A large delegation as redemption for Jasenovac?

Commemoration of the 29th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica without the highest officials of Montenegro. Delegations of President Jakov Milatović, the Assembly and the Government, as well as representatives of several parties, will attend the commemoration of the Genocide Day in Srebrenica.

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The anniversary of the genocide is marked for the first time after the UN General Assembly adopted the Resolution: Potočari (Illustration), Photo: Center for Post-Conflict Research
The anniversary of the genocide is marked for the first time after the UN General Assembly adopted the Resolution: Potočari (Illustration), Photo: Center for Post-Conflict Research
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

The departure of the most numerous state delegation to mark the 29th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica cannot change anything or improve the image of Montenegro after the passing of the Resolution on Jasenovac, Mauthausen and Dachau - assesses the program associate at the Center for Civic Education (CGO). Damir Suljević.

Advisers and associates of the president will go to the commemoration of July 11, the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica Jakov Milatović, delegations of the Assembly and the Government, as well as representatives of several parties. However, unlike previous years, the delegation will not include any of the highest officials (president of the state, parliament and government), and no commemoration of the anniversary of the genocide at the state level has been announced. Last year, the then prime minister went to Potočare from Montenegro Dritan Abazovic and former Minister of the Interior Filip Adzic. Abazović also led the Montenegrin delegation in 2022, when the then Deputy Prime Minister went with him to Srebrenica Jovana Marović, former vice president Ervin Ibrahimovic, former Minister of Justice Marko Kovač, Minister of Public Administration Marash Dukaj and former Minister of Culture and Media Masha Vlaović. The former president of Montenegro was in Potočari in 2021 Milo Djukanovic, then Prime Minister Abazović and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Đorđe Radulović...

The anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica is being commemorated for the first time after the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) at the end of May adopted a resolution declaring July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica. The resolution was also supported by Montenegro, but after that it was in the Montenegrin parliament, at the suggestion of the leader of the New Serbian Democracy and the Democratic People's Party (DNP). Andrije Mandić i Milan Knežević, adopted the Resolution on Genocide in Jasenovac, Mauthausen and Dachau, which caused strong reactions from Croatia.

"Members of the Government and MPs in the Assembly who voted for it (the Resolution) still do not see anything objectionable in such a procedure, so even their arrival at this anniversary in Srebrenica cannot change anything or improve the image of Montenegro after the same was voted on," he said. is Suljević to "Vijesti".

List was told by the head of state's office that the president's adviser will go to Srebrenica Mladen Grgić and an associate in the cabinet Marija Vesković.

There will be 13 deputies in the Assembly Delegation.

The delegation will be led by the vice-president of the Assembly Zdenka Popović (Democrats). Apart from Popović, there are MPs in the delegation Miodrag Laković (PES), Seid Hodzic (from the PES list), Jelena Nedović (PES), Abaz Dizdarević (DPS), Oscar Hutter (DPS), Albin Ceman (Democrats), Ervin Ibrahimović (BS), Damir Gutic (B.S.), Ana Novaković Đurović (GP URA), Maja Vučelić (CIVIS), Branislav Nenezić (SD) and Nikola Camaj (Albanian Forum).

The Government delegation consists of the Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorcevic, Minister of Education, Science and Innovation Anđela Jakšić Stojanović and Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Naida Nišić, and State Secretary in the Ministry of European Affairs Bojan Božović i Satka Hajdarpašić, chargé d'affaires at the Embassy of Montenegro in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Suljević believes that it seems that the intention to improve the image of Montenegro, and after the adoption of the Resolution on Jasenovac, Mauthausen and Dachau, exists only through the performances of President Milatović, "because apparently he is the only one who sees the harm of such an act".

He reminds that the genocide that happened in Jasenovac, unlike the genocide in Srebrenica, was never contested by anyone.

"It is not denied by the official Croatia, whose officials attend every anniversary, unlike our officials who mostly ignore the commemoration of the anniversaries of crimes in which our citizens participated or which were committed in the name of the countries to which we belonged. At the same time, official Croatia affirms a system in which the denial of crimes and the glorification of criminals are punished. On the other hand, the criminals from Srebrenica are still heroes for a part of the ruling political structures in our country and they also deny the genocide in Srebrenica", said Suljević.

Suljevic
Suljevicphoto: CGO

That is why, as he added, there is no argument that is on the side of the majority that voted for the adoption of the resolution on Jasenovac, because this resolution is "just a sad flattery to the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and at the same time a very harmful, direct provocation of Croatia, in collateral with Germany and Austria".

Many of the majority deny the genocide loudly or silently

Suljević says that he does not expect that the Day of Remembrance will be celebrated in Montenegro, because, as he says, there is no essential support for it within the government structures. He reminded that he is the prime minister Milojko Spajic the day after the adoption of the UN Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica, he said that this resolution does not bind anyone to anything, although this is not true, especially if the state is guided by good practices that are borne by membership in the UN, which includes respect for the spirit and the letter adopted documents.

"On the other hand, there are many of those in the parliamentary majority who loudly or silently deny the genocide in Srebrenica. In those circumstances, it is not to be expected that this event will be marked by official Montenegro, as, for example, some parliaments of countries that supported the resolution or executive authorities have been doing since this year," said Suljević.

Whether the Assembly will mark the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica in Montenegro, asked again yesterday a member of the Bosniak Party Amer Smailovic.

"We have not yet received official information from the Assembly whether something will be organized here. We heard that a delegation will go to Potočare, but that is an established practice", said Smailović in the parliament, recalling the letter that BS sent to the president of the parliament with the question of how the parliament will mark July 11.

Smailović
Smailovićphoto: Boris Pejović

Vice President of the Parliament Boris Pejović (PES) replied that he did not have concrete information yet. He agreed with Smailović that they should also show their attitude towards what happened in Srebrenica in that way.

Smailović said that they did not even expect that the Assembly would organize something, but that he was glad that some municipalities would mark that day - Gusinje, Plav, Rožaje and Bijelo Polje.

A group of 76 NGOs from Montenegro demanded yesterday from the authorities to declare the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica and ensure its regular official observance in accordance with the UN Resolution, the Resolution of the Parliament of Montenegro on the Genocide in Srebrenica from 2021 and the Declaration of the Parliament of Montenegro Above on the acceptance of the resolution of the European Parliament on Srebrenica from 2009.

They also demand from the authorities, among other things, to ensure that history textbooks for the appropriate ages are supplemented with objective information about this crime and the role of Montenegro in the wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the nineties of the last century, to find and prosecute the unpunished perpetrators and facilitators of the genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes. crimes, condemn and suppress denial of genocide, glorification of its perpetrators and any other hate speech that represents the last stage of genocide and a prelude to new conflicts and crimes.

"We remind you that since July 11, 1995, in the mass shootings in the area of ​​Srebrenica, the Army of the Republika Srpska under the leadership Ratko Mladić, killed over 8.000 Bosniak men and boys. It is the most massive crime committed on the soil of Europe after the Second World War", stated in a joint statement Action for Human Rights (HRA), CGO, Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM), Center for Democratic Transition (CDT), Center for Civil slobode (CEGAS), Civic Alliance...

This crime, they add, was determined by the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Suljević: Unpopular topic for voters of most parties

Damir Suljević emphasizes that in Montenegrin society there is a chronic lack of adequate confrontation with the past, that is, that this was the case during the previous government, with the fact that now there is an additional intensified denial of some crimes or their relativization.

"It is clear that these topics are not popular with the voters of most parties, but there is no relativization or different interpretations with the facts established by final judgments. Hesitating to take a value position through the presence of such an event or statements that demonstrate it, should not be the approach of those who present themselves as politicians of the future", he said.

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