On July 11: Distributed over 20,000 Srebrenica flowers, twice as many as last year

Women from the Association „Gračaničko keranje“ sold over 20,000 Srebrenica flowers in several cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina during July 10 and 11, but that was nowhere near enough to satisfy everyone who wanted to wear the flower on their lapel on the 20th anniversary of the largest genocide on European soil since World War II.

The president of the Association, Azemina Ahmedbegović, explains that this year they made twice as many flowers as last year, but again many were left without this symbol of suffering.

- We worked day and night, but we could not satisfy everyone. The problem is that many institutions and non-governmental organizations contacted us just a few days before the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the genocide, and we were unable to meet the demand. All the time we begged for the flower to be ordered on time, but only a few complied. Then suddenly there was greater demand than we could supply. We are not a profit organization, and we are not in a position to make large stocks of flowers – said Ahmedbegović for the Patria news agency.

The Srebrenica flower has grown into a globally popular symbol, reminding of the innocent Bosniaks killed during the genocide in eastern Bosnia in 1995, during the onslaught of Serbian forces on the UN safe zone.

The idea for the flower was given by the former reisu-l-ulema in BiH Mustafa Cerić, after which ownership was transferred to the women of the Association „Gračaničko keranje“. On July 11, the Srebrenica flower was worn by the world's top officials, including former US President Bill Clinton, and for the first time it appeared on the lapel of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. The flower was previously worn by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Pope Francis, and many other religious leaders and world statesmen, reports NAP.