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The following appeared in The New York
Times, June 1, 2003
(Another article follows at bottom, "UN COURT
RECOGNIZED THE GENOCIDE.")
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Truth
at The Hague |
By Emir Suijagic
THE HAGUE
I am a Bosnian Muslim from Srebrenica, where more than 7,000 Muslims were killed by
Bosnian Serbs in July 1995. 1 survived because at the time of the massacre I was in
Potocarl, some 15 miles away from most of the execution sites, working as an interpreter
for the United Nations. My uncle, my 70-year-old grandfather, my best friend and almost
all of my schoolmates were killed.
Two officers in the Bosnian Serb army, Momir Nikolic and Dragan Obrenovic, last month
pleaded guilty before the war crimes tribunal at The Hague for crimes against humanity,
admitting they helped plan the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity committed in Europe
since World War 11. Both Mr. Nikolic and Mr. Obrenovic have agreed to testify against the
other officers indicted for the massacre, which took place in a designated “safe area”
under the protection of Dutch United Nations peacekeepers.
The International Commission for Missing Persons for the Former
Yugoslavia has collected many of the remains of those killed in Srebrenica. Some 7,500
bags of body parts — many of which may contain pieces of my friends and relatives —
are sitting in a warehouse waiting for identification. Yet until the moment Mr. Nikolic
confessed, I had never heard a Bosnian Serb admit that the massacre even happened.
In the Serb half of Bosnia, most people claim that the killings in 1995 never took place.
When pressed, they sometimes say that the Muslims killed one another in a fight over
whether or not to surrender to the Serbs, or that all of those killed were soldiers. Last
year, the Bosnian Serb government issued a report claiming that only 2,000 Bosnian Muslims
were killed in Srebrenica. And of those, the report said, 1,800 were soldiers.
Mr. Nikolic’s confession — in which he described in chilling detail how he helped
organize the mass execution and burial and an extensive cover-up, all of which he says
army superiors ordered him to carry out — punches a big hole in the Bosnian Serb wall of
denial. Serbs should have no reason to doubt his admission. Mr. Nikolic has nothing to
gain by exaggerating.
I don’t expect the confessions by Mr. Nikolic and Mr. Obrenovic to transform Bosnian
Serb views. Many of the men he named as co-conspirators are still at large. Some of them
still hold senior positions in the Bosnian Serb army; one of them is a member of the
Parliament.
But the confessions have brought me a sense of relief I have not known since the fall of
Srebrenica in 1995. They have given me the acknowledgment I have been looking for these
past eight years. While far from an apology, these admissions are a start. We Bosnian
Muslims no longer have to prove we were victims. Our friends and cousins, fathers and
brothers were killed — and we no longer have to prove they were innocent.
Emir Suljagic is a reporter for Dani, a magazine based in Sara jevo, and the Institute
of War and Peace Reporting.
Parallels to
the Orthodox M.O. for Systematic Extermination.
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I had never heard a Bosnian
Serb admit that the massacre even happened.
Has anyone heard of
an Armenian admit they massacred a single Turk... out of the nearly 600,000 they massacred?
... punches a big hole in the Bosnian Serb wall of denial.
After nearly
ninety years, there's hardly a pinprick in the Armenian wall of denial. The
difference is, the West had too much evidence of Serbian crimes. By contrast, the
West is still largely in the corner of the Armenians, not only because the Armenians
have succeeded in presenting themselves as the West's innocent Christian darlings,
but the accepted villains of the equation — the Turks — are too deeply ingrained
in the minds of bigoted or ignorant Westerners as villains.
In
the Serb half of Bosnia, most people claim that the killings in 1995 never took
place. When pressed, they sometimes say that the Muslims killed one another in a
fight over whether or not to surrender to the Serbs, or that all of those killed
were soldiers. Last year, the Bosnian Serb government issued a report claiming that
only 2,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed in Srebrenica. And of those, the report said,
1,800 were soldiers.
Exactly the way the
Armenians present their arguments; from the brainwashed rank and file (that is, the Armeni-Lemmings) who don't want to
know the real facts, to their so-called "scholars," who know the real facts but deliberately cover
them up to perpetuate the Armenians' cause for existence, their beloved "genocide.com." Result: Lie, lie,
and then lie again. Who cares about the truth? All that matters is the sweet melody
of the "Armenian AND? Anthem."
I don’t expect the confessions by
Mr. Nikolic and Mr. Obrenovic to transform Bosnian Serb views.
Just like the
confessions on record by Armenians who perpetuated their genocidal crimes fail to
move a single Armenian.
"An appropriate analogy
with the Jewish Holocaust might be the systematic extermination of the entire
Muslim population of the independent republic of Armenia which consisted of at
least 30-40 percent of the population of that republic. The memoirs of an
Armenian army officer who participated in and eye-witnessed these atrocities
was published in the U.S. in 1926 with the title 'Men Are Like That.' Other
references abound."
The Jewish Times, June 21,
1990
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The
confessions have brought me a sense of relief I have not known since the fall of
Srebrenica in 1995. They have given me the acknowledgment I have been looking for
these past eight years.
Imagine the agony
this Bosnian writer must have been going through, along with all the many others who
suffered these horrors in recent memory. The Turks don't need such psychological
"closure," because the Turks made the decision to move on... and the
events are too far removed to affect the current generation to the intense and
poignant degree the Armenians allow themselves to be affected. However, imagine the
outrage Turks feel, when not only are the immense crimes committed against their
forefathers not given any recognition by hypocritical Westerners, but also when
their forefathers are blindly regarded as the criminals by these same lazy-thinking
Westerners... continuing to smear the
honor and good name of the Turks.
We Bosnian Muslims no longer have
to prove we were victims.
Not that the Turks
are obsessed to prove victimhood, but acknowledging the Turkish victims of the
Armenian "Genocide" would at least be the right thing to do... if the real
historical facts and the truth hold importance.
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In
Conclusion... |
Since Armenians weep loudly about being
perpetual victims, as "Mr. Double
Killing," Peter Balakian, rarely fails to remind us, because Turks not only tried
to "annihilate" them... but now have the audacity to not admit their crime that
cannot be proven... what has prevented the Armenians from taking their case to the World
Court, or to the court in the Hague? What are they waiting for? Surely, a decision by an
internationally recognized legitimate court would have much more impact than resolutions
passed by governmental bodies in the United States and France, where everyone knows the
deep-pocketed Armenians exert incredible influence.
Could it be the Armenians know their ridiculous case
can't hold up in a legitimate court... exactly as proven already with the Malta Tribunals, administered by a prejudiced
enemy (under Lloyd George) anxious to wipe the nation of Turkey off the face of the earth?
Could it be that if such a court were to deliver the verdict that the Armenian
"Genocide" is a sham, that would be much too shattering for the Armenians to
stomach, and this is why the Armenians lack the courage to take their case to court?
UN COURT RECOGNIZED THE GENOCIDE
“The War Crimes Court of Yugoslavia” which was
established in subordination to the United Nations in the Hague in order to try “the
war criminals of the Former Yugoslavia recognized formally the massacres committed
against the Bosnian Muslims as “genocide”.
The case was handled by the higher court again due to the objection of Serbian
General Radislav Kristic to the judgment that was convicted to 46 years in 2001 due
to the trials held before.
In the trial which was held on 19 April 2004 Head of the Higher Court American judge
Theodor Meron stated that “the Judges are unanimous in that a genocide was
committed against (Bosnian Muslims) in Srebrenitsa” and announced that Kristic
would be convicted to 35 years imprisonment.
In the judgement it was also mentioned that Radislav Kristic was not the main person
responsible for the genocide committed in Srebrenitsa, yet he was sentenced because
he contributed to the commitment of this crime of genocide with the equipment and
the troops under his control.
With this judgment of the court the events in which more than 8 thousand Muslims
were massacred were accepted as “genocide” for the first time.
The objection made by Radislav Kristic to the judgment that “what happened can not
be accepted as genocide” was not accepted by the Court.
The judgment of the court constitutes an example of the decision made in accordance
with the provisions of “the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide” of 09 December 1948 of the UN. Although the number of the
Muslims massacred is considered low, the
aims and methods of acts of the perpetrators do not leave any doubt in the minds on
the use of the term of genocide for defining the acts.
The fact that genocide has been acknowledged with the court decision and the
conviction of the perpetrators will constitute a base for the requests of
compensation that will be raised by the victimized Muslims.
As matter of fact, on behalf of the Bosnian – Herzegovina Muslim Community “Main
Clergy” Ismet Efendi have already started making preparations for suing the
Serbian Government in the Bosnian-Herzegovina Court on the grounds that they
destroyed 1.200 mosques in time of war.
As is seen the rendering of justice is realized sooner or later.
The Armenian fanaticism that maintains its baseless claims today tries to gain
support from the parliaments of the country and turn toward the false search of “law”
far from the historical facts and search for a point of outlet for it.
The first legal evidence regarding that the Armenian claims are unreal has occurred
just on the dates of the events. In line with the Armenian so-called genocide claims
the British took the 118 Turkish suspects whom they evaluated as having
responsibility in the events to Malta and tried them. The British judges requested
information and documents which might be evidence for the case from the American
diplomatic representations which were open until 1916 as it entered the war late. A
British expert, despite having done research on the archives of the American
Embassies stated in the telegram he sent to London on 13 July 1921 that “no
evidence has been found which might be used to used to charge the suspects in Malta.
Following that the British judge in his report of 29 July 1921 stated that “… As
it was not possible to obtain information which indicate Ae crimes directed at the
suspects in a certain manner through the written testimonies obtained up to now, I
declare that I can not make any statements concerning the success of the cases
offered to me.”
Even in n a case filed in the same period with the appearance of the claims, it has
been determined that there were no evidence which might prove the claims of the
Armenians in the court in Malta. Besides this, no finding has been determined which
might constitute evidence since 1921.
It has also been clarified that no documents supporting the claims exist in the
Turkish or other countries archives that were categorized since those dates up to
now and made accessible to the researchers of the entire world.
Who knows maybe the information and documents that even the Armenians who became a
tool for the lies of “genocide” are expecting are maintained in the Armenian
State Archive in Armenia that were not opened to the service of the researchers!!!
Ülkü ERYAMAN
Editor
Organization for Commemorating the Victims of Genocide
www.geocities.com/soykirkur
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