condemn such statements that are unacceptable for a country aspiring to become a member of the European Union. The basic humanity is to recognize and appreciate the pain and suffering of the survivors,” Sattler said.
The Director of the Srebrenica - Potočari Memorial Center, Emir Suljagić, said that the Archives of the Memorial Center that was opened today and that the Archives carry the importance of European values.
"A year ago, there was a mountain of glass, bricks and construction material at this place, and today we see one of the most modern archives of this type, which will be in function as a whole by the end of June. This will be the first time that we have been able to offer researchers, students and ordinary visitors the opportunity to study and learn about what happened in Srebrenica. We owe gratitude to Ambassador Sattler, the European Union, and the embassies of the Netherlands and Great Britain will also participate in this project," said Suljagić.
(FENA) S. R.
