RIYADH — Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Bin Abdullah affirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stood side by side with their brothers, the families of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre on Saturday, July 11, 2020.

He said: “Our participation on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its leaders, government, and people, is a humanitarian and moral obligation that the Saudi leadership stands by every year.”

The minister was speaking at an event in which the Kingdom participated in the 25th anniversary memorial of the Srebrenica Genocide that took place in the in July 1995.

Prince Faisal delivered the Kingdom's speech via video conference, where he conveyed the greetings of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and the Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman to Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sefik Dzaferovic and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and other dignitaries taking part in this occasion.

The minister added: “The Custodian of the Two Holy mosques, has, and continues to support and stand by Bosnia and Herzegovina which further confirms the unique and friendly relations between our countries.”

He stressed that the Kingdom, its presidency of the Group of 20 this year, calls for global security, stability, and unity, explaining that the Kingdom seeks to promote the values of moderation, tolerance, and openness.

A number of presidents, heads of government, foreign ministers, heads the European Union and Parliament, the European Commission and Guterres paid tribute, via video conference, in which they stressed on rejecting denial of genocide and holding those involved responsible and look forward for a peaceful coexistence to ensure stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Earlier, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) too remembered July 11 as a (Day of Mourning) to honor the memory of those who were slain in the Srebrenica massacre. “This anniversary is for us a painful reminder. Our hearts and thoughts are with the victims of this tragic event,” said OIC Secretary General Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen.

Meanwhile, amid calls for tolerance and reconciliation the world marked the 25th anniversary of Srebrenica with some speakers at commemorations on Saturday going further in demanding that Serbian leaders fully accept responsibility for the 1995 massacre that was part of a genocide against Muslims during the Bosnian War.

European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, UN Secretary-General Guterres and the British, Dutch and Spanish prime ministers were among several senior figures to send video messages to the event, scaled down this year due to coronavirus restrictions.

“Reconciliation means rejecting denial of genocide and war crimes and of any effort to glorify convicted war criminals,” Guterres said in his address.

Dzaferovic called for more from world leaders in the face of attempts to downplay, relativize or deny what happened. "I am calling on our friends from around the world to show, not just with words but also with actions, that they will not accept the denial of genocide and celebration of its perpetrators," he said.

"The Srebrenica genocide is being denied [by Serb leaders] just as systematically and meticulously as it was executed in 1995... we owe it not just to Srebrenica, but to humanity, to oppose that," he added.

A similar call came from Bakir Izetbegović, head of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the main Muslim Bosnia political party. "The international community did not defend Srebrenica 25 years ago, but it has the possibility to defend the truth which is called into question," he said.

Bosnia is still ethnically divided a quarter of a century after the brutal execution in July 1995 of more than 8,000 Bosnia Muslim men and boys, who were singled out and murdered over 10 days by Bosnian Serb forces. In a pre-planned operation, many were taken away in buses to be executed; bulldozers were used to push them into mass graves in the forest.

Bosnian Serbs, however, still celebrate their wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic — later convicted and sentenced for genocide by a UN war crimes tribunal — as heroes. Serbia has apologized for the massacre but has not accepted the widespread international interpretation that it was genocide.

In an opinion piece for Euronews, academic and author Edina Becirevic said, "It is unsurprising... that Dodik has good relations with leaders like Putin and Orban. But it is problematic that he is treated as a legitimate partner by many European diplomats as well," she writes. "The EU must recognize that opportunities to pressure Bosnian Serb and Serbian leaders to treat history objectively should not be wasted."

Another prominent figure who denies that genocide happened at Srebrenica is the town's mayor. Mladen Grijicic has repeatedly peddled theories, popular among Serbian politicians and media, alleging that the crime has been exaggerated.

"Every day there is new proof which deny the current presentation of all that happened" at Srebrenica, AFP quoted him as saying.

But 25 years after the fighting ended in the former Yugoslavia, the battle to shape the memory of what happened is still raging. — SPA/Euronews