Turkish FM commemorates ‘mother’ of Srebrenica victims

By Meltem Bulur

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's foreign minister on Monday commemorated the late Hatidza Mehmedovic, an activist who fought for justice for victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

Mehmedovic, head of the Mothers of Srebrenica Association, died in the capital Sarajevo on Sunday. She was 66.

“We will always remember her as someone who sought justice for the victims of Srebrenica,” Mevlut Cavusoglu posted on Twitter.

“Her cause will continue forever,” Cavusoglu added.

Mehmedovic died at a clinic while receiving treatment for cancer. She will be buried in her hometown of Srebrenica on Wednesday.

After losing her husband and two sons in the genocide, Mehmedovic dedicated her life to raising awareness of the genocide and became a symbol of resistance.

“I will be a mother no more,” she said in the wake of the genocide.

“I will not be able to have grandchildren. I will not be able to have a son, and I will no longer know what all of this happiness means.”

Her association represents the mothers of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys massacred by Serbian forces in 1995.

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces attacked the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch troops tasked with acting as international peacekeepers.

Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces who were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form their own state.

Hundreds of Bosniak families are still searching for missing people, as a large number of victims were thrown into mass graves around the country during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.