The High Representative visited the Suceska cemetery in order to pay respect to Hatidža Mehmedović, on the third anniversary of her death. “Hatidža Mehmedović is the strongest person I have ever met in my life. Her lion’s fight for truth and justice, lucidity, prudence and dedication to humanity, which I had the opportunity to witness for years, has brought me to her grave today, on the third anniversary since this woman with a big heart left for a better world, to join her sons and her husband.
I had a great need to pay respect to this impressive woman, from whom I learned that “forgiveness is the ultimate love.”
When you hear the mother whose both sons were killed, and buried only in 2010, talk about the “necessity of reconciliation”, when you hear her pine to hear “forgive me”, or publicly call on “all those who participated in the genocide, that they can come to the commemoration, or on some other day, if they have the need to ask forgiveness from the victims at the cemetery in order to find their peace, they are all welcome”, one trully wonders where a mother could get so much strength and wisdom. She is a mother who, suffering through her immense pain, spiritually reached heaven already during her life on earth.
Hatidža inspired me to work on the project “Humanity overcomes through forgiveness”. Srebrenica, so far globally known for the genocide which took place at the end of the 20th century, should also become a symbol of the power of mother’s forgiveness.
– We all live in the same house. If we keep arguing all the time, it will be bad for everyone. Without reconciliation and forgiveness, no one here has a future. Even unborn children will have no future if we do not reconcile with our neighbors – this is what that great, wise woman told me, at the zenith of her life, and I memorised that as Hatidža’s testament. Today, I would like to publicly address this Hatidža’s testament to all citizens of this afflicted country for reflection, the High Representative emphasized at the end.
