Türkiye provides technical equipment to Srebrenica activist association

BELGRADE, Serbia

Türkiye provided technical equipment on Sunday to the Movement of Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves, an activist association representing 6,000 survivors who lost family members in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) equipped the association's office with modern technology.

Munira Subasic, the president of the association, said the projects carried out by TIKA in every field in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the support it gave them are very important for their struggle.

The office carries out activities at the national and international level to commemorate the victims of the genocide, raise awareness in the international community and return displaced people to their lands.

It was founded in 1996 by mothers who lost their spouses and children after the Srebrenica genocide, in which over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the town, which the UN had declared a "safe area."

The Bosniak Muslims were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. But troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic overran the UN zone. He was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing 2,000 men and boys on July 11, 1995 alone.

About 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted them down and killed 6,000 more people.

The bodies of victims have been found in 570 areas across the country.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that a genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.