Duraković in New York: It wasn't easy for me to embrace Vučić among 7,000 graves, but I did it

Ćamil Duraković, Mayor of Srebrenica, and Aleksandar Vučić, Prime Minister of Serbia, were guests of former US President Bill Clinton at a panel discussion in New York at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, reports the Patria News Agency.

In front of a full hall with over a thousand seats and in the presence of a large number of journalists, Clinton spoke about Srebrenica and the cooperation between Ćamil Duraković and the Municipality of Srebrenica with Prime Minister Vučić and the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Duraković described how, as a victim of genocide, he came to America, got educated, and returned to Srebrenica. He further spoke about the reconciliation process, which is a difficult process but has no alternative.

He mentioned that on the Serbian side, this process began with the Resolution on Srebrenica by the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the visit of the then-President of Serbia, Boris Tadić, to Potočari, and continued with Prime Minister Vučić's visits to Srebrenica, which could not be prevented even by last year's incident.

Duraković said that it was not easy for Vučić to come to Potočari and stand among the 7,000 graves of the victims.

-But it wasn't easy for me either to embrace him among those 7,000 graves, said Duraković, adding:

-We both did it, and it was the right thing to do.

After Duraković's sentence, the hall erupted in applause.

Prime Minister Vučić supported the reconciliation process and said that Serbs and Bosniaks should look at how to live in peace for centuries to come:

- Serbs and Bosniaks should not live next to each other, but with each other.

Prime Minister Vučić also said that many years ago he made some bad statements and that he is only human and capable of making mistakes. However, he emphasized, for five years now, everything he has said has been constructive, and he truly means what he says, regardless of the fact that many are angry with him because of it.

Duraković concluded that the political process and economic progress must be accompanied by social integration, and that this is a common task for the future. Integration should be between peoples, not just politics.

In the audience were also Bakir Izetbegović, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Zlatko Lagumdžija, former Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Clinton commended Mayor Duraković and Prime Minister Vučić and said that America should do its utmost in the future to help both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in the process of reconciliation and development, which is of key importance. At the end of the discussion, all attendees stood up and greeted Duraković and Vučić with a long applause.