Srebrenica residents open hearts to help Türkiye, Syria quake victims

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – People in Srebrenica, a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina that has lived through one of the worst atrocities in history, are leaving no stone unturned in efforts to help earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria.

Donations were collected at all mosques in the city on Friday and, despite their own financial woes, people pitched in a total of €3,600 ($3,840), according to Ahmed Hrustanovic, a teacher and imam in Srebrenica.

“This is the largest donation that has ever been collected in Srebrenica in the mosques since the genocide until today,” he said on Twitter.

Hrustanovic is himself a survivor of the July 1995 Srebrenica genocide, when more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in an attack on the town by Serb forces, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

It remains the worst massacre in Europe after World War II.

The Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a “safe area” in the spring of 1993.

However, troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic, who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, overran the UN zone.

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing some 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.

Around 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people.