ANKARA - Huseyin Kansu, the Chairman of the Turkey-Bosnia-Herzegovina Interparliamentary Friendship Group, Friday called on European statesmen to fulfil their responsibilities regarding the genocide committed in Bosnia.
Holding a press conference in Turkish capital of Ankara on the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, Kansu said that 312,000 people lost their lives in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 according to the figures of International Red Cross Organization.
Stating that 200,000 of this 312,000 people were Bosnians, Kansu said that this nation were subject to a series of massacres before the eyes of the world.
Kansu recalled that one of the worst massacres were conducted by the Serbians in Srebrenica, and said, ''Srebrenica and Jepa regions were declared as security areas under the UN Security Council resolutions no 819 and 824. This region was taken under the control and protection of UN from April 1993 till July 1995, when the genocide was committed. But, the UN did not fulfil its responsibilities.''
''Serbian forces in Bosnia took Srebrenica, declared as a security area by the UN and protected by Dutch soldiers, under siege between July 6th and 8th, 1995, and left children, women and elderly people hungry and thirsty. When the Serbian violence began, Muslim Bosnian warriors wanted back the weapons they handed over to the Dutch soldiers in order to respond to the massacre, but the Dutch rejected it and laid the groundwork for Serbian massacre,'' said Kansu.
Kansu stated that the Serbians started mass massacre on July 11th, and said that the Serbian forces killed 7,800 people. He noted that the death toll could rise to 13,000 if 30 mass graves were opened.
EU
Noting that he did not know how the crisis the EU was facing today could be concluded, Kansu said that Europe would have to face its own past one day.
Stating that no legal procedure had been launched regarding those who were responsible for the Srebrenica massacre although 10 years passed, Kansu asked, ''who will ask for an explanation from the European politicians who stayed silent to the genocide in Bosnia and indirectly laid the groundwork for this massacre?''
Kansu also drew attention that Europe was staying silent against the genocide committed in Bosnia as it tried to accuse Turkey of a so-called Armenian genocide, without basing on serious evidence, but totally basing on prejudices.
200 intellectuals and representatives of NGOs from Turkey would attend the ceremony to be held in Srebrenica on July 11th, added Kansu.