prijava
MOSTAR, September 8 (FENA) - A group of war veterans, former members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH), the Croatian Army, the Croat Defense Council (HVO), the Yugoslav Army and the Republika Srpska Army (VRS) visited monuments in Bijelo Polje near Mostar on Tuesday where they paid tribute to the victims of the last war and laid wreaths and lit candles.
They visited the central monument to the fallen HVO members near the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Potoci, the central monument to the martyrs and fallen soldiers of the RBiH Army near the Karadjoz-beg mosque in Potoci, the monument to killed civilians in Sutina and the monument to fallen VRS soldiers in Zijemlji.
War veteran of the Army of RBiH and member of the Center for Nonviolent Action (CNA) Amer Delić said that the primary goal of this project is to pay tribute to all victims of the past war.
“Our goal is also to send a message that we are a group that has built mutual trust over time and created conditions to carry out peaceful gatherings in this area. We want to tell our societies that we have stopped looking at each other as enemies and we ask the competent institutions and all those who are able to put more effort into building trust and reconciliation, to prosecute those responsible for war crimes and to help families in the search for their lost family members as soon as possible because it is also one of the processes that leads to reconciliation,” said Delić.
The Minister of Veterans in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Oliver Soldo, stated that today's event is a step towards the normalization of life in Mostar.
“Mostar really cries out for normal events, and I can call this visit normal, where people talk to each other and respect and appreciate each other in all their similarities and differences. I hope that such messages will resonate in Mostar and that all tensions, especially those that are imposed now in the pre-election period, will turn to positive, that is, the fight for something of their own, respecting others,” said Soldo.
The peace organization Center for Nonviolent Action in cooperation with veterans of the Army of RBiH and HVO from Bijelo Polje organized this visit.
Since 2008, CNA has been organizing visits of war veterans from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the places where civilians and soldiers were killed during the last war, and visits are organized in partnership with veterans' associations and groups from that place.
War veterans from the region have visited monuments and attended commemorations in BiH in Sarajevo, Derventa, Brod, Prnjavor, Bugojno, Tuzla, Doboj, Derventa, Zavidovići, Šamac, Modriča, Vitez, Busovača, Brčko, Srebrenica, Bihać, Velika Kladuša, Novi Grad / Bosanski Novi, Vozuća, Goražde and Jajce.
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