MONUMENTA SREBRENICA Research, Documents, Testimonials BOOK 4
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MONUMENTA SREBRENICA Research, documents, testimonials BOOK 4 SREBRENICA THROUGH CENTURIES PAST SREBRENICA THROUGH CENTURIES PAST Consulting editors: Enver Halilović, Ph.D., Professor Edin Mutapčić, Ph.D., Professor Anita Petrović, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Editor: Adib Đozić, Ph.D., Professor Reader: Refik Bulić, Ph.D., Professor Translated into English by: Selma Kešetović, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Publisher: Public Institution for Protection and Usage of Cultural-historical and Natural Heritage of the Tuzla Canton Print: OFF-SET Tuzla Edition: 500 Tuzla – Srebrenica 2015. ISSN 2233-162X CONTENT Author’s Preface...............................................................................................5 GENOCIDE Professor Adib Đozić GENOCIDE AS A SOCIAL AND LEGAL FACT OF BOSNIAK HISTORY ..................................................................................................... 11 Vedad Gurda, PhD, assistant professor THE PROSECUTION OF GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA BEFORE INTERNATIONAL, DOMESTIC AND NATIONAL COURTS OF OTHER JURISDICTIONS .................................................................... 35 Dr. Rasim Muratović UNDERSTANDING OF THE NOTION GENOCIDE IN THE WORK OF ARNE JOHAN VETLESEN ............................................................... 71 mr. Muamer Džananović GENOCIDE DENIAL IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ..................... 107 Mr. Ermin Kuka CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW In Višegrad Municipality ........................................................................... 115 Almir Grabovica, Master of Political Science THE ROLE OF THE UN PEACEKEEPING MISSION IN THE “SAFE AREAS” OF SREBRENICA AND ZEPA ................................. 125 FROM SREBRENICA HISTORY Adib Đozić Rusmir Djedović ČARŠIJA IN SREBRENICA IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY ................137 Rusmir Djedović, M. Sc. BAJRAMOVIĆI BETWEEN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY ..... 177 DOCUMENTS Dr sci. Dževad Mahmutović, doc. Maja Iveljić, ass. INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ................................ 203 Author’s Preface Twenty years has passed since the crime of genocide had been committed against Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the teritorry of UN “Safe Area“ in July 1995, and the remains of the killed have not been found, identified and buried yet. This is perhaps the best evidence of the scope of committed crime and the need to explain in a scientific way all the details of causes and consequences of genocide. Due to the mentioned reasons, but also still present practice of genocide denial, discrimination of victims of genocide and, unfortunately, still insufficiently developed conscience on the need to spread the truth about the genocide against Bosniaks in UN “Safe Area“, we publish this fourth edition Monumenta Srebrenica in somewhat changed structural content. In the previous books the first part would be dedicated to scientifc texts discussing social and historical reality of Srebrenica that referred not only to the topic of genocide but also demographic, geographic, social, legal and other scientific aspects of Srebrenica’s past. This time we decided to dedicate the whole first part of Book 4 to genocide, i.e. to scientifically elaborate certain aspects of the crime of genocide and not only the genocide against Bosniaks in UN “Safe Area“ Srebrenica. In this part of the book we elaborate, among other things, on: genocide as a social and legal fact of Bosniaks’ history, prosecution of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina before international, domestic and foreign courts of law, understanding of the term genocide in Arne Johan Vetlsen’s work, denial of genocide, the chetnicks’ crime in Višegrad and so called “vibrant stake“, as well as the role of UN’s peace missions in safe areas Žepa and Srebrenica. Someone might ask: why should you write about the genocide against Bosniaks, has it not been written enough? There are many reasons but one is the basic and that is to prevent it from happening again. The history teaches us that the genocide against Bosniaks repeats continuously based on the same matrix of great state aspirations towards the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the messages of the genocide against Bosniaks in UN “Safe Area“ Srebrenica is that Bosniaks must become more aware that social and political causes of all the genocides so far have not been removed yet. They must be aware of the danger that threatens the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the only guarantee of Bosniaks’ survival, not only as a political people but also their biological survival. We must not forget that the Bosniaks are the only European nation that the crime of genocide was committted against after the World War II. Becuase of that crime and many previous ones the Bosniaks are the only European nation more numerous in diaspora world wide than in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to the crime of genocide and ethnic cleansing the Bosniaks are now ghettoized in their own country. They are forced to live in two teritorrially separated 5 enclaves: Una-Sana and Bosnian-Neretva. Let us not forget: the Bosniaks lived with other nations in Serbia, Lika, Kordun, wider area of Sandzak and Montenegro. Why are not they there today? Due to the continuous crime of genocide. Let us briefly recall. The first genocide against Bosniaks was committed from 1683 to 1689. That was the period when the Ottoman state in the war against Austria lost its teritorries in Slavonija, Lika, Dalmatia and Boka Kotorska, where the Bosniaks, who did not flee, were either killed or converted to Catholicism forcibly. The second genocide was committed in Montenegro in 1711 and is known as “Istraga poturica“ (investigation of converts to Islam). Montenegrin Serbs on the Christmas Eve killed and expelled all the Bosniaks who lived there. This genocide was used as the pretext to fight against Bosniaks in Serbia, Sandzak and Bosnia. The third genocide was committed during the First and Second Serbian Uprising between 1804 and 1820 under the pretext of “general eviction of Turks-Muslims from the people“, and then in Serbia several thousands of Bosniaks were killed and expelled and they do not live there anymore. The fourth genocide against Bosniaks was committed after the 1830 Hatisharif, which gained Serbia its status of vassal prinicipality of autonomy in the Ottoman Empire, and which enabled it to carry out the persecution of Bosniaks to Bosnia. The most massive persecution was committed between 1875 and 1878 and after Serbia and Montenegro gained their independence at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Although the Congress of Berlin obliged Serbia and Montenegro to treat the Bosniaks rightfully, they were persecuted and their mosques were demolished in many cities. The sixth genocide was committed during the Austro- Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when many Bosniaks fled to Turkey, Sandzak and Kosovo. The seventh genocide was committed in Montenegro, in Šahovići in 1924, when innocent live people were decapitated, burnt and peeled off. Today there are no Bosniaks there and the name of Šahovići was changed into Tomaševo. The ninth genocide was committed during the World War II between 1941 and 1945 in Bosnia and Montenegro when chetnicks slaughtered, burnt, killed and persecuted Bosniaks in Pljevaljska Bukovica, Čajniče, Foča, Goražde and other places in Bosnian Podrinje, Bihor and others. The tenth genocide started in April 1992 and peaked in Srebrenica in July 1995.1 It is necessary to emphasise that the numebr of victims in Srebrenica is bigger than 8,372 as it is officially registered in Memorial Center Potočari. The total number of killed Bosniaks in Srebrenica from April 1992 to genocidal massacre in July 1995 is 12,089. Eeach victim is individually registered and their real identity confirmed in a way that the following data were registered: victim’s surname and name, gender, father’s name, date of birth, place and date of disappearance.2 In order to prevent eleventh genocide against Bosniaks, which would mean biological disappearance of the Bosniaks, we must write about 1 More in: Čekić, Smail, Historija genocida nad Bošnjacima, Muzej genocida, Sarajevo 1997. 2 Da se više nikada ne ponovi, Zbornik radova sa međunarodnog naučnog skupa, Cetinje, 30. 6. 2007. Crnogorska pravoslavna crkva, Dukljanska Akademija Nauka i umjetnosti, Cetinje, 2008, str. 125-470. 6 this crime and thus contribute to the development, first and foremost the Bosniaks’ self-awareness, as the basic obstruction of the crime of genocide against them. Two papers on demographic and ownership relations and other social and historical characteristics of Čaršija in Srebrenica and a village Bajramovići at the trun of 19th-20th century can be found in the second part of the book with the subtitle From Srebrenica’s History. These texts, scientifically based facts, relying on original historical documents, show centuries-long multiethnic and multireligious content of Srebrenica as one of its basic characteristics. In the third part of the book, called Documents, there are documentary appendices prepared by Dževad Mahmutović and Maja Iveljić. It is the Verdict: Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro. We found in this legal act that the International Court of Justice clearly and unequivocally established that the crime of genocide was committed against the Bosniaks in Srebrenica and “notes that in connection with the genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995, Serbia has violated the obligation to prevent genocide, under the Convention on the Prevention