The Albanian parliament passed a unanimous resolution on Thursday, honouring the victims of the Srebrenica genocide just days before the 27 year anniversary of the massacre and declaring 11 July as a day of commemoration.
In 1995, Serbian troops killed more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys in less than two weeks in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Albania’s position that the denial of the genocide committed against the Bosnian population of Srebrenica by the Bosnian Serb forces constitutes a violation of international law and promotes the phenomenon of impunity for war crimes and the violation of the dignity of more than 8,000 civilians who were massacred in Srebrenica,” the resolution states.
It also condemns the “glorification of the authors, creators and supporters of this genocide”, as well as the murders and rapes of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces during the Kosovo war.
Democratic MPs attempted to include amendments condemning Serbia’s actions in Kosovo as a genocide, but the motion was rejected by the Socialist majority.
The Socialist-backed resolution comes after rejecting a similar proposal initiated by the Democratic Party in May, saying they would not vote in favour of anything put forward by opposition leader Sali Berisha.
This led the opposition to accuse Prime Minister Edi Rama and the PS of being close to Serbian President Aleksander Vucic who was an MP in Serbia when the massacre took place. While the genocide was ongoing, Vucic threatened the international community, warning them not to interfere: “For every Serb killed, we will kill 100 Muslims,” he vowed from the Serbian parliament.
The Socialists’ decision to table the Democrats’ resolution for political reasons, sparked outrage in Bosnia. Bosnian MP Cudic sent an open letter to Prime Minsiter Rama where she condemned the move.
“I would like to remind you that the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague found, in no uncertain terms, that the Serb forces committed genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995, when more than 8,000 Bosniaks were killed, and more than 40,000 people driven out of their homes,” Cudic wrote in her letter.
She also denounced the Prime Minister’s attempt to use this tragedy for political gain and reminded him that “no one prevented [the Socialist Party] from proposing the Resolution, or adopting it, since you have a majority in Parliament.”
