‘Genocide Denial’ Row to Dominate Srebrenica Election

This week’s decision by political parties from Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska to back a joint candidate in October’s mayoral election in Srebrenica – Mladen Grujicic, the president of the Families of the Captured, Killed Fighters and Missing Civilians of Republika Srpska association – has been described as an unacceptable insult by genocide survivors and organisations representing post-war returnees to the area.

Bosniak victims’ associations, as well as the current mayor of Srebrenica, Camil Durakovic, who is standing for re-election, accuse Grujicic of being a ‘genocide denier’ because he once said that he believes that the massacres of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys from Srebrenica in July 1995 did not amount to genocide.

Grujicic has not responded to questions about whether or not that is still his position on the genocide issue, but he insists that he would make a great mayor for all the residents of Srebrenica, regardless of their ethnicity.

“I have been working with victims for the past eight years and I can relate to all victims. I have never heard a bad word said about me,” Grujicic told BIRN.

In order to ensure that Durakovic retains the mayoralty at October’s elections, a campaign group called March 1, which works with people who have returned to Srebrenica after being displaced by the war, told BIRN that it will attempt to register Bosniak voters who are now living in the Federation entity and abroad to vote in the municipal poll.

Edin Ikanovic, an activist from the March 1 association, told BIRN that work has already started on the ground.

“We have several bases we can rely on. Primarily these are Srebrenica residents now living in the Federation entity and those living in the diaspora,” said Ikanovic.

“We will mobilise them and register them and we will not give in, but fight to defend what is ours and what belongs to this city,” he added.

He argued that the fact that Bosnian Serb political parties cannot agree amongst themselves about anything other than a common Srebrenica candidate suggests that they find “the truth about the genocide” painful to deal with.

“This is why victims cannot allow a genocide denier to be mayor,” he said.
Srebrenica’s current mayor, Camil Durakovic.

Bosniaks want a Bosniak mayor

The president of the Mothers of Srebrenica victims’ association, Hatidza Mehmedovic, said that she believes that because of the nature of the crimes committed in Srebrenica in 1995, the mayor should be a Bosniak; a Bosniak has held the position for over 15 years so far.

“We must make sure that a Bosniak is mayor until we have new generations [of people living here], so that we do not get genocide deniers,” Mehmedovic told BIRN.

“That would be the worst insult to victims, and we will boycott the results of the election if this Serb man wins,” she added.

Mehmedovic also argued that the elections are intrinsically unjust because Bosniaks who should be voting are buried at the memorial centre in Potocari near Srebrenica, or have been expelled by the Bosnian Serb army.

But Grujicic, who for the past eight years has been the president of the local branch of the Families of the Captured, Killed Fighters and Missing Civilians of Republika Srpska, said he was proud that his candidacy is being supported by all the Serb parties, who often quarrel amongst themselves.

“Their support says that I do not have a stain on my career and everyone believes that I will be the best, and work with everyone, to lead this municipality to a better life,” he said.

He said that his policies will be oriented towards creating a better future in the impoverished municipality in order to stop young and educated people leaving.

“We are seeing that life is bad here and Serbs and Bosniaks are leaving. I will fight for a better life… The only way forward is the future, but not by hurting one another. If I am elected, no Bosniak should feel threatened,” he insisted.

Asked how he viewed the debate about the Srebrenica genocide, Grujicic said he was a boy in the early 1990s so didn’t have the experience to comment. But he added that he did lose his father in the war and so can relate to all victims.

“People want to project a situation in which Serbs and Bosniaks hate each other here, and that is not true,” he said.

Srebrenica town centre.

Nationalist rhetoric expected

The current Srebrenica mayor, Camil Durakovic, who will run again in the autumn, said he did not mind the Serb parties having a joint candidate – explaining that they also had one at the last elections four years ago – but that he was disappointed by the nomination of Grujicic.

“We see that he is someone connected to the war [through his job as president of the Families of the Captured, Killed Fighters and Missing Civilians in Srebrenica], someone who has a controversial opinion that denies genocide, and it is clear that his nomination is a premeditated manipulation intended to minimise the crimes,” said Durakovic.

“I wish the Serb parties would come together with a new economic development platform, but this is sad,” he added.

Political analysts believe that the fact that both Bosniak and Serb parties will present a joint mayoral candidate for Srebrenica means that the campaign will be characterised by nationalist rhetoric and focus on issues related to the genocide.

Analyst Srdjan Puhalo noted that Bosniak and Serb parties often have disagreements amongst themselves but manage to unite as an ethnic bloc when they feel their community is threatened.

“When they have an outside opponent, they change the approach and we see an easy nationalist consensus [emerge],” said Puhalo.