Three people who survived the genocide in Srebrenica walk from The Hague to Potocari. They say that the journey has nothing to do with any politics and that it is only “The Walk of Peace and Love”.
On the way, people look at us with great interest, stop us and ask what we are doing, where are we going? On our backpacks we carry the flags of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the European Union (EU), and the country we are passing through, and we are recognizable by that. People support us and have respect for what we do,” told Suad Pasalic, who on April 9th, 2023, set off from the Netherlands for the first time on the “Walk of Peace” Den Haag – Potocari Memorial Center.
“I spent the war in Srebrenica, survived the genocide and came to the Netherlands in 1997 with my wife and son who was born on May 14th, 1995 in Srebrenica. My sister arrived in the Netherlands in 1992, fleeing the war, and she was a great support for me upon arriving here. Now I live a normal life in the Netherlands after severe psychological treatment as a result of the war, which lasted for more than 10 years,” Suad Pasalic or Mikan, as his friends call him, begins his story, and he got thisnickname a long time ago in his native Potocari.
Mikan explained that he came up with this idea of a walking journey three or four years ago and he first thought of realizing it in 2025 on the 30th anniversary of the genocide.
“Why I decided to do it this year is because I’m afraid of getting sick and that it doesn’t interfere with my intention, because I’m already 61 years old,” says Mikan.
“That such evil should never happen again to anyone”
Abdulah and Bego Halilovic are cousins. They spent the war in Srebrenica, and in 1995, like Suad, they were lucky enough to live, to get out of the enclave through the forests and reach Tuzla. After the war, Abdullah worked as a policeman in Srebrenik and has been retired since 2021. Bego Halilovic lives in Gradacac and works in a company that produces concrete elements and asphalt. He took three months of unpaid leave to participate in the Peace Walk.
When asked what the goal or mission of their trip is, Suad answers: “I thought that first of all, I needed to remind us genocide survivors that we must not forget what happened to us in July 1995 in and around Srebrenica.” To remind Europe and the world what happened to us. Europe quickly forgets that terrible crimes and genocide were committed on the soil of BiH. We would like to remind you that the judgments of the International Court of Justice for the former Yugoslavia must be respected, as well as the judgments of all courts in BiH and the region. When foreigners decide everything for us, because our politicians cannot or do not want to come to an agreement, we want them to build us a state tailored to all its citizens. That BiHbe organized like the EU and that we are not divided on the basis of ethnicity”.
“We set off on the ”Peace Walk” in front of the prison in Scheveningen from The Hague, where criminals were awaiting verdicts for the genocide in Srebrenica and crimes in the whole of BiH. We survivors went as free men, while the convicted criminals went to various prisons. We wanted to show that it does not pay for anyone to commit genocide or crime. We want love and peace to reign in the world, to end all conflicts on the planet. We also stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” says Suad.
Great support
“We meet a lot of people from our Balkan areas of different nationalities. There are Croats, Albanians, Serbs and they are all interested in what we are doing and when we tell them, they are delighted and support us. Yesterday on the road we met a Serb from Kraljevo who drives a truck. He stopped to greet us and asked where and why we were going? And he gave us support to persevere. We have been walking through Germany for a long time, which is a big country. A lot of Germans come up to us and are interested in where we are going, and they all support us and show respect,” said Suad yesterday.
Upon arrival in BiH, on July 8th, they plan to join the “March of Peace”, which traditionally starts from the village of Nezuk near Tuzla towards Srebrenica, the route which the people of Srebrenica took in 1995 and left the besieged enclave to come tothe free territory. They will arrive in Potocari with the participants of the march on July 10th, DW reports.
E.Dz.
