Türkiye on Sept. 8 condemned attempts to glorify convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic at his funeral in Belgrade, warning that they deepened the suffering of victims and damaged reconciliation efforts in the Balkans.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said it was unacceptable for the funeral to be used in a way that amounted to denying the crimes committed and the suffering they caused.
“The rejection of these judicial decisions or any attempt to glorify convicted perpetrators exacerbates the suffering of victims and their families,” Keçeli said.
Such actions also undermined years of efforts to establish peace and reconciliation in the region, he added.
Keçeli said the Balkans needed to draw lessons from the past and work together to build a peaceful, prosperous and shared future.
He also commemorated those killed during the Bosnian War, particularly the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, and offered condolences to their families.
Thousands of mourners attended Mladic’s funeral in Belgrade on Sept. 7.
Although the ceremony was not formally designated a state funeral, his coffin was carried by soldiers and he was buried with military honors. Several Serbian government ministers were also present.
The European Union separately condemned the public glorification of Mladic, saying the glorification of war criminals, genocide denial and historical revisionism were incompatible with fundamental European values and had no place in the bloc or its candidate countries.
Seperately, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sept. 8 the presence of Serbian officials at the funeral of Mladic was "deeply regrettable",
"The elements of official support and the presence of some senior Serbian officials at the funeral are deeply regrettable," the pair said in a statement on social media, adding that the images from the funeral were "shocking."
Mladic died in The Hague on Aug. 27 at the age of 84 while serving a life sentence.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted him in 2017 of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
His convictions and life sentence were upheld on appeal in 2021.
The verdict covered his role in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, and the siege of Sarajevo.
