Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 19/07/2022
Even though it has been almost three decades after the genocide in Srebrenica, the genocide is still being denied or relativized in the Balkans, despite the decisions rendered by international courts. The topic is frequently misused for political purposes, as statements issued by individuals tend to be manipulated.
Facebook page “Prijatni/ građanski aktivista/ psalam 115“ features the following post:
The head of the EU delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina said that “reconciliation between Serbs and Muslims would be an insult to the victims.”
The post claims that the West does not want reconciliation and that it is in their interest to have “the whole of Europe flare up in wars”. This Facebook status, which does not cite either the original statement by the head of the EU delegation or his name, garnered almost 200 likes.
Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabic had a similar reaction to the statement made by the head of the EU delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina. She said on Twitter that the statement was horrifying and that she hoped that this was some sort of mistake.
What did the head of EU delegation to BiH actually say?
On July 12, Ambassador Johann Sattler, the head of the EU Delegation and European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina presented his stance on Srebrenica on his blog, to mark the anniversary of the Srebrenica crime, whose commemoration in Potocari he attended. Among other things, he said the following:
“After an event of such inhumanity such as Srebrenica it is understandable that words such as reconciliation sound hollow, or indeed insulting to the victims. No one can be expected to forgive genocide. And indeed, without justice, full respect, and recognition for the crimes, the victims and the human loss, true reconciliation will remain impossible. This is true for all atrocities committed during the war, and especially for the Srebrenica Genocide because of the special character of the crime”
Sattler then points out that the lack of true reconciliation continues to cause pain and provides fertile ground for the politics that hold the country captive in time, and that there are too many of those who choose the path of escalating, rather than calming tensions.
“While we cannot expect victims to embrace reconciliation, this is exactly what we expect from societal leaders. To set the tone for a better future. They have a duty to bring their citizens together, especially young people, around a common ambition, built on trust, mutual understanding, and respect for one another. They have to acknowledge historical facts, honor the victims and genuinely promote reconciliation by confronting the roots of hatred that led to the war-time atrocities, including the genocide”, Sattler says in his blog.
All of this clearly indicates that the claim that Sattler said that “reconciliation between Serbs and Muslims would be an insult to the victims” is an incorrect one.
Sattler is actually talking about the gravity of the crime that happened in 1995, while the remains of the victims are still being buried almost three decades later. While reflecting on the suffering inflicted on people whose family members were victims of this terrible massacre, he says that it is understandable that they cannot forgive the genocide and that true reconciliation is impossible without justice, full respect, and recognition of crimes, victims, and human losses. He also urges leaders of countries of the region to honor the victims and accept and promote reconciliation.
Due to all of the above, we label this post as fact manipulation.
The “Fact manipulation” label is assigned to media reports that contain well-established and accurate facts but interpret them in a misleading way. These reports generally use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thus swaying consumers of media content to make wrong conclusions, leading them astray from the actual meaning of the facts presented.