Balkans | The Bosnian War and Alija Izetbegović’s conflict with Dayton were shown

What happened in the Bosnian war In the 28th year of the genocide in Srebrenica, the first President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović, ended the war.

Umit Cihan Canpolat and Rebiye Bozkurt, authors of the Dayton script, the original production of the international TRT digital platform “Of Course”, produced by Sancak Media, spoke to Anadolu Agency about the TV series about the Bosnian War and the Dayton Agreement.

Canpolat stated that they wanted to tell a story focusing on Aliya Izetbegović’s Dayton operation, which lasted for a month and was likened to chess, and said, “We preferred to tell the genocide that started in 1992 through a family in order to make the audience feel what Aliya had been fighting in a month.” The part in Dayton was the one that really appealed to us, we wanted to focus on the political tension and convey the story very well.” He said.

Pointing out that each character in the series represents a different face of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canpolat said, “Sometimes a family represents an entire country. In the series, we deal with a leader who is trying to unite his country, which has been dismantled by genocide, and a family that has broken up and reunited because of the same genocide.” collective”. He said.

“What happens in the camps is hard for the average public to bear.”

Expressing that they alluded to crimes against humanity, torture and rape in the Bosnian war, Canpolat said, “Usually, you see some ‘bang-bang’ scenes in TV series. On the other hand, we generally mimicked the higher-end scenes a bit so we can’t show them anymore. It is very difficult for the average audience to comprehend what happened in the camps.” He said.

Noting that the series includes real stories and events, Canpolat noted, “The Bosniaks were unaware of the preparations of their Serb neighbors to storm their homes the next day. This unpreparedness made the genocide even more amazing in terms of scenario.” Use the phrase.

“Reading Karadzic and Milosevic’s defences, in particular, made our work more lively.”

Bozkurt indicated that they used many sources before starting the scenario and focused on the ICC record, especially the defenses of (Radovan, who was tried in the International Criminal Court and is known as the Bosnian Butcher). ) Karadzic and (former Serbian President Slobodan) Milosevic: Reading and listening to the story from the bad guy’s mouth made our work more lively. Because we always know the story of the victim, but no one has told the story of the oppressor.” He made her assessment.

Bozkurt stated that they had access to court documents stating that Karadzic and Milosevic, who caused the genocide, would not be considered “war criminals”.

From here, we understand that these names were promised to stay away from what they did. You do this here, if necessary, you kill people so the UN can come and bomb it. In this way we can clearly distinguish between East and West. This was a move developed by the West against the Eastern Bloc. These massacres had to be carried out in order for the West to intervene in space and time, so that catatonic societies could be established there. In this way, we can use the term ‘Balkanisation’ all over the world.”

Regarding the criticism of the Dayton Peace Treaty, Bozkurt said, “There is such a thing as the zeitgeist. Just as the Bosnian side started consolidating, an agreement was reached. People might have been wondering about these places, but Aliya had to make a wise decision while there were many losses.” So “mandatory” would be more accurate. Share his opinion.

Bozkurt said that the Serbs tried to give the impression of a regional conflict, not a genocide, by decomposing the corpses of Bosnians who had been killed for a certain period of time, “Unfortunately, funerals are still taking place in different places today, thanks to the DNA decisions and the work of the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) There are still people searching for the missing.” Use the phrase.

Twenty-eighth anniversary of the genocide

During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srebrenica, declared a “safe zone” by the United Nations on July 11, 1995, was occupied by Serbian forces, led by the Serbian commander Ratko Mladic. As for the Bosnian civilians who took refuge with the Dutch soldiers inside the United Nations after the occupation, they were handed over to the Serbs.

8,372 Bosniaks, who were transported by the Serbs in buses and trucks, were killed in the forest areas, factories and warehouses to which they were transported. The bodies of the dead were buried in various mass graves across the country.

After the war, the victims whose bodies were found were buried in mass graves in an effort to find the missing in a ceremony held at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery on 11 July each year after their identification.

AA