A massacre took place in Sarajevo’s Markale market three decades ago in which 68 citizens were killed and 142 wounded, and the surviving residents of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina say that the pain and images of horror do not fade and that each subsequent anniversary is more difficult.
The Day of Remembrance of all killed and wounded citizens of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995 and the 30th anniversary of the massacre at Sarajevo’s Markale market will be commemorated in Sarajevo on Monday, February 5, with the singing of the national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the laying of flowers, a prayer and a minute of silence.
The first of the two massacres at the Markale market, in the center of Sarajevo, took place on February 5, 1994, between 12:10 and 12:20, when a 120-millimeter mortar shell was fired from the aggressor positions, which were located in the area of Mrković. The grenade fell on the crowded market, killing 68 citizens, while 142 were seriously and lightly wounded.
The market and the closed Markale City Market in the old part of Sarajevo were shelled twice. After February 1994, in the massacre at the very end of the war, on August 28, 1995, near the Markale City Market, 43 civilians were killed and 84 were injured.
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, the busiest market in Sarajevo, Markale, was one of the places of supply and an opportunity to supply the residents of the besieged city. Food products and everything that could in any way help the citizens of Sarajevo to survive the difficult days of war and the siege were traded in that place, including the exchange of information.
That is exactly why, in the fight for bare survival in the city under siege on that fateful February 5, Vahida Tvico was also present at the Markale market, who in an interview with Anadolu pointed out that the memories of the massacre are still fresh, that she still sees scenes of blood before her eyes. and that every subsequent anniversary of that tragedy is harder and harder for her.
“Every day was critical. Whenever I went, snipers shot, but I went, God forbid. I was right here the day the shell fell. I started to run away, I don’t know where, my husband was catching me. I do not know what happened. I don’t even know how I heard about that detonation. When I saw what had happened and how much blood was there, I fainted. You just can’t watch it,” said Tvico.
Recalling the horrific scenes of the massacre in Markale, Tvico said that she still had before her eyes the image of the dead woman whose head was on the table, and whose body was next to the market table.
“My heart stopped because of fear. Bodies, arms, legs, there were bodies everywhere,” Tvico said, adding that fellow citizens bought the victims’ bodies and drove them to hospitals in their trunks.
Emphasizing how it is still difficult for her to talk about that trauma, Tvico said that only those who saw it can know how horrible it was.
“Here, the husband shook hands with a colleague from the local community who was on a bicycle. Then the grenade fell. The wheel was bent and stopped dead in place. And I saw that and then I started to run away,” said Tvico.
Tvico also lost her son in the war, and she also took care of her sick daughter.
“It happened on June 10, 1993. I was carrying my dead son… I fainted when we got to the hospital,” said Tvico.
At the end of the conversation, this brave woman said that it was difficult for her, but that her only wish was for the children to be better, for there to be no more fights and wars anywhere.
