The victims of the Srebrenica Genocide were commemorated on July 11, 2025, in Potočari, Bosnia and Herzegovina, marking the 30th anniversary of the atrocity. Members of the Board of Directors of the Union of Turkish World Municipalities (TDBB) also participated in the commemoration ceremonies.
The coffins of seven victims who were buried on the 30th anniversary of the genocide carried out by Serbs in Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1995, were received with tears at the Potočari Memorial Cemetery.
After being kept at the former battery factory — which had served as a base for Dutch soldiers operating under the United Nations during the war — the coffins were buried at the Potočari Memorial Cemetery.
Among the seven victims buried, the youngest were Senajid Avdić and Hariz Mujić, who were both 19 years old when they were killed. The only woman and the oldest victim buried was Fata Bektić, who was 67 years old at the time of her death.
To date, 6,765 victims of the genocide have been buried at the Potočari Memorial Cemetery. Despite the passage of 30 years, the remains of over 1,000 victims have still not been found.
At the commemoration program held at the former battery factory used by UN forces during the war, a video message from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was shown. Also present at the ceremony were Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) Numan Kurtulmuş and President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş. Speaking at the ceremony, Kurtulmuş said:
“We carry a deep sense of shame for what happened to the people of Srebrenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We all feel this shame. At the same time, we make efforts to raise our voices on every platform to take ownership of the issue of genocide and to ensure that what happened in Srebrenica is never forgotten. The United Nations’ decision last year to declare July 11 as the ‘International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica’ is a significant step — though it comes as a belated apology.”
TDBB’s Projects in Srebrenica
TDBB has implemented several projects in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. These include: The “Srebrenica Mothers Nursing Home” Complex, Renovation of the Srebrenica-Potočari Genocide Memorial Center, Annual funding for the Srebrenica Student Dormitory, Construction of three cultural centers at the Children and Youth Center in Doboj Istok, Provision of a service vehicle to the Srebrenica Student Dormitory, Opening of a Retirement Home in Srebrenica
About the Srebrenica Genocide
On July 11, 1995, following the occupation of Srebrenica by Serb forces under the command of Ratko Mladić, one of history’s darkest chapters was written: the Srebrenica Genocide. Considered the greatest humanitarian tragedy in Europe since World War II, the genocide saw the mass killing of at least 8,372 Bosniak civilians. The Serb army executed Muslim Bosniaks and buried them in mass graves.
Led by Ratko Mladić, known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” Serb forces committed one of the worst acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing the world has seen since WWII. In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague officially recognized the events in Srebrenica as genocide.
Ratko Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić was sentenced in 2016 to 40 years in prison for 10 crimes, including the Srebrenica massacre. To date, a total of 45 Serbs have received a combined 699 years in prison in various courts for crimes related to Srebrenica.
