Message to Vučić: You stole July 11, 2015 from us, it is our decision, not Ćamil's, that you do not come to Potočari

We, the mothers of Srebrenica, are sending a message to the Serbian authorities: Anyone who denies the genocide in Srebrenica is unwelcome in Potočari on July 11. This is our decision and no one has the right to interfere with it, stated the members of the Movement "Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa", Srebrenica Mothers and Women of Srebrenica in their open letter today, reports the Patria News Agency.

- We are appalled by the inappropriate statements from certain Serbian politicians that have been coming our way these days. Yes, to OUR address, because we consider the accusations made by hypocrites, radicals, and chauvinists against the president of the Organizing Committee, the mayor of Srebrenica, an insult to all of us.

We, the mothers, support our mayor and sign every word he says. The decision that those who deny the facts of genocide, established by court rulings, are not welcome at the commemoration on July 11 is not his; rather, it was made at our explicit request at a meeting of the Organizing Committee, after 20 years of rotten compromises that culminated last year. That July 11, 2015, should have been our day, and you stole it from us. We will never allow last year to happen again.

The Memorial Center is our sacred place, and July 11 is a sacred day when we will bury our sons, fathers, and husbands. The least we can expect is respect for our right to commemorate it in the company of those who are not afraid of the truth. We tried to extend a hand to you, we believed in your good intentions, and we even placed a Srebrenica flower on Aleksandar Vučić's lapel.

However, these days all your insincerity is coming to light. Our mayor was useful to you only until he asked that, after all our concessions, you finally call things by their proper names.

You considered Bosniaks friends until they rebelled against your lies: today you are seeking to break off communication. You said you wanted good neighborly relations: today, without any shame, you express surprise that you could not buy our favor with your money. Do you really think the lives of our children have a price? Do you think we will ever sell the truth about the genocide? Do you think we will ever forget?

Furthermore, we do not understand why genocide deniers are fighting so desperately for the right to come to the Memorial Center? Where does your surprise at our decision come from? If you do not believe that our families were killed in the genocide, why do you want to pay your respects to them? Do you have any other reason besides personal promotion and gaining political points with the international community?

We are sending a message to Serbian politicians that this is not a political decision. This is not the decision of Ćamil Duraković, nor Bakir Izetbegović, but exclusively ours. In a few days, the hardest day of the year for us will come, July 11. The day when we will again remember the moments when we last saw our children, our loved ones. The day when words never spoken then will echo in our minds.

The day when we will think about the life we could have lived, which was taken from us in just a few days by the Serbian army. This year, it will again be our day. And you, if you do not have the courage to admit that genocide was committed in Srebrenica, at least be silent and do not insult us who, after 21 years, will say goodbye to those who are direct victims of Milošević's and Karadžić's policies of chauvinism and hypocrisy, the open letter from the mothers of Srebrenica states.