Bosnian MP Sabina Cudic has address an open letter to Prime Minister Edi Rama criticizing his government’s refusal to vote on a resolution condemning the Srebrenica genocide and accusing him of tabling the resolution as a concession to Serbia.
“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 writes in her letter.
On Thursday, the Socialist majority and Prime Minister Rama said they refused to vote on the resolution as it had been supported by MP Sali Berisha.
“These are things that must not be the subject of political speculation… You therefore must explain to the entire European, and especially to the Albanian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian public, as to why the Resolution on the Condemnation of Genocide was not included on the agenda of Parliament,” she continues.
Cudic criticized Rama’s attempt to “transfer responsibility to the opposition” for the failure, saying such a rhetoric “is particularly humiliating to the victims.”
She 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.”
“You did not do that. Your human and moral responsibility, and basic political reason, dictates that you place the Proposed Resolution on the agenda, even if it comes from your fiercest opponents,” Cudic asserts.
Cudic also called out Rama’s closed ties to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, implying that the decision was motivated by Rama’s rapprochement with Vučić.
“My second impression is that you postponed considering the Resolution (or perhaps rejected it altogether?) due to your Government’s foreign policy efforts regarding an Open Balkans, and negotiations with Aleksandar Vučić. It is your duty to answer whether any concession for foreign policy is worthy enough of humiliating the victims of genocide, and if so, what this concession is.”
Finally, Cudic writes that institutional condemnations of the Srebrenica genocide are part of larger efforts to defend democratic values, especially in view of the threats posed by Russia to these values.
“In the context of their aggression on Ukraine, and the possibility of a new genocide in Europe, this is no longer justice a difference of values, but also a division into blocs and trenches. The issue of the genocide in Srebrenica is what sets Albania’s place in the division, more than anything else.”
“It is because of my great respect for the Albanian people that I want Albania to join the Western side, and not to go back to where it was during the time of Enver Hoxha,” she concludes calling for Parliament to adopt the resolution in the July session dedicated to Srebrenica, “without exception.
Read More: Albanian Parliament Rejects Opposition Resolution Condemning Srebrenica Genocide
