'Serbia will apologize for Srebrenica slaughter,' Turkish FM says

Turkey’s top diplomat said Thursday that Serbia would soon officially “apologize” for the Srebrenica Massacre that claimed the lives of hundreds of Bosnian Muslims in 1995.

“The next step is the apology to be released by the Serbs over the Srebrenica slaughter,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told a small group of journalists accompanying him en route to Bulgaria.

In recent months, Davutoğlu has engaged in intense diplomatic talks between Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries in the region in an effort to end potential strife between the neighboring nations. Earlier, Turkey-mediated talks had prompted Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to appoint ambassadors to each others’ capitals.

Despite Davutoğlu’s statements, the Serbian parliament is only expected to issue a declaration expressing its sadness over the loss of innocent lives during the 1992-1995 war periods. Davutoğlu will initiate more meetings between the two countries in the upcoming months to ensure stable progress in the region.

“Turks and Serbs were in a 1,000-year-old conflict. It goes back to the 12th century. However, our problems with Armenia are only 100 years old,” Davutoğlu said. “If we can solve problems in the Balkans with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, why can’t we do the same with Armenia?”

Noting that the mood of the bilateral relations between Turkey and Serbia has drastically changed within the span of just a year, Davutoğlu said he had met with his Serbian counterpart 11 times in the last six months.

“Armenians do not talk with us on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. But we say the opposite: If we could solve the problem with Serbs through dialogue, we can do it with you as well,” the Turkish foreign minister said. “We tell them, thanks to our efforts, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia could overcome their problems. Let us do the same for you and Azerbaijan.”