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SARAJEVO, June 9 (FENA) - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bisera Turkoviž told, in an interview with the British BBC, that the verdict for genocide and life imprisonment sentence against Ratko Mladić brought relief because the process is over, but also a disappointment for not recognizing genocide and other crimes in other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina asides Srebrenica.
She noted that the region is still divided, as it was in the 1990s, and stressed that the verdict will not greatly affect the changes in relations and the current situation in the country and the region.
"It is a relief that everything is finally over and that the first instance verdict has been confirmed. However, we are disappointed that many cities that we certain sufferred genocide as well were not recognized in the verdict," Turković underlined.
She also pointed out that the final verdict was not unanimous and added that the first among the cities for which genocide was not confirmed was Prijedor, where about 3,500 people were killed and about 1,500 people are still listed as missing.
She says that many members of her family died in this city and that they have no information about them, as well as that many other people share similar pain.
"It is normal that we are disappointed at the same time, but we also feel relieved because we can finally move on," the Minister emphasized.
But she said reconciliation should be worked on in the future to improve relations, and warned that the glorification of genocide needed to be banned by law.
Upon the statement of BBC's journalist that Ratko Mladić is still seen as a war hero in some parts of BiH, Turković said that this fact is frightening and that it is terrible to see the glorification of those responsible for such war crimes in the places where people were killed 30 years ago.
When asked how she views the fact that BiH Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik is still trying to secede the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska and is not using BiH passport, Minister Turković reminded that yesterday, Dodik issued a ban on the address of the BiH Ambassador to the United Nations at the session of the UN Security Council.
"By sending the letter, Dodik also attempted to prohibit the ambassador to express at the UNSC session, not a personal opinion, but the opinion of the rest of the state and the other two members of the Presidency who approved it. However, Dodik, who chairs the presidency, refused to give permission," Turković explained.
The BBC was interested in whether the situation is different when it comes to the new generations, and Turković said that the non-existence of a law banning genocide denial is one of the causes of the current situation and that partly because young people do not have the opportunity to find out the truth.
"They do not have the real truth in front of them and they are taught a "quasi-history" created by the leadership of one part of the country," she added, emphasizing that without that it would not be possible to expect peace and stability not only in BiH but also in the region.
She expressed dissatisfaction with the statements of the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, who said during her visit to BiH that "Srebrenica was a mistake not genocide, but only a mistake".
"If we are faced with such ideas, we cannot expect the friendship of the younger generations, because in order for that to happen, we need to accept the reality of what had happened and then try to reform and move on. I know that it is difficult, but we cannot live in the denial of reality," concluded the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bisera Turković.
(FENA) S. R.
