Bosnian genocide

The Bosnian genocide refers to the genocide of Bosniaks^[b] by the Serbs in 1995.^[8][9] The largest killing was the Srebrenica massacre,^[8][9] which killed 8,372 people.^[10] Some scholars estimated that about 33,071 civilians were killed in the Bosnian genocide.^[4]

Bosnian Genocide
Part of the Bosnian War
Graveyard for Bosnian genocide's victims
Location	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date	July 11–13, 1995
Target	Bosniaks
Attack type	Mass murder, persecution, ethnic cleansing and deportation
Deaths	Genocide:[a] 8,372 killed in Srebrenica[1] 25,609–33,071 Bosniaks and Croats killed within the borders of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina[4]
Perpetrators	Army of Republika Srpska (VRS),[1] Scorpions paramilitary group[5]
Motive	Greater Serbia[6]

Bosnian War

Main article: Bosnian War

During the Bosnian War (1992‒95), the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina fought Serbia and Croatia, which were then part of Yugoslavia. The United Nations sought to protect Bosnia and created safe zones.^[8][9]

Srebrenica massacre

Main article: Srebrenica massacre

Further information: The Bosnian Book of the Dead

The Srebrenica massacre happened in July 1995 when the Serbs invaded the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. They raped women, and forced men and boys into the forests. The men were hunted down by the Serbs.^[8][9]

Exhumations in Srebrenica, 1996.

An exhumed mass grave in Potocari, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where key events in the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre unfolded. July 2007.

Skull of a victim of the Srebrenica massacre (July 1995), with a bullet entry point in the cranium. Exhumed mass grave outside the village of Potocari, Bosnia and Herzegovina. July 2007.

Commemorative stone at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center in Bosnia.

Denial

Serbia

In Serbia, many people have said that the Bosnian genocide was not real. However, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) confirmed that the Bosnian genocide was real.^[11]

Western countries

In Western countries, Bosnian genocide denial is common among left-wing "anti-imperialist" intellectuals.^[12][13] They often accuse the NATO of "inventing" the Bosnian genocide to justify the bombing and "destruction" of Yugoslavia.^[12][13] They tend to blame the victims of the genocide for their own suffering,^[12][13] just as modern antisemites do to Jews.^[14]

Bosnian genocide deniers in Western countries are mostly left-wing,^[12][13] including but not limited to David Peterson, Diana Johnstone, Edward S. Herman, Jared Israel, Mick Hume, Michael Parenti, Tariq Ali.^[12][13] Many of them have non-negligible influence in Western academia.^[12][15]

Related pages

• Rwandan genocide
• Cambodian genocide
• Genocides by the Soviet Union
• Yugoslav massacres of Kosovo Albanians during the Kosovo War

Notes

1. To date, only the massacre in Srebrenica^[1] has been described as a crime of genocide by the ICTY. Overall, at least 33,000 Bosniak civilians were killed during the war and 1,200,000 forcibly removed^[2] from a minimum of 64,036 Bosniak fatalities overall.^[3]
2. The Bosniaks are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[7]