Fifteen21 issue 25

muslim youth magazine

FIFTEEN21

ISSUE 25 SEP 2015

SREBRENICA: A TOWN BETRAYED TO NEW LANDS: MERSIHA HADZIABDIC HUSNA’S DIARY 1995: IN THE YEAR OF MY BIRTH

Editor Fozia Parveen

FIFTEEN21 EDITORIAL

Designed by Hafizur Rahman

By: Noordad Aziz

Contact Fifteen21 fozia@fifteen21.com

Dear Readers

www.fifteen21.com facebook.comfifteen21magazine

Asalamu Alaykum!

All views are of the authors alone and not necessarily of those held

by Fifteen21

It’s been over 20 years since more than 8000 Bosnian Muslim men were rounded up and shot in and around the fields of Srebrenica. The stories and events that took place in the hot summer days of July 1995 are emerging even today with the discovery of another mass grave, another victim’s body that is laid to rest at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre and the continued quest for justice by the victim’s families at The Hague.

However, the awareness of what happened in Srebrenica is very limited amongst the general public and that needs to change and as the age old adage goes ‘Never Again!’

muslim youth magazine

Stain-glass by artist Huda Awad Fifteen21 inspires young Muslims to be proud of their British Muslim identity.

The name Fifteen21 is derived from both the 15th century of the Islamic Hijri year and the 21st century of the Common era.

Fifteen21 aims to reconcile both Muslim and British identity.

www.hudaawad.com

It is more important than ever to encourage young people to explore the behaviours, motivations and choices of all of the people involved in the Genocide at Srebrenica

during the Bosnian War - the victims, the perpetrators, the bystanders, and the brave men and women who risked their own lives to reach safe lands. Students should be given the opportunity to explore the complexity of the Bosnian Conflict as a historical event, but also to start to grapple with the questions it raises about human behaviour.

Education about Srebrenica must go hand in hand with learning about the Holocaust, Rwanda, and other conflicts and evil acts that have led to genocide and mass killing.

This gives young people an insight into what happens when the rise of hatred and intolerance is allowed to fester without it being challenged and exposed.

Noordad Aziz meeting Bosnian President Bakir Izetbegovic

Finally in the words of a Srebrenica Genocide survivor Hasan Hasanovic ‘The best form of revenge is education’. We must heed this message and educate our young people about Srebrenica, so the victims are never forgotten and ‘Never Again!’ becomes a reality.

Please read, learn from, and share, this very special issue of Fifteen21 youth magazine.

Noordad with Hasan Hasanovic

ISSUE 25 CONTENTS

26

66

60

36

20

6-8 A History of Instability

58

Nominate a Role Model

9 Muslim Youth Helpline

59

In the Next Issue…

10-11 Srebrenica: A Town Betrayed 12-19 To New Lands - Mersiha Hadziabdic

60-64 65

Death March Muslim Youth Helpline

20-25 Journeys through Bosnia

66-71

We Could Have Ended it Sooner

26-31 10 Steps to Genocide

72-75

Husna’s Diary: Day Three

32-35 Husna’s Diary: Day One

75

Child Line

36 Dua: Taking Refuge

76-77

Masjids Around The World

37 Fifteen21 Magazine

78-79

Poetry From Bosnia

38-45 Bosnia: 20 Years On

80-81

Recipes: Bosnian Cevapi

46-49 Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey

82

National Events

50-53 1995: in the Year of My Birth

83

Child Line

54-57 Husna’s Diary: Day Two

A History of Instability

1600

1908

SLAVIC HERITAGE The Slavs spread to inhabit the Balkans during the 6th century. South Slavic ethnic groups lived mainlyin Bosnia and Herzegovina, with minorities present in other countries including Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia.

Bosnia eventually became contested between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire.

FIRST BALKAN CRISIS Following Bulgaria’s declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, the Austro- Hungarian Empire announced the annexation of Bosnia. As a direct violation of the Treaty of Berlin, this led to political uproar and would later prove to be a contributing cause to World War I.

OTTOMAN RULE After the death of Tvrtko I, and the subsequent collapse of the Kingdom of Bosnia, Murat I began his conquest of Bosnia. The Ottomans brought significant changes to the region, particularly with the introduction of Islam. By the early 1600s, almost two thirds of the population were Muslim.

1909

OTTOMAN EMPIRE FALLS The Turkish revolution of 1908 to overthrow the Sultan’s autocratic power resulted in the demise of Ottoman rule.

Hearing that Turk troops were marching on Istanbul, Abdul Hamid II surrendered. He was removed from the throne in 1909 and held in captivity in Salonica until 1912, then returned to Istanbul.

support us by joining our page on

6

1913

1918

7

BALKAN LEAGUE An alliance formed against the Ottoman Empire by Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia. The League managed to obtain control over all European Ottoman conquests. However, the differences between the allies soon resurfaced and the League promptly disintegrated. Soon thereafter, Bulgaria attacked its allies, instigating the Second Balkan War. EMPIRE COLLAPSES At the end of World War I, Emperor Franz Joseph I’s Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed. This was owing to the growing opposition parties who supported the separatism of ethnic minorities, and opposed the monarchy as a form of government. In 1918, Bosnia became part of The Kingdom of Croats, Serbs and Slovenes, later renamed The Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

FRANZ FERDINAND IS KILLED In June 1913, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, alongside his wife.

Shot dead by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, the political motive behind the assassination was simple: to break off AustriaHungary’s South-Slav provinces, so that they could become part of greater Serbia or Yugoslavia.

The attack led to the outbreak of World War I.

1941

BOSNIA ANNEXED Following the collapse of Yugoslavia, the Independent State of Croatia was formed in 1941, and Bosnia was subsequently annexed by the pro-Hitler state. However, during World War II, the Croats became divided with one side supporting the Independent State of Croatia, and the other, the creation of communist Yugoslavia.

1989

TITO LIBERATES BOSNIA In 1941, German forces allied with Hungry and Italy, launched an invasion of Yugoslavia to unite against the opposition.

Tito’s Partisans succeeded in liberating the territory. As an aftermath of World War II, Tito assembled the provisional government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia in Belgrade.

1992

INDEPENDENCE FIGHT Following the fall of communism, opinion was divided on the future of the Balkan Peninsula. Muslim nationalists wanted a centralised independent Bosnia.

Serb nationalists wanted to stay in Belgrade-dominated Yugoslavia, and Croats wanted to join an independent Croatian state. War seemed imminent.

FALL OF COMUNISM In 1989, revolutions began which would overthrow communist states across Europe.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union,communism was abandoned in Yugoslavia and war broke out at the development of five successor states: Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

CIVIL WAR The Bosnian Serb assembly invited the Serb population to boycott the referendum for Bosnia’s independence. The Lisbon Agreement was proposed to prevent the country sliding into war. All three sides signed, but Alija Izetbegovic for the Bosniaks later withdrew, declaring opposition to any ethnic division in Bosnia. War broke out.

Many thanks to Remembering Srebrenica charity for this contributing article support us by joining our page on

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

8

SrebreniCa

A Town

Betrayed

Twenty years ago a land where different faiths and races had lived in harmony was uprooted and torn apart in political warfare. The years of 1992 through to 1995 saw the worst war on European soil since WWII. The civil war that resulted in genocide was a consequence of the breakup of Yugoslavia. When a predominantly Muslim Bosnia declared independence a fierce struggle for territorial control ensued, accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of the non-Serb population from areas under Serb control, particularly in East Bosnia.

Bosnian villages around the city of Srebrenica were under constant attack by Serb military forces. The Bosnian Institute in the UK has published a list of 296 villages destroyed by Serb forces around Srebrenica three years before the genocide and

in the first three months of war (April – June 1992), uprooting tens of thousands of Bosnians from their homes.

As in all wars civilians were caught in a political minefield, with countless villages destroyed on both sides. Hatred toward Muslims was fuelled by the Muslim army led by Naser Oric, who turned over numerous Serb villages causing unnecessary lives to be lost. Naser himself committed War Crimes in his quest for the upper hand.

While he celebrated, the Serbs mourned deaths. Hatred toward Muslims and the desire for revenge was settling in their hearts.

The ongoing siege for major cities like Sarajevo and Srebrenica was a nightmare for civilians, but there were many points of hope. An agreement was made between Muslim and

Serb leaders to demilitarize, unfortunately, this did not last very long. The Muslims were then promised a protected area of safety (‘Safe Haven’) but yet again this did not follow through.

Following this came the promise of 6000 armed peace troops (‘peacekeepers’), but this turned out to be the arrival of around 400 poorly armed soldiers who in no way could adequately defend Srebrenica. American and Bosnian presidents negotiated with the Serb army chief for an exchange of enclaves and cities so Muslims could have more space and the ability to cross cities but this was declined by the Serb chief.

Slowly the situation worsened, civilians were enduring torturous conditions, and families were being torn apart. Aid was sent into Bosnia but rather than it reaching the needy as intended it began to be sold on the black market. Naser Oric’s

support us by joining our page on

10

promise to defend the land and ‘never leave Srebrenica’ lost its conviction and he left in April 1995. On the 11th of July 1995 the people were betrayed by a Muslim commander who had vowed to protect Srebrenica but then abandoned the land he had sacrificed many lives for.

On the day that Srebrenica fell a genocide ensued. On the 11th of July 1995 the women and children of Srebrenica had fled north to the UN Dutchbat (Dutch battalion) base for protection. Military leaders and the president of Bosnia did not answer Srebrenica’s call for help and the remaining 15,000 men feared revenge from the Serb’s after the massacres in ’92 and ’93. Although they didn’t intend to surrender they tried to escape through the mountains and forests under Serb control, their fate already decided by the notorious Serb commander

11

Ratko Mladic. That day around 8,000 men and boys were systematically slaughtered and buried in mass graves.

sat on the side-lines giving the opposition the upper hand.

Betrayed by those who were sent to protect them

From a look back at history, the maps, the motives and the machines it is clear that Serb forces deliberately and methodically killed civilians solely on the basis of their identity, seeking to eliminate Bosnian Muslims. These Muslims were badly betrayed by the people who were once their neighbours. They were also betrayed by the president of Bosnia and Herzegovina who

Bosnia lies still with its scarred buildings and fields of skeletal remains silently reminding all of the false hopes and empty promises. A land whose death illuminates the chain of betrayal it faced. Srebrenica is (The Dutchbatt peacemakers) a wonderful city that suffered a who were wholly unprepared truly historic and horrific event, and hence lay the path for the where the truth was buried mass murders by retreating. with the bodies, where the people were betrayed by their The most significant and sensitive protectors. questions are not political or legal but are from the victims concerned. Why were promises broken? Why was the Nadia Rehman guarantee of safety broken?

Why were defenders not armed sufficiently? Why were there not

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

enough defenders? Why have our men been killed? Where are their bodies? These questions are still being asked, bodies are still being identified and buried and answers are still being searched for.

To N

e w M L

a a Ha nds

ersih

dzia

bdic

support us by joining our page on

12

It is only a few months since we celebrated Eid. This is the time you get excited, make Baklava, buy gifts and talk to relatives and friends who are on Hajj to see how they are doing on their greatest journey. I spent the days before Eid experiencing a constant flashback surrounded by many memories of my family. My mother and I spent our holidays with my uncle, aunty, their daughter and her two sons near Geneva where my uncle and aunty live. We were enjoying each other´s company and reminiscing about things past. It reminded us all of 1992 when we lived as refugees in Berlin with other relatives in a tiny apartment. They tried to name all our neighbours in Bosnia. My cousin and her playmates were remembering when and how they built our houses, and I tried to hold on to the only memory I have from our vegetable garden when I was three years old.

Then in 1992, our home town Prijedor was occupied. It was Eid only weeks prior when attacks by the Serbs had started. This was war. So, we became

13

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

refugees, seeking a safe shelter anywhere in the world.

The following Eids were marked by big family gatherings with rather humble gifts. However, we children enjoyed them the most. As the years passed, everybody slowly settled down, struck new roots into new ground. Some stayed in Berlin, some did not. So now, our Eid is most often marked by long and numerous phone calls to several parts of Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Slovenia, — and of course Bosnia. Whilst we can afford greater gifts now, we have to mark Eid often like an appointment in our schedule and celebrate it in much smaller numbers.

Then, Eid came. We were back in Berlin with my cousin and her children in Frankfurt and my uncle and aunty in their little French village. Unfortunately, the taste of Baklava on the first day of Eid has a sad flavour to it, too. It is a reminder of how many families do support us by joining our page on

14

not know when to start with congratulating because their killed fathers, brothers, husbands and sons cannot call them after the prayers to utter the first “a blessed Eid”.

Instead, many families end up spending Eid visiting graves, if their relatives were even found.

This particular Eid, a new mass grave was found in a village near my hometown Prijedor. Twenty years after Serb soldiers conducted house-to-house searches in their “ethnic cleansing” efforts, national and international forensic experts are digging up what could turn out to be the biggest mass grave from the aggression war of 1992-1995, i.e. the biggest mass grave in Europe since WWII. The grave covers over 5000 square meters and is 10 meters deep.

So far, the remains of 430 people have been found at the Tomašica mass grave: men and women of all ages, some were brought there in pieces from other graves, others executed at the site.

Sadly enough, the city of Prijedor is always being associated and identified as a particularly cruel war theatre with its

15

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

concentration camps; the three most famous ones in Bosnia are all on the outskirts of the city. Moreover, a woman from Prijedor holds the record for having lost the most members of her immediate family, 6 sons and her husband.However, it is this woman´s village that put Prijedor back on the front page of the nation´s newspapers – the stories of ongoing racism and discrimination are not breaking news anymore. As we can see with today´s conflicts, media coverage is and was crucial in raising and maintaining an awareness which needs to be cultivated for actions against injustice to follow.

So, what does the Bosnian media speak about? Well, it depends who supports a certain magazine, newspaper or TV station as good journalism is as rare as jobs for the youth! Bosnia today is characterised by complex ongoing debates in the realm of post-war politics. In general, society is shaped by many debates around various topics but characterised by few actions.

The State and administration are a highly bureaucratic post-war construct imposed on the people in which multi-layered administrations can barely function as one

whole to provide for the basic needs and security of its citizens. This is both a consequence of and simultaneously a cause for the fact that the country´s economy is weak: it has always been weak and has not recovered nor is improving to the degree needed. And so, the vicious cycle continues.

As one can assume, the harsh post-war reality influences people´s identity as indigenous European Muslims. Just as centuries of political reality shape the collective psyche of the people as it reacts to events like the genocide, or the oppressive socialist rule, or living under Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. Thus, when we deal with Bosnian Muslim history and identity, we need to consider the factors that have mainly influenced it: belonging to the Ottoman legal culture and civilisation, dramatic cultural change and secularisation during Austro-Hungarian rule, socialist anti-religious ideology and religious discrimination during former Yugoslavia. Hence, a collective memory of a traumatic genocide and

diaspora experience on one hand, and the political and economical instability within the homeland on the other.

Personally, although I was little when fleeing my home, growing up as a refugee has greatly shaped my individual identity. Later, the summers spent in Bosnia had a more profound impact on what I am today than the comforting roof we found in Berlin. We turned from being ‘refugees’ to being part of ‘The Diaspora’ - a people who are trying to find a home in any other place but their homeland. Lily Cho, an associate professor at York University (Toronto), says in her essay “The Turn to Diaspora”: “[t]o live in diaspora is to be haunted by histories that sit uncomfortably out of joint, ambivalently ahead of their time and yet behind it too. It is to feel a small tingle on the skin at the back of your neck and know that something is not quite right about where you are now, but to know also that you cannot leave. To be un-homed is a process.” support us by joining our page on

16

To be unhomely is a state of diasporic consciousness. There is now talk of a model of ‘European Islam’ and how this can be an identity for many.

However, the Bosnian Muslim (‘Bosniak’) experience cannot be divorced by the trauma of genocide and Diaspora either individually or collectively in any such debate.

ith Mersiha w Professor adan Tariq Ram

17

but we must most definitely look to Tomašica, Srebrenica or Mostar as an equally relevant part of Muslim history in Europe. The conclusion we draw from these lessons, however, should rather be balanced and carefully drawn.

Personally, I do consider myself a ‘European Muslim’, but this is a more geographical than ideological One can think of Bosnian Muslims statement. The Diaspora experience however one wants on the spectrum is now for me as painful as it is from the suitable-European-modelinstructive and valuable. I now relate of-Islam-we-should-aspire-to to the and understand Mahmud Darwish´s not-practicing-only-nominal-Muslims. poetry! After feeling at home in so In honesty, I have heard it all before many places I decided to stop buying and neither is helpful to idealise or into this West vs. East narrative demonise. Personally, I believe the as both geographical areas were crucial point is that we do not embody mutually influenced by each another. and reduce identity because history Furthermore, studying history has both has and is still making a massive made me realise that the world of impact on all of us individually and ideas used to be more permeable and collectively. Bosnian Muslims are born “globalised” than it is in fact today. in a context. Considering their specific Actually, what else can a Bosniak do cultural code developed over the when he or she is not European, i.e. centuries, we can look in our debate not Western enough for one side and about “European Muslims” for an not Muslim, i.e. Eastern enough for the example of best practice in Bosnia, other?

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

In Mehmed Selimović’s book ‘Dervish and Death’, he writes about Bosnian Muslims:

It is now 20 years since the famous 450 year-old Old Bridge in Mostar was destroyed by the Croatian Defence Council and almost 10 years “We live at the crossroads of the after its renovation, the “New-Old worlds, on a border of nations; we Bridge”, today a UNESCO World bear the brunt for everybody, and we Heritage site. However, it seems to me have always been guilty in the eyes of that this bridge has not fully restored someone. The waves of history break its metaphorical meaning and function, themselves over our backs, as on a namely, to connect two sides and to reef. Crude force has worn us out and overcome the gap and to bridge we made a virtue out of a necessity: constructed paradoxes on both sides. we grew smart out of spite.”

“

“Nowadays Bosniaks happen to be the most western autochthonous Muslim nation, and apart from that, they also happen to be the most eastern of all European Muslims. The mere fact that they represent a living bridge between the numerous western and eastern aspirations and eruptions has brought a number of paradoxes into their lives.”

Today in a world so much in need of mutual religious and cultural understanding...

“

An important Bosniak intellectual, Enes Karić, illustrates what these categories mean for Bosnia when he says:

Prijedor

This dichotomy is illustrated below, as you can see Bosnia´s role positively like Sayed Hossein Nasr, who said,

“Bosnia lies at the heart of the European continent, at once a witness

support us by joining our page on

18

to the reality of Islam, a bridge between the Islamic world and the West and for most of its history a living example of religious accord and harmony between the followers of the Abrahamic religions. Today in a world so much in need of mutual religious and cultural understanding, Bosnia can play an important role far beyond the extent of its geographic size or population, provided it remains faithful to its own universal vision of Islam threatened nowadays by forces both within and outside its borders.”

Or you can agree with the Bosnian writer Dervis Sušić, when he writes,

Eid in Bosnia

19

Honestly, I was still undecided what side to choose, when I visited years ago the Mostar bridge as a tourist in my own country. Today, I think there are lessons to learn from the specific history of Bosniaks that might help us usefully deconstruct paradoxes we have as Muslims living in Germany, or the UK, France or even the US. Once, after a beautiful Ramadan in Bosnia, I travelled back home to Berlin and I tried to build new bridges by sharing Baklava and telling stories from a place I call home – too.

“Evil, good, gentle, raw, unable to move on, stormy, open, hidden; They are all this and everything “Bosnia is not what our senses in between; perceive from her colors and shapes. And most importantly they are mine, Listen to me! Bosnia is the deepest and I am theirs; cauldron of Hell. Her bad roads, And everything I’m saying; I’m her entrenched habit, and her saying about myself.” incurable suspicion have closed her Meša Selimović, to the beauties created by others, Death and Dervish while her position makes her open to aggression from all four sides.”

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

The Tunnel of Hope The airport of Sarajevo is on our right.

We can see the planes a couple of a hundred meters away from us. We made it to the destination that I have heard so much about since I was a little girl. The tunnel of hope... we made it to the tunnel of hope.

Today, this tunnel is a tourist attraction.

Everyone who passes by Sarajevo makes sure to come by. During the war, Sarajevo was surrounded by the Serb and Croat armies. No people nor supplies could enter or exit the city. The UN decided it would throw packages of food and clothing from the air space above. But even that, the Serb army wouldn’t allow the Bosnians to have to themselves. The Serbs made an

agreement with the UN that they would only allow for these supplies to be delivered to the people of Sarajevo, under one condition: That the Serb Army take half the supplies and give the Bosnians the other half. The siege continued for nearly three years; the people of Sarajevo grew hungry, their clothing had worn out, the sick had no medicine to treat their wounds.

Bosnians are fighters I know that. I can see it in their faces to this day. To save the city from dying, the people of Sarajevo built a tunnel under the grounds of the airport. It started here, under the house of an old woman. 800 meters long, 1.6 meters high, and 1 meter wide. It ended just outside the

city in another house like the one we are standing in now. This was the only way they hoped the Serbs would not find out about the tunnel.

During the siege this tunnel was used to bring supplies of food, medicine and clothing into Sarajevo. It was used to take the wounded and the sick outside of the city which eventually had no electricity and no water.

I cannot explain how it feels to be standing here in this old woman’s house.

There is a lump in my throat and I cannot seem to be able to let out a single word. I cannot express to her the amount of reverence I carry towards her. The old woman’s body is weak now and her face is crinkly, but her eyes show the strength of a thousand soldiers. I bent down and kissed her hand. She is a warrior too...

She risked her own family’s safety by allowing the tunnel to start from her house. The Serbs eventually knew about it, and every day people were

support us by joining our page on

20

Journeys through Bosnia 21

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

killed here, right where I stand.

With the rest of the group, I went into what still remains of the tunnel.

I looked under my feet and saw a railway that was used to push carts of supplies on. Sometimes these carts carried the wounded too. I touched the wooden slabs on the walls of the tunnel. The wood had stopped the soil from toppling in, put my hands where it happened and it all came back.

running. I could see men with no legs and no arms. I could see young boys and girls crying for their lost fathers and mothers. I wanted to stop and cry with them too, but we all had to keep running.

it was part of the Ottoman Empire, during the 16th century and into the 19th. Finally, in 1992 Sarajevo become the longest besieged city in world history.

Sarajevo

We are in Sarajevo, the city I had longed to visit throughout my life.

People who know me well, have Many of the Bosnian refugees I had definitely heard me say, “I want to visit met when I was a young girl had passed through this tunnel. I had heard Sarajevo.” Someone did once tell me, “You’ll make it there one day.” their frightening stories of how they made their way through the dark, It felt quite surreal to be finally damp underground passageway entering this historic city. On June 28, in hope of freedom. I woke up to 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of nightmares when I was six years old.

Austria and his wife were murdered on In my sleep, I was with them, running away from the Serbs, I could hear the the infamous bridge here in Sarajevo; gunshots and the bombs on the ground the incident that sparked the beginning of World War I. In 1984, the whole above. But I had to keep running in that dark, tight tunnel. I was afraid that world assembled here for the Olympic they would catch me, but I had to keep Winter Games, one of the most magnificent Olympics in history. This city running. I could feel my legs getting weaker and weaker, but I had to keep witnessed many important battles when support us by joining our page on

22

As soon as we entered the city, we headed towards the mass graveyard where the late President Alija Izzet Begovic is buried along with thousands of soldiers who died as martyrs during the war. It was a sunny day; the grass was green across the hills and flowers were blooming with colour. It could have been a very pretty site; for as far as our eyes could take us, we saw lucent white slabs with fine Arabic and Latin script, neatly dug into a carpet of greenery and blossoms of colour.

Looking more closely at the engravings however, we read names and years; the grave reality was inescapable.

The journey between many of the birth and death dates on the white slabs, were so short . Many of these men were younger than myself I realized.

We had stood ourselves in a half circle around Begovic’s grave and put our hands together to read Surah al Fatihah and a small prayer for the heroes. It was a solemn moment and the air seemed to stand still and heavy upon our shoulders as we recited holy words from the Qur’an and Hadith.

23

After we packed ourselves back into the van, we were on what seemed like an endless spin. We drove in an upward circle until we finally came to a halt and Abosondos shouted, “Get out everyone!”

The newer buildings are quite dull however and as I pass them by, I feel that I have travelled back in time into Soviet Russia. Although I’ve never been to Russia, the novels I’ve read and movies I’ve watched make me feel that if I ever were to visit this country, I would find many similarities between it and this part of Bosnia that I am seeing now. We passed a block of tall apartment buildings; their plainness, lack of beauty or elegance and practicality are overwhelmingly sullen.

Sarajevo still bears the scars of the war. More than any other city we’ve been through so far, bullet and Not only is Sarajevo a city of natural shrapnel holes are everywhere; they beauty, it was also a cradle of cultures still decorate all the buildings. “There it and faiths for several historical eras. is, the Holiday Inn,” someone shouted in As we drove along the roads taking the car while pointing at a hotel as we us from the new city to the old, we drove. On our left was the yellow and passed by buildings of different styles white Holiday Inn, which was brutally and architecture. The new city has bombed and set on fire during the a clear European imprint. The older war. Flash backs from TV news reports, buildings are of magnificent Victorian nearly 15 years back, rushed through architecture, like the national museum my head. It was surprising to me that I and the school of art and dance. could still remember seeing this hotel

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

in flames; it was so long ago. Today, the Holiday Inn still stands, and the bullet holes and damage are quite visible on its edifice. I wonder if the owners have decided to keep this memory alive for their visitors...

peaceful and pretty inside; it resembled the mosques of Istanbul a lot. We made friends with some Bosnian girls who spoke Arabic quite fluently. They helped me buy a traditional pair of harem trousers and a copper coffee set for my mother.

relations between the two countries.

Walking in the old city, was like walking through a story book. The cobble stone on the footpaths, the small Ottoman style buildings, and the authentic feel to the city centre was a dreamy experience.

We visited a big cathedral and then we went to a synagogue built by one of the Ottoman sultans to provide for the city’s Jewish citizens. They were preparing for a concert later that evening so we could not visit. A mosque we visited was

The shops are small and they sell old fashioned clothes. Vendors insist on talking to me in Turkish, assuming that I am one of the many Turkish students studying in Sarajevo. Most of the covered women in the city centre are Turks studying at the University of Sarajevo because of the Hijab ban at public universities in Turkey. Turks and Bosnians can enter each others’ countries without a visa, one of the reflections of the tight

sipping on another cup of Bosnian kafa and I can hear Bosnian music in the background. I am at a crossroads of several civilisations, histories, religions and cultures. The richness of this moment will stay in my heart forever.

The sun is now setting and the dim lights of the wooden sebil/fountain built by the Ottomans in the Bascarija Square are beginning to become clearer. I am

Mostar As we entered Mostar, maybe the third largest city in Bosnia, we were greeted

support us by joining our page on

24

by a huge cross on top of one of the mountains. It stood there overlooking the whole city below and giving a very powerful statement, “This city is still Christian.” As we drove through the city, I saw many churches and mosques built side by side. It reminded me of driving through Abbassia, Cairo. It seemed to me that religion was a fierce denominator in the demography of this city.

I walked through the old city until I came to Mostar Bridge. This bridge holds an important story. It was built in the 16th century by the Ottomans, connecting between the two sides of the city. The city is named after this bridge; Mostar comes from Stari Most or Old Bridge. During the war, this bridge was destroyed. After the war, UNESCO funded a 12 million Euro project to rebuild the 1,088 stones of the bridge to their original form. The bridge was reopened in 2004.

A photo museum had been dedicated to the bridge. I walked past the dated photos and let them tell me the story.

I stared at the first photo dated June

25

1992. The first bomb had ripped off a significant portion of the bridge. It made me cry as I wandered past the pictures and the saw the bridge fall, bit by bit, in front of my eyes. In the last photo the whole city had turned from a sun-kissed green oasis into a grey, destructed piece of abandoned land.

We had been to another waterfall called Kravic. Then we stopped to pray in the mosque of another Ottoman fortress called Pocitelj. It was dark by the time we arrived and so we could not really appreciate much of it. The boys ran into a little coffee shop and tried to follow the remainder of a football match. I think Germany was winning.

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

We spent the night in an old Ottoman house. The house belonged to an aristocratic family of Hungarian origin, called Velagic. They have maintained a complex of 7 houses as well as the surrounding lands and streams that run through them for over 400 years. Semir, the young man who owns the house we are staying at, has been talking to us for two hours now about tourism in Bosnia.

He stood at the door as he left us to go to sleep. “I will bring you honey from our bee hives for breakfast in the morning.”

Arwa Ibrahim

STEPS TO GENOCIDE

support us by joining our page on

26

27

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

support us by joining our page on

28

29

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

support us by joining our page on

30

Many thanks to Remembering Srebrenica charity for this contributing article

31

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

HUSNA’S DIARY: DAY 1 STAND TALL AND FIGHT Last year I was nominated by Luqman Ali and Luton Borough Council to be part of a delegation of future leaders to Bosnia led

by Stephen Williams MP and Dr Waqar Azmi OBE. Bogged down by the banality of day to day life, I needed something different to happen and this felt like it. I needed something to shake me up, galvanise me again and it sure did. The weekend before the trip I received my information pack which detailed the history of the war.

Wow.

ger about an opportunity for me, I started to view it as a responsibility. I pledged to learn as much as possible and do my best to raise awareness upon my return.

What happened next has so deeply impacted me. I want to say it changed my life; but it’s too soon to know. I hope it has, for the better.

9th April 2014

I am up at 2am, having had around 2 hours sleep, ready and in a taxi, to meet It blew me away. I read through some of it the other delegates who had offered to but in all honesty, I found it very distressing, take me to the airport. Loaded up the car, so put it down and couldn’t bring myself and headed down the motorway long beto study it again. I was now anxious about fore the sun came up. It was going to be a how I would cope during the visit, when sto- long day. ries and statistics on paper would become Arriving in Sarajevo, we were greeted by real people with names and faces. I decid- Resad Trbonja who we later discovered ed to reassess my intention; this was no lon was a total legend. He welcomed us and

made us feel at ease, addressing all of our queries and catering to all of our needs, we immediately knew we were in good hands. Sarajevo in the rain was exactly as I had pictured it. We had a couple of hours to freshen up before the other members of the delegation arrived. Thankfully, the other delegates and I all bonded pretty quickly, and by the time we arrived at the hotel in Sarajevo, I felt like I had known them for years.

At 3.30pm we met the other members of the delegation, and although it had already been a long day, it was now that our journey really began. We travelled across Sarajevo by coach to the headquarters of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), which is a ground break ing NGO. The ICMP is the only specialised international organisation of its kind that addresses the issue of missing persons in all of its facets. It was created at a G-7 Summit in 1996, to work with governments and others to help them locate and account for persons missing from the wars

support us by joining our page on

32

and actions.

We toured the laboratory and learned about the organisation’s DNA identification system which has assisted Bosnia and Herzegovina in a process that has accounted for over 70% of the estimated 32,000 persons missing at the end of the conflict.

Names of some of the victims of the 1995 Genocide of the 1990’s in the former Yugoslavia. In the past 18 years, ICMP has assisted more than 20 countries around the world in resolving missing person cases. The Western Balkans account for more than two thirds of those missing from the armed conflicts of the 1990’s including 7,000 who went missing from Srebrenica alone.

Adam Boys, the interim Director of International Programmes, delivered a presentation explaining the scale of the task at

33

hand, progress to date and the difficulties faced in undertaking such a colossal task.

During the presentation we also heard the views of genocide deniers, which further emphasised the importance of ICMP’s work and contribution in terms of information and evidence gathering, to assist with the prosecution of war criminals. Hearing their denials incensed me. The audacity of it!! To not only try to systematically wipe out an entire people but to refuse to accept the atrocities committed. Truly cowardly words

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

Following a tour of the laboratory, we headed across Sarajevo to Gallery 110795 (named after the date of the Srebrenica massacre) to meet photographer Tarik Samarah for a tour of the “You are my Witness” exhibition.

The exhibition provided the perfect introduction for what we were to face the following day. ICMP explained the scale of the genocide, and the statistics. Gallery 110795 presented the human side, the individual and collective suffering. We watched a short documentary about Srebrenica and were guided around the gallery where Tarik explained the significance and themes of his work. I was moved to tears, countless emotions ran through every fibre of my being, emotions which over a

Photographer Tarik Samarah explaining the significance of this work

all images taken by photographer Jasmin Agovic

Tour of the ICMP’s laboratory in Sarajevo support us by joining our page on

34

week later I am still trying to process.

Next we travelled to the British Residence where we were hosted by Jo Lomas, Chargé d’Affaires in Sarajevo. We were addressed by Serge Brammertz, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

He explained the legal challenges in prosecuting those accused of war crimes.

Following the speeches, some of the other delegates and I had the opportunity to speak to Tarik Samarah in more detail, with Resad acting as interpreter. At the gallery, Tarik had said something very powerful, well he said a lot of powerful things, but this one in particular struck me deeply. He said, “We had a normal life like you. Then one day we were surrounded, and the international community did nothing.” I break this statement into two;

I asked what signs we should be aware of in our communities, and how to recognise when things are going wrong so that we can address issues before they escalate.

We discussed our concerns about the rise of far-right Islamophobic groups across Europe. Tarik said, “It is hard to fight evil, but when you fight it, you feel good… always fight, because when you fight you give yourself a chance.” He also said, “Never diminish yourself, keep your spine straight, stand tall. People will respect you”.

I believe it is time for us as a community, not just a Muslim community or a South Asian or other diaspora, but as a British community to take Tarik Samarah’s advice.

To stand tall and fight evil.To break barriers and wipe out ignorance.

As we left the residence and walked down the hill to the coach, we passed a mosque, and could see worshippers gathering in the firstly that life can change so dramatically courtyard. The call to prayer began, first in the most unexpected way. Secondly, and from one mosque then another and anothequally disturbing, how did we allow this to er, until it reverberated through the night happen? To happen on our doorstep? Why sky. To me this represented what they tried did we watch in silence? to wipe out and yet this is what echoed so

35

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

strongly from every direction. It washed over me, ran through me and I liked it.

‘Remembering Srebrenica is a UK charity committed to using the lessons from Srebrenica to tackle hatred and intolerance to help build a better, safer and more cohesive society for everyone. It does this by keeping the memory alive through organising commemoration events, which bring communities together to remember the victims of Srebrenica. It also takes people on its ‘Lessons from Srebrenica’ visits programme to learn the lessons from the genocide, and set up projects to build safer, more cohesive communities. The charity also creates champions who pledge to stand up against hatred and intolerance in their communities’ For more information about the ‘Lessons from Srebrenica’ programme visit www.srebrenica.org.uk Information on the ICMP can be found at www.ic-mp.org

Dua

Taking Refuge

Allahumma inni ‘a’udhubika minal hammi walhuzni, Wal’ajzi walkasali, walbukhli waljubni, Wa dal’id-daiyni wa ghalabatir-rajal Translation: O Allah, I take refuge in You from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being overpowered by men.

Rumaysa Malik

support us by joining our page on

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

36

FREE Online Magazine

for Young Muslims of the 21st Century

Stories of the Prophets (pbut) Book Reviews & Poetry Inspiring Role Models Muslim Heritage ...and much more!

Fifteen21.com

facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

An Overview of the Bosnian War The Bosnian War (1 Apr 1992 ñ 14 Bosnia and Herzegovina was once a part of former Yugoslavia. It was a southern European land of rivers and mountains to which holidaymakers would return time and again to bask in the Mediterranean sunshine. Then came 1992, and over three years of brutal inter-ethnic fighting ripped the country apart. The conflict between Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs had its roots in the fear of Serb expansionism and dominance. On 29 February 1992, the multiethnic Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed a referendum for separation from Yugoslavia.

Independence was declared on 5 March 1992 by the parliament. The Republic became governed by a separation-leaning government led

by Bosnian Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic. Following the declaration of independence, Bosnian Serb forces, supported by the Serbian government of Slobodan Milosevic and the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) attacked the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

envisaged an end to the bloodshed Dec 1995) was characterised by bitter between the three ethnic groups and fighting, indiscriminate shelling of cities assisted in implementing the peace and towns, ethnic cleansing, systematic settlement which is being maintained mass rape and genocide mostly led by to this day through the international the Serb forces but Croats also. Events community and its peacekeeping such as the Siege of Sarajevo and the forces.

Srebrenica massacre would become iconic of the conflict. In light of the outbreak of fighting in the country, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on all of former Yugoslavia which hurt the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina the most because Serbia inherited the lion’s share of the former JNA arsenal whereas the Croatian army could smuggle weapons through its coast.

The Bosnian government headed by Alija Izetbegovic lobbied to have the embargo lifted but that was opposed by the United Kingdom, France and Russia. As the war went on, the USA’s involvement became more and more central. The best proof of this is the Dayton Peace Agreement, officially signed on 14 Dec 1995 in Paris, which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The agreement support us by joining our page on

38

n O e

c s n r de

a e Y

39

d 0 n I : 2 a’s

n i a in gov

s o

B

n e ep

e z er

H d n

a

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

(1

9 9

2 2

1 0

)2

Impact of the War

to their pre-war homes and live either in different towns across the country The consequences of the conflict were or have settled in the countries they simply catastrophic. Due to constant sought refuge in. This is especially shelling and violence, Bosnia’s true with Austria, Sweden, Norway, infrastructure and economy were Australia, New Zealand and the USA. in tatters. Poverty and instability became the legacy of the bloodiest It is truly remarkable what sort of conflict in Europe since 1945. In the crimes were inflicted upon Bosnian space of only ten days, namely from Muslims during the war; from ethnic 11-22 July 1995, over 8,000 Bosnian cleansing and genocide to mass Muslims (mainly men and boys) were rape and psychological oppression. massacred in and around the town In many places, but especially so in of Srebrenica. According to the most eastern parts of the country, women modest estimates, around 150,000 were systematically raped and then in people died during the war. Over most cases brutally killed. A glimpse 170,000 people were wounded, of this particular atrocity towards many of whom are permanently Bosnian Muslim women has been handicapped (sustained serious body recently presented in a film produced injuries). 2.2 million people - about

by Angelina Jolie called The Land of half the population - were displaced Blood and Honey. and unable to return to their homes in safety. Even though the Dayton Peace For many, the truly innocent victims of agreement anticipated refugees the carnage were Bosnia’s children; returning to their homes, a large around 35,000 were orphaned by number of refugees are yet to return the armed conflict. These abandoned

children turned to Bosnia’s underresourced orphanages, some of which took in seven times their official capacity at the height of the war. The situation was exacerbated by Bosnia’s rape babies - children with no family and no birth certificate born to mothers who rejected them after falling pregnant to Serbs intent on muddying the ethnic pool. As various studies suggest, those particular children suffer terrible trauma because of the hatred the mother bears for the father. Put simply, the consequences of such crimes were far too damaging.

Following the conclusion of the bloody conflict, most of the Bosnian Serb wartime leadership (Biljana Plavöic, Momcilo Krajiönik, Duöko Tadic ...) were indicted and judged guilty for war crimes and ethnic cleansing. The former president of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadûic is currently under trial. The top military general Ratko

support us by joining our page on

40

Mladic is also under trial by the ICTY in connection with the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre. Some high ranking Croat political leaders (Dario Kordic) were convicted of war crimes, while some others are presently on trial at the ICTY (The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia).

Although many protagonists (perpetrators) were charged with war crimes the truth is that some still remain at large.

The Current Situation in Bosnia Bosnia has been in a depression since 1995. The economy is still a wreck.

Unemployment is very high (42 %) and monthly salaries paltry. Experts warn that it could get even worse as the world recession hammers away at the former Yugoslav republic. Most of Bosnia’s current economic dysfunction began with the onset of the war. With a large number of factories and

41

businesses destroyed during the war, business links were disrupted and consequently led to the current dependence on help and favourable loans from abroad, leaving the Bosnian economy staggering behind other countries in the region. In

representatives from all three ethnic groups. Government agencies and local institutions frequently get bogged down in ethnic mistrust.

The so called grey economy has robbed the treasury of tax revenue.

Furthermore, employers are saddled with astonishingly high costs for social security, health care and other taxes and levies that require companies to pay 68 percent more on top of each worker’s take-home wages.

Despite the less-than-enticing situation, Bosnia has managed to attract some international investment, in part because foreign employers are exempt from some taxes for five addition, the post-war privatisation of years. For example, Mittal, the world’s national companies has not been largest steelmaker, employs about carried out properly and justly. Many 3,000 people in the central town of state companies have intentionally Zenica, and automobile upholstery been made insolvent in order to be manufacturer ASA Prevent employs bought for pennies. another 3,500. But nationwide, the The current Bosnian government average monthly salary is still a is a three-headed hydra, with paltry £300. That’s not enough to a presidency that includes nudge someone north

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

of the poverty line in Bosnia, where prices for food, fuel and housing are fast approaching Western levels.

the country. With the support of some media agencies, they freely spread the fear of war and tend to create animosity towards other ethnic groups. For example, on 1 Mar 2012 Bosnia’s Muslim and Croat leaders commemorated 20 years of independence from Yugoslavia, while a boycott from Bosnian Serbs

Apparently the key factor of the currently futile Bosnian situation (politics) lies in the division of the country along ethnic lines, i.e.

Republika Srpska and a Bosnian Muslim-Croat Federation, as instigated in the Dayton Peace Agreement. Despite efforts to build up the powers of the central state, both regions are still highly autonomous, with separate political, security and financial structures.

Similarly, a common education system is yet to be put in place, with schools still segregated by ethnicity, lacking basic resources and stocked with outlined the country’s deep ethnic nationalist textbooks. divisions. Such instances carve unrest and insecurity among ordinary For over a decade now, Serb people, as well as suspicion and a politicians are openly calling for reluctance to accept the country and referendums and secessions of the society as credible partners among Republika Srpska from the rest of foreign investors and international

diplomats. The prospects of a new conflict however are very low not only because of a firm resolution of the international community to maintain the peace through its military presence and diplomatic influence but also because the local population has lost any interest in fighting again. It should also be mentioned here that the situation would completely change if Bosnia and Herzegovina were to be accepted as a fully fledged member of the European Union.

Role of Religion in Bosnian Society Different religions and different cultures have mixed in the traditional historical model of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unfortunately in recent times religion has been harnessed in the service of nationalistic politics.

Bosnian Muslims were thus faced with a dilemma. Following the Serbian and Croatian nationalisms that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century,

support us by joining our page on

42

Bosnian (Balkan) Muslims have also begun energetically searching for their own identity. It is arguably too late for Bosnian Muslims to construct a nationalism of their own based on religion, along the lines of the aforementioned Serbian and Croatian nationalisms. That could end only in a catastrophe for the Bosnian Muslims, and the disintegration of the country.

Instead, we must build a shared and wider identity that will not exclude anyone in advance. There must be a will to live together with other people and a psychological ability to enter their world while remaining true to one’s own spiritual and cultural tradition. There is great need to know other people well; their language, culture, history, religion and hopes.

Not in order to change them, but in order to know them; not in order to convince them of our view of the world, but in order to understand their view of the world. We must take up the problems facing today’s

43

Bosnian Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Jews, with the people who live here today as the starting point. Dialogue must take place in a concrete perspective; absorbed by the concrete problems of their own survival and the survival of the country.

familiarity with other faiths was characteristic of the theologians of all our denominations.

As mentioned above, an interfaith dialogue is the principal need in Bosnia as it is in the other regions of former Yugoslavia. I believe that encounters between Muslims and One may argue that the recent Christians based on dialogue will tragedy of Bosnia had emerged have a decisive influence on the fate precisely from too long a silence of this land, the future and, God and the lack of dynamic dialogue. permitting, democratic Bosnia.

Communism and later the western We must enter on the road of lifestyle brought about a superficial dialogue, which would move beyond intermingling based on ignorance. For the problems that tormented our instance, no one carried out any forebears and take into account all serious studies of the sociology those phenomena of religiousness that of religion. Only what served the make our society a true multi-cultural communist ideology was permitted and multi-denominational model. to be written or published. All Islam has existed in Bosnia for several differences were brushed over - but centuries as an autonomous faith. only superficially brushed over. That Hence, for Bosnian Muslims the faith is was what made possible the negative a challenge that they cannot refuse. emotions that came out in such an Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina, awful way. Moreover, insufficient just like Muslim peoples elsewhere in

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

the world, stand at the crossroads of tradition and modernity.

in particular should be aware of their historical demographics in the wider region of the Balkans and the continuous shrinking process of the Muslim population in this region since the Ottoman period.

enormous state administration, social payouts, crime, nepotism and corruptionë. Steps should therefore Finally understand that they are be taken towards fostering a not an eschatological nation that political climate which will lead to a has been promised the kingdom of functionality of the state according to heaven from the beginning to the end European standards, laws and rights”. of time but they, like all other people, Conclusion The country has to be able to attract are only part of the history of the foreign investment. To do that, the world and thus have an obligation The Bosnian War has been an business environment has to improve. to make history on the level required international armed conflict since Arguably first and foremost, the cost by their Creator. That is, according Bosnia had declared its independence of setting up new businesses and the to the highest ethical values. In which was recognized by the bureaucracy associated with it has to post-modern European culture, the International Community. Without a be reduced. There is no doubt Bosnia Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina shadow of a doubt, Bosnia is still in is in far better economic condition must therefore serve as a particular a major post-war recovery period. than in the immediate aftermath of model of Islamic culture. In other There is a clear need for better the war. Eight years ago, the World words, the sphere of Islamic culture schools, colleges, as well as better Bank, for instance, announced that and civilization must become known social and health care (e.g. child Bosnia has officially moved from a through them. They will, of course, benefits, working/child tax credits, post-conflict to a transitional country. build spiritual and ideological links etc.), and also the hope of a future Bosnia has surely moved on but with the rest of the Islamic world, for Bosnia’s youth to cling on to. further reforms are essential. The but that will not endanger their As one political analyst recently stabilisation of the country and the own specific cultural and religious remarked, “Bosnia is a mixture attraction of foreign investments institutions and patterns. The of a post-conflict, post-communist, would certainly help in creating new Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina transitional society burdened with an jobs and would ensure better lives for support us by joining our page on

44

all ethnic groups.

Breaches of the Geneva Conventions is the most serious war crime Bosnian Muslims were convicted of.

Over ten award-winning films, a few documentaries, and many novels and poems have been produced so far on the war in Bosnia.

Imam Sejad Mekic

Dayton Peace Agreement

45

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey

Members of the congregation at Westminster Abbey

Mother of Srebrenica, Suhra Sinanović, Nedžad Avdić, survivor of the genocide, Munira Subašić, President of the Mothers of Srebrenica and the Chairman of Remembering Srebrenica Dr Waqar Azmi OBE support us by joining our page on

46

On the 6th of July 2015 I attended a ceremony at Westminster Abbey organised by Remembering Srebrenica to mark the 20th anniversary of the worst massacre Europe witnessed after World War Two.

matter how many times I hear the accounts of the Mothers of Srebrenica, I am reduced to tears, my heart breaking for them each time. I felt anger that as Europeans we yet again failed to prevent such an atrocity, I felt a sense of loss that so many lives were lost A truly heart-breaking, but at the in the genocide, lives that had so same moment inspiring event, in much potential, doctors, teachers, the prestigious surroundings of leaders, peacekeepers and much the abbey. People of all walks more. Speakers echoed these of like, ethnicity, gender, and feelings of remorse but also to religion, all there for a common commit to this never happening purpose to commemorate the again, but sadly it still goes on, in people massacred in the Srebrenica another context, in another place. genocide of 1995.

However, coming away from the The ceremony filled me with a abbey, I was no longer dismayed whole host of emotions, and no at the cruelty of humankind, but

47

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

Remembering Srebrenica’s Chairman Dr Waqar Azmi OBE lighting a candle in rememberance of those who lost their lives in the genocide

The Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina reading from the Quran in Westminster Abbey

that there was hope for a better future.

The abbey was full of good people who believed in something sacred, the belief that we can make the world a better place, and that we can create a tolerant and peaceful world. The prayers no matter which religion or language all had the same message of love and peace. I reflected on my own role in my community and in whatever way I can, I will raise the awareness of Srebrenica, especially with the young.

Even more important with the world as it is, that we teach our young people to live together as one, embrace each other and accept each other. Leaving the abbey I was filled with hope for a better future as long as there are good people in the world, evil will never succeed. As I walked past the twenty lit candles burning bright, astute, defiant, they signified not only the commemoration of those who have passed, but a light that is forever burning, the light of hope for those still here.

The President of Bosnia and Herzegovina being greeted to the Abbey by the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster

Mashuda Shaikh

support us by joining our page on

48

The President of the Mothers of Srebrenica, Munira Subaťić speaking powerfully about the genocide in Srebrenica, and the continued struggle for justice, twenty years on Many thanks to Remembering Srebrenica for this contributing article

49

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

1995 Year Birth.

In the

of my

Five young students, all unconnected but for one fact: they were born in the year of Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two. Sarah Joseph talks to Julie, Hannah, Abdul Farooq, Jonas, and Izzie on their journey to discover a dark moment of Europe’s history.

“I can’t wish it didn’t happen,” says Julie Podbielski-Stewart guiltily. “Without it, I wouldn’t have been born.” Julie is the daughter of Colonel Bob Stewart, the United Nations commander in Bosnia during the war, and Claire Podbielski, a nurse who was working with the International Committee of the Red Cross. The couple met in Bosnia; her mother’s first words to her father were a brusque, “What are you going to do about my prisoners?” she demanded to know. Her father discovered the Ahmici massacre, of which he has said, “I picked

up a ball at house No. 7 in Ahmici, and then I dropped it. It was not a ball; it was the head of a baby, burnt.” Julie is named after her father’s tank in Bosnia. Now studying music at Southampton Solent University, she is known as “The Bosnia Baby.” She says she has been aware of the genocide in Srebrenica her whole life. “My father showed me videos of what happened when I was about seven. It was traumatic, but it meant Bosnia has always been there.” She cannot say the same for her friends. “My generation doesn’t know what

happened. People don’t know there was a war in Bosnia. They don’t even know where Bosnia is.”

up going to memorial events.

We emphasise ‘never again’, but it did happen again—just a couple of hours away from home—and I knew absolutely Yet Bosnia is just a two-hour nothing. I had to Google where flight from London, a fact Srebrenica is.” The same is true that profoundly impacts all for Abdul Farooq, a first year five of the young people. medical student from London. “I Hannah Gerson, a student at had heard of Bosnia; it is one of Nottingham Trent University, those things you pick up in the was appalled by her ignorance. background, but I really knew “My grandparents escaped the nothing about it.”

Holocaust. I had grown up with my grandmother’s stories. My They all blame the education Mum’s family had helped hide system for the lack of children who came over on the knowledge amongst their Kindertransport. I had grown generation. “We learn about

support us by joining our page on

50

World War One and World War Two—but Srebrenica is more recent, and more relevant. It has to be added to the curriculum,” insists Abdul Farooq—a demand echoed by all five students. Hannah feels that there are comparisons to be made with what is already taught. “I grew up seeing black and white images of the concentration camps and the death marches from World War Two. In Srebrenica, I saw the same images, just in colour.”

She feels it is imperative that children are educated “not just about what happened, but why

51

it happened. We need to note the tell-tale signs of intolerance that turn neighbour on neighbour.” Recognising that Srebrenica was an integrated society which imploded, is of grave concern to them all. “These were not foreign invaders. They knew one another. Srebrenica is when multiculturalism turns ugly,” explains Jonas Adrian, an International Relations student from London, and whilst he says he is, “really proud of

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

our multicultural London,” he believes that we have a lot more to do. “Srebrenica shows us it is a moral duty to educate the wider world on the importance of rooting out hate in society.” Abdul Farooq agrees. “When we differentiate between people, this is one of the steps to genocide. We have to teach people where an ‘us and them’ mentality leads to.”

When asked why Srebrenica is not taught in schools, their answers are identical: “Shame

and guilt.” They all believe that Europe is so ashamed of its part in the conflict that it cannot face exposing the history. “Europe has a guilty conscience,” says Abdul Farooq. “It was a failure for Europe. The second genocide on its soil, yet it was preventable.” Julie agrees, “There is shame, so no one wants to talk about it.” “It happened in Europe, the centre of progress,” says Jonas, “we said ‘never again’, then allowed it to happen again. Not teaching it

lessens the shame and the guilt.”

Whether this is true or not is immaterial, it is an interesting perspective from young people impassioned by what they have learnt, and determined to learn lessons from the experience.

“We should be ashamed, but regardless of our shame we should teach it,” says English and Theatre Studies student, Izzie Shaw. “People want to know,” says Jonas “we have to give them the opportunity.”

These five young people were all given the opportunity to find out about this dark moment in Europe’s history because of one fact: they were all born in the year of the genocide—1995.

That fact increased the poignancy of their experience.

“My family were rejoicing my birth, but the Mothers of Srebrenica were bereft—their daughters raped, their husbands and sons killed,” says Hannah,

with melancholy. The mothers that they met had a huge impact on all five. Their stories, albeit horrific, were told with such love and sincerity that their humanity was at once outraged, and confirmed. “They don’t hold hate, they have forgiven the people; they told us that revenge is not the best answer,” explains Abdul Farooq. Yet, the mothers brought the realities of the genocide home. “She told us, ‘I gave birth to a full baby but I only buried one hand,’” recounts Abdul Farooq. Another mother told Hannah, “I died the day my five children died.

I am just waiting for death to come.” Yet whilst she waits, she wants to make sure that people know what happened. “They are constantly reliving their story,” laments Julie. “They are still taunted on the streets, living next door to Serbs who killed their families.” It is this last fact

which Izzie finds hard to accept.

“We met genocide deniers. The mothers have to walk past the perpetrators. I was shocked to discover that Srebrenica now stands as Serb territory and is assigned to the Republika Srpska. Disgustingly, the town stands as a victory for ethnic cleansing. Mothers are afraid to campaign for justice. There is still no justice for them.” Justice is certainly slow. It was not until May 2011 that Ratko Mladić was extradited to The Hague to stand trial. The man known as The Butcher of Bosnia to many is a war hero to some. “He wasn’t a war hero,” exclaims Julie.

“Mum and Dad testified against him. He was a monster.”

Given the gravity of what they were to learn, being moved was inevitable. How that would affect them is more complex. As Hannah put it, “One week we were chilling. How are we able

to go back to that?” The truth is that the five are probably changed forever by their journey. For Izzie, who says she is from ‘sheltered Shropshire, living in a little bubble, never witnessed even small scale racism,” she knows that her world has been overturned.

“It has opened my eyes to suffering in the world. I cannot be complacent. I cannot turn the TV off. Before I wouldn’t have thought anything of it; now there is more to life than where I am and what I am doing.” The journey seems to have made them all appreciate simplicity more. “We are materialistic. They aim to be happy,” says Julie. “I have my priorities wrong,” Jonas agrees, and hopes the experience is a “reminder for us all to be closer as human being.” Beyond these reflections they are all committed to educating others

Many thanks to Remembering Srebrenica charity for this contributing article support us by joining our page on

52

about what happened just two hours from their home in the year of their birth. They all agree that they cannot be complacent, that if what happened can happen to ‘integrated Bosnia’, then it could happen anywhere.

It could happen in the UK. “We have to build community bonds,” says Abdul Farooq. “We have to recognise the first stages of the slippery slope,” warns Hannah.

“Persecution always has to be stopped. What you think of as acceptable taunting – this is how things start.” In addition to curriculum change, they would like to see tougher UK laws to deal with hatred. “To protect ourselves from what happened in Bosnia,” says Izzie. In the meantime, they have committed themselves to teaching others through speaking to family and friends, giving school assemblies, hosting radio shows, writing, and a whole host of other initiatives.

53

Hannah put it thus: “Nine out of ten may ignore you, but one may listen, and then it’s worth it.”

Each in their own way are trying to do what photographer Tarik Samarah told them: “Take a bit of our pain and teach people about it.”

Interview conducted

by Sarah Joseph OBE

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

HUSNA’S DIARY: DAY 2

FILL YOUR WOUNDS WITH COURAGE 10th April 2014 I lay restless in bed, my body exhausted, but my mind would not switch off; a thousand thoughts and images ran through my mind. Up early on around four hours sleep, a quick breakfast and on the coach.

It was a long largely silent journey through green and picturesque Bosnia. Our first stop was the Podrinje Identification Project.

Nothing could possibly have prepared me for what we were to face here. Following a short introduction we were led into a dark room which contained the mortal remains of those massacred. Some awaiting burial, others awaiting identification. Death was palpable in the air. How could it not be? While we were being spoken to, I must confess I heard nothing, I processed nothing. My inner voice drowned out everything and everyone. I was with my

thoughts and my thoughts were with those who were in this room yet no longer with us. In those bags. The contents of those bags were not just bones, they were people whose lives were ended by hatred.

Lives that had loved and hoped, dreamt and worked.

We then crossed the corridor and entered another room; upon a metal table lay a skeleton, almost complete. This was a person. This person had lived. His remains had been found in a number of mass graves, painstakingly and carefully pieced together. In a cowardly attempt to conceal the atrocities, the Serb army had dug mass graves and later removed the human remains, placing them in secondary and tertiary sites.

We received an explanation of the DNA

support us by joining our page on

54

testing process for identification. We were told that the families of the deceased were kept well informed and given complete control of the remains of their loved ones.

For example, often only one or two bones belonging to an individual are found – the family decides whether they should conduct a funeral or wait in the hope that more mortal remains will be found and identified.

A short drive from here, we went to ICMP’s Tuzla laboratory where we learnt about blood and bone identification techniques.

The scale of the task at hand is humongous and their work is not yet over twenty years on.

From there we headed through scenic Bosnia to Srebrenica. We were honoured to be accompanied by Muhammad who had escaped the Srebrenica massacre and spent 37 days, in the very same hills that we now passed, trying to get to safety. Muhammad spoke to us about his journey, pointing out significant landmarks along the way; we listened in stunned silence, in awe. It sounded like something from a movie. But it wasn’t a movie, it was real, there was no stop button.

55

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

Group photo with mayor Camil Durakovic (centre), Muhammed is in the back row, second from right

And it is just as well that there wasn’t, because this story, although horrific, was real, and it needed to be told. The story of a man who refused to surrender, a man who chose life. His strength and humility touched me.

been able to bury no more than two bones.

We visited the cemetery and prayed. It was an incredibly peaceful resting place, surrounded by green mountains. The late afternoon sun shone upon the site, gently illuminating the white headstones that In Srebrenica, we were honoured once stood so tall and proud. They represented again, this time to be joined by the Mayor those that had perished in life but shall not of Srebrenica, Mr Camil Durakovic. He was be forgotten in death. Their legacy will live only 16 at the time of the massacre. He on. At the cemetery I spoke to one of the said that of his class of 25 students only mothers, Khadija, through an interpreter. one other person had survived.

She spoke from the heart, telling me that if I were to stay with her, her life would After lunch with the mayor we went to change. She said her life was empty. As we the Potocari-Srebrenica Memorial and embraced I told her that I wished I could Cemetery to genocide victims to meet stay and that I hope I will return soon. the mothers of Srebrenica. These women were truly inspirational. One by one they Next we met Hasan Hasanovic who gave told their stories. Each had lost scores of us a tour of the battery factory where relatives; fathers, sons, husbands, uncles the Dutch UN peace keeping forces had and brothers. All gone. Wiped out in a been stationed. The same Dutch “peace deadly swipe of hatred. Their pain was keepers” who handed over Srebrenica, raw. And yet they fought; fought for justice which had been declared a safe haven, not revenge. Many were still searching for to Ratko Mladic. Mladic was extradited the remains of their loved ones so that they to The Hague in 2011. Judge Fouad could finally lay them to rest. It was heart Riad stated that the events were “Truly wrenching to hear that some mothers had scenes from Hell, written on the pages of

support us by joining our page on

56

human history.” Hasan had been part of the column of between 10,000 to 15,000 civilian men and boys setting out on a march to Tuzla. The mountainous terrain was littered with mines and heavily armed Serb soldiers lay in ambush. The Serbs opened fire on the largely unarmed column causing the men to scatter. Hasan managed to flee, he survived. However his father Aziz and twin brother Hussein did not. One of the delegates asked Hasan if he felt hate. His response blew me away.

So as we boarded the coach back to Sarajevo, and stopped for dinner, we talked and talked and talked, deep into the night. Now however, I can reflect in silence. I heard the stories of so many inspirational individuals, each had suffered a great deal and yet each demonstrated such great strength of character. I had seen the effects of some of the most evil acts humans are capable of. In contrast, I had also witnessed the magnanimity of the human spirit. It seems to me, that those who had been inflicted with these wounds, “I have no hate in my heart as I am Muslim, had filled those wounds with courage. its wrong. And if I hate I am destroying The deeper the wound, the greater their myself.” capacity for courage.

The final stop of the day was at Snaga Zene, an association which provides psychological, social, medical and legal support to women and children affected by the war. This was by far the most harrowing day of the visit. The disquietude within me was unbearable. Khalil Gibran writes, “You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts, and when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips…”

57

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

all images taken by photographer Jasmin Agovic

! l e d o M e l o R a e Nominat Over the past 25 issues Fifteen21 has showcased many inspirational rolemodels from the Muslim community in the UK. From youth activists like Neelam Rose, to Humza Yousaf, a trail-blazing young politician in Glasgow to Aisha Yasmin, a young aspiring designer from Birmingham hoping to make it big in the Big Apple!

If you would like to nominate an inspiring role-model to be featured in a future issue of Fifteen21 please email us at editor@ fifteen21.com with the following details;

me u l l N a r / Em a i l F s l e d -Mo um b e

• R o le c t P h o ne N ta p e rs o n n s i o h C t • wn) abou t (i f k n o s p i re s yo u ) at i n • Wh 150 wo rd s x (m a

g n i v i e c e r o t d r a w r o ! f s k n o o i o t l a e n i W m o n r u o y

… e u s s I t x e

N e h In T

io

u

Hono

•

a

– Sh e c n le

ed V s a B r r

F

•

le

Fema

• • •

om

hni

Ros – n o ti

utila

al M Genit

aid eza V

ae

w: F tervie

In

ies,

stor s u l P

e

entr C s ’ n e

im W l s u M

ina

Am iage –

Mar d e c r o

BE

aj O T n e i h

en’s

om slim W

Mu

ork w t e N

re!

mo s t o l nd

t, a

, ar y r t e po

Out on Friday 30TH October 2015!

UK

Death March

Trapped in a UN enclave, surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces, a column of 15,000 men set out on a perilous 63-mile journey through mountains and minefields to Tuzla on 11th July 1995. Hasan Hasanović, one of the few who survived the Death March, shares his story.

It was late at night when I heard the men were planning to move. All day the UN troops said help was coming but by nightfall nothing had happened. We were beginning to hear that UN soldiers were abandoning their positions and retreating without resistance. We were all shocked.

They had demilitarised Srebrenica completely; Bosniak soldiers were made to hand over their weapons. But now, the UN soldiers were backing down themselves.

I was sat with my twin brother, Husein, and my father. We knew then that if we wanted to survive, we would have to join The Column.

no other option. We wanted to live.

We all gathered on the hill and began assembling into a column. My uncle, who was with us, said it was best to remain in the middle. I was only 19 at the time, so I didn’t argue with his decision. As we continued to assemble in line, I heard an onslaught of gunfire. The key hill positions were under the control of the Serb military, so they had a good view of us all lining up. They didn’t care that we were unarmed. Their primary concern was that we were Muslim, and they wanted us dead. In the commotion of the gunfire, people in the column started to push forward, desperate for shelter from the We were amidst thousands and thousands bullets. Bodies fell to the ground behind of men. As far as my eyes could see, there us, but no one knew exactly what was were men walking — from teenagers, to happening. The gunfire was relentless and old, withered men. We were all supposed it felt like it was coming from every angle. to gather on Buljim Hill, approximately six miles from Srebrenica, and set off I could think of nothing but pushing from there. We were headed to Tuzla, the forward. Forward was freedom, forward nearest Muslim territory. On foot Tuzla is was survival, forward was everything. I just over 63 miles from Srebrenica, and pushed forward with all my might, until you have to pass lots of uneven terrain, finally from the sea of men ahead I saw mountains, rivers, even minefields. It wasn’t woodland. I realised at that moment that going to be an easy journey but we had I had lost my family. As much as I wanted

support us by joining our page on

60

Death March

to stop and look for them, I knew I would be killed if I did. If I wanted to live, I would have to run and not look back. So I ran. I ran with countless others into the woods. If we turned back, we would have to go to Potočari and we were sure the UN would give us up to the Serb army. They had already given up Srebrenica and by doing so, had sacrificed our lives.

It was now well into the afternoon on 12th July. We had lost complete contact with the front of The Column. We tried to walk faster in an attempt to catch them up, but suddenly we were under fire again. I could see bullets piercing into tree trunks all around me and I realised how close they were. I held my breath and hid behind a tree. We were all so afraid. At that moment, I felt all my strength drain away.

We waited for what felt like hours. As the gunfire subsided, we began to walk again.

A man offered me sugar and water, which I graciously accepted and swallowed in seconds.

As night fell, we began to catch up with the front of The Column. When a few hundred

DEATH MARCH

Brčko BALJKOVICA VALLEY

Hasan Hasanović hides in a stream for two hours, while the few armed men of The Column resist against another Bosnian Serb Army assault. As the valley clears, the men make a dash for the free territory of Zvornik.

Bijeljina

Nezuk Village

Tuzla Zvornik

Serbia

KAMENICA HILL

13th July: the men are ambushed by the Bosnian Serb Army on Kamenica Hill.

The back of The Column is hit the worst; some men are killed on the spot, hundreds are captured. Men scatter into the forest. Bosnian Serb Army persist with hours of coaxing on loudspeakers, promising safety and aid. They encourage those captured to call their relatives down from the forest. More than 1,000 are killed.

Bratunac BULJIM HILL

As the men assemble,Bosnian Serb forces begin heavy gunfire. Hundreds are killed.

Men flee into the woods from all directions, losing contact with the front of The Column.

Konjević Polje Intersection

Potočari

Srebrenica BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Adriatic Sea

Republika Srpska Remembering Srebrenica 77

61

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

of us had gathered, all exhausted and some wounded, we decided to take a break. We settled in the woodlands: some collapsed to the ground, others slumped over rocks. The instinct to survive is a powerful one, but nothing spells death like the face of a helpless man. So we all looked away from each other.

The next day, we all gathered on Kamenica Hill, approximately 37 miles from Tuzla. I thought we would take some rest here but once again, the gunfire began. Those of us near the front of the column managed to break away and seek shelter in the forest. Hidden from view, we could hear Serb voices on the loudspeakers for hours. ThThThey were promising safety, shelter and food. They said they wouldn’t hurt us and that we should come out of hiding. Tanks blocked all the roads, so we had two options: stay in the forest or give in and be killed.

Those that gave up were encouraged to call on their relatives to do the same. Men shouted the names of their fathers, sons and brothers, assuring them that there

was nothing to fear. That day was the bloodiest of them all for The Column. We heard later that thousands of men had been captured, tortured and subsequently killed on 13th July.

in two and wrapped my feet in the pieces.

I fell back to the ground and bellowed, “I want to sleep!”

A man responded, “If you sleep now, you’ll sleep forever.” By the time we arrived at In the early hours of the next day, those of the Baljkovica Valley, I was carouseling on us who had managed to escape reached the edge of life and death. I had barely Konjević Polje, a central intersection on a drunk any water and my only sustenance long road, which goes from Sarajevo to had been a bit of sugar. We were forced Srebrenica. One route of the intersection to take cover once again as firing began. leads to Bratunac and the other to Tuzla.

I hid in a stream for two hours as the Serb Exhausted, we headed through the forest military and the few Bosnians with arms in the direction of Tuzla. It felt like I was exchanged gunfire. A few hours later, walking and sleeping at the same time. everything fell silent and we were told to Just then, a man yelled that a Serb tank cross the valley quickly. was coming. We all fell to the ground.

We finally arrived in the free territory Luckily, the tank passed by and we went of Zvornik. The people of Nezuk village unnoticed. We waited until the road was welcomed us with food and water. There clear and continued to run towards Tuzla. were lines of buses and trucks, which Hours later, we came to a river. We all we were ushered onto. We arrived at a struggled to cross. I could feel my feet school building and were told that we burn as I went across. When I reached would stop here for the night. The school the other side, I fell to the ground and had been ransacked and there was kicked off my boots in agony. The skin nothing left but the roof, the walls and the on the bottom of my feet had peeled off concrete floors. Exhausted, we all found a completely. I took off my t-shirt, ripped it spot on the floor and fell asleep.

support us by joining our page on

62

Hasan Hasanovic with UN ambassador Angelina Jolie and then foreign-secretary Rt. Hon William Hague MP

63

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

The next morning we were ushered onto the busses again. I had no idea where we were going but I didn’t care. I fell asleep on the bus and was awoken by the driver.

I had walked five days and six nights, and finally, I was in Tuzla. The bus stop was filled with women from Srebrenica. They began asking me about their loved ones, describing what their fathers, brothers or husbands were wearing and telling me their names, asking if I had seen them.

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to upset them but the truth was that they were probably all dead. I found out that most women and children were being held at Tuzla airport, which had become a makeshift refugee camp. When I arrived there, the administration desk made an announcement. People flocked towards the desk when they heard I had come from Srebrenica. From amidst the crowd, I spotted my mother with my younger brother and my grandparents. I couldn’t believe it. We gripped each other tightly and thanked God for reuniting us.

‘Till this day, I cannot believe I was part of The Column. The experience has haunted

me ever since. The worst thing is the anguish that comes with thinking about Husein and my father — wondering how they were killed, if they were tortured and how long it took them to die.

I moved back to Srebrenica in 2009, when I started working for the Memorial Center as a curator and translator. Sometimes, it’s painful being here but it’s my home.

It’s where I belong. I’m married now and I have a beautiful four-year-old daughter.

I hope my work at the Center inspires her and keeps her in touch with the story of her grandfather and her uncle. This experience is also part of her history and I want it to shape her life and the decisions she makes. What I do on a daily basis is painful because I have to recount what happened. But I want to share my story because my heart speaks. And now, finally, someone is listening.

“I didn’t want to upset them but the truth was that they were probably all dead.”

Hasan, top row, second from left, and Husein, bottom row, third from left

Many thanks to Remembering Srebrenica charity for this contributing article support us by joining our page on

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine support us by joining our page on

64

We Could Have Ended it Sooner

support us by joining our page on

66

Over twenty years ago, a cataclysm unfolded on our doorstep. Now, after the capture of Bosnian Serb warlord Radovan Karadzic, Martin Bell, one of the reporters closest to the conflict - and who was wounded while covering it - remembers a war that shamed the West.

from the Serbs’ own office. The hotel was partly wrecked. And so began the most destructive war in Europe since 1945.

It was a war that would cost 97,000 lives; drive more than two million people from their homes; and bring shame on the United Nations and the Western democracies.

It began, for most of us, in the ugliest hotel in the Balkans - Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn, built for the 1984 Winter Olympics, apparently out of yellow Lego. It was there that Radovan Karadzic, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, urged a boycott of the referendum on Bosnian independence in March 1992; Muslims and Croats voted for it, the Serbs all stayed away.

Something else I found, as the front lines I was there at the beginning. I was there were established over that summer, was at the end. I was there for much of the that a war like this could be a thing of time in between (with a brief intermission spectacular beauty. It kept all hours. The when my Army-taught fieldcraft failed me Jewish cemetery, between Muslim and under mortar fire). It may seem like history Serb-held parts of the city, was fought now. It didn’t then. It seemed like hell on over day and night. earth.

Parachute flares illuminated the ruins and I remember in the early days cowering added allure to devastation. Tracer fire under tank-fire in a side alley near rose and fell in a perfect parabola like a the Presidency. My first thought was, rain of molten hyphens. We caught it all what a bloody stupid way to earn a on camera, and still no one cared. living. My second thought was, so much for the brotherhood and unity of Tito’s Civilians, it seemed to me, were not just Yugoslavia. caught in the crossfire but were being deliberately targeted. There was a My third thought was, this is bad, and it is shortage of bread, so the snipers targeted bound to get worse - a modern European the bread queues. There was a shortage

It was there shortly afterwards, in one of the conference rooms, that he declared the secession of the Serbs from the rest of Bosnia. And it was there that he and his bodyguards fled for their lives after a peace demonstration was attacked by gunfire in April 1992.

The shots were thought to have come

67

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

city under siege by weapons mainly of First World War vintage, hundreds of thousands of people at risk and the world outside hardly cares. We should have needed no history lessons concerning the repercussions of a first shot fired in anger in Sarajevo.

of water, so they targeted the standpipes.

For most of the harsh winter of 1992 to 1993, Sarajevo was a city under fire, without the most basic necessities of life.

There was a shortage of fuel, so people burned their furniture to keep warm.

The survivors responded with defiance and black humour. “What’s the difference between Auschwitz and Sarajevo?” asked one. “Auschwitz had showers… and gas.”

line ran down to the river near the centre of the city, where it included Sarajevo University’s Department of Philosophy.

There, if you were as foolish and lucky as I was, you could peer through the breezeblocks and take an instant course in survival studies. The Serbs’ heroes’ cemetery in Sokolac bears monumental witness today to the scale of their losses.

With the possible exception of Rwanda, it was the UN’s darkest hour in modern times. Its troops escorted relief convoys, when the Serbs allowed it, which was like passing food through the window while a murderer stood at the door. The organisation’s spokesman assured us that One of the war’s worst massacres, at it wasn’t a siege - it was merely a “tactical Ahmici in April 1993, was committed encirclement”. not by Serbs but by Croats. There was no monopoly on evil in this war, and The UN forces saved lives and risked their no monopoly on suffering. There was, own lives to do so. The British and French however, a preponderance. Slowly, the lost about 70 men each. The soldiers were world woke up to what was happening. So brave and resourceful. But they were let did some of the journalists. down by the politicians. The mandate was unworkable. The supposedly “safe areas” A story went the rounds of a newspaper were killing fields. The double-talk drove reporter who wished to write a profile of us crazy. a sniper. Both sides had them, fearing the enemy’s as much as they valued their own.

The Serbs suffered as well. They, too, were He fixed it up with the man’s commander sniped at and targeted and killed, mostly and went to visit the front line. out of range of the cameras. Their front

Martin Bell OBE support us by joining our page on

68

“What do you see?” he asked the sniper.

“I see two civilians walking in the street,” said the sniper. “Which of them do you want me to shoot?” At that point the journalist realised his mistake, pleaded with the sniper to shoot neither of them and turned to leave.

around, “all this is Serbian territory,” he said.

“President” of it all was not out there on his own. He had the likes of Bartula to support him, as well as paramilitaries He also warned against outside such as the “Tigers” of the warlord known intervention, “I wonder what the Americans as Arkan, and - most importantly - his would say when they started receiving a regular forces under their commander, convoy of coffins. Let them play their war Ratko Mladic. games somewhere in Somalia, or Iran, or As he did so, he heard two shots from the Iraq, or Kuwait, but surely not here.”

Only towards the end did the two men position just behind him. “That was a pity,” fall out, when the Serb positions began said the sniper. “You could have saved one to crumble under heavy attack from the of their lives.”

Croats.

The front lines hardly moved for the first three years. And as they solidified, so did the resistance to any sort of negotiated settlement. The Serbs not only believed in the legend of their own invincibility but persuaded others to believe it, including governments - such as our own - who should have known better.

In the bitter January of 1993, I met Colonel Jovo Bartula, whose guns were on high ground east of Sarajevo, pouring fire on to the government positions opposite.

He pointed to the snow-covered hills

69

They had no reserves, and no second line of defence to fall back to. Karadzic then styled himself Commander-in-Chief, putting on combat fatigues and touring the front. “Maybe we went a bit too far with General Mladic,” he mused. “We made a legend out of him.”

What, then, of Karadzic, the titular head of the Bosnian Serbs’ mini-state?

The shock-haired psychiatrist, poet and

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

I knew Karadzic quite well. He was usually affable, but impossible to deal with.

He seldom appeared before midday, but would talk all night over a bottle of Ballantine’s whisky about the sufferings of the Serbs since 1389. He referred to the

Muslims as Turks.

“If you throw me back into the river,” it said, “I can grant whatever you wish.” “In He described Sarajevo’s magnificent that case,” said Dr Karadzic, “I wish you library, which his forces destroyed, as a to take this map and make it acceptable storehouse of fundamentalist literature. He to my people.” “I’m sorry,” said the fish, was also obsessed with maps, he seldom rubbing its fins in embarrassment, “but I travelled without them, and felt that they don’t do maps. held the key to his people’s future.

Mauser, was responsible for the strategic reserve in the northern corridor. He believed in a negotiated peace, telling me it would be a useful exercise for the soldiers and politicians to change places for a couple of weeks. He was later killed, like other outspoken commanders, in mysterious circumstances.

He constantly complained that under the various proposed divisions of Bosnia, the Serbs would be left only with the rocks and the rattlesnakes. The theory was that wherever Serbs had lived or died would be forever theirs.

So the grinding, attritional war dragged on until the summer of 1995. Then, in July, the deadlock broke in the most appalling way. The Serbs overran the Muslim enclave and supposed “UN Safe Area” of Srebrenica. The Dutch UN force of 300 men capitulated. Up to 8,000 Muslim men His daughter, Sonja, ran the Foreign Press and young boys were murdered in cold Centre, but was not an attractive person in blood. It was the greatest war crime in any sense.

Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Europe since 1945, and an episode of “Actually, there is,” he said. “You could turn great shame for the UN. Hence the story of the golden fish; one my daughter Sonja into the most beautiful day, it ran, Dr Karadzic was so frustrated woman in Bosnia.” The fish responded, “I Finally, the world woke up. When the by the map the negotiators were trying to think I’ll take another look at that map.” next atrocity occurred - an attack on the impose that he went fishing. On the river marketplace in Sarajevo on August 31 bank, his luck turned and he caught a Not all Serbs rallied to Karadzic. Some - the UN’s British commander, General magical golden fish. of the soldiers were openly critical. One Rupert Smith, authorised the use of NATO of them, whose nom de guerre was Major airpower on a decisive scale.

support us by joining our page on

70

The Bosnian Serbs’ command centres, communications and ammunition depots came under massive bombardment. So, for psychological reasons, did a military facility near General Mladic’s home village. Within weeks, the war was over.

Bosnia without its Serbs would not be Bosnia. This is a chance for them, a proud and ancient people, to leave behind them the darkness of the past.

The Dayton agreement, three months later, turned a ceasefire into peace - or an appearance of peace. However, it left all sorts of problems unresolved. It rewarded the Serbs with a sort of ministate, and the unfinished business included the disappearance of the two men most sought-after by the War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague, Karadzic and Mladic, who have since been captured.

We in the Western democracies should look back at those terrible years of the war and blame not only the parties to it - Croatia and Serbia included - but also ourselves. We could have ended it much earlier, but chose not to.

This is more than a settling of old scores.

71

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

Martin Bell OBE

HUSNA’S DIARY: DAY 3 THEY WORE THE SCARS OF WAR After what was by far the most intense day of the visit, I hoped that my bed would provide some relief to my aching body and my tired mind. But it didn’t. Again I lay awake until some respite came in the form of sleep some two hours before my alarm was due to go off. I awoke and followed a similar routine to the previous day, only today I had a lot less energy, down to my last reserves and feeling the first symptoms of a bug.

We didn’t have far to travel. A short drive across Sarajevo to meet the Grand Mufti of Bosnia Husein Kavazovic. He spoke to us through an interpreter and although I’m sure that some of the nuance was lost in translation his message was powerful.

After what was an emotionally trying visit, he gave us a message of hope. He emphasised that each of us now carried

great responsibility. A responsibility to not only ensure that the world never forgets the tragic story of Bosnia but to ensure that this tragedy is never repeated. He said that we should not view what happened in Bosnia as a Muslim story, rather it is a human story. He implored that we return to our communities and turn our faces towards one another to strengthen the ties of humanity and brotherhood.

He then took the time to greet us individually and after group photos the rest of the delegation headed across the road to visit the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This single event was the catalyst for World War I. I decided to hang back as by this point I had developed fully blown “Bosnia flu” which I assure you is a great deal more severe than “man flu”. I looked out across

support us by joining our page on

72

the street at the buildings, river, and hills, and I wondered what they had witnessed, what horrors they would attest to if they could speak. A number of the buildings still wore the scars of war.

had done, President Bakir Izetbegovic reminded us that we had a great responsibility to ensure that these crimes against humanity are never forgotten and never repeated. President Bakir took the time to take photos with all of the delegates.

time of his life became his worst days spent in battle. Resad echoed what many had said throughout the visit “We were just like you. Living normal lives. Don’t ever think it can’t happen to you. For 19 years I thought that, then one day it changed. I saw neighbours turn on each other.”

We then bade farewell to Jasmin Agovic, ICMP’s Press Officer who kindly provided most of the photos for my work about Bosnia. Half of the delegation was on an earlier flight and so we made our way to the airport. On this short journey we were addressed by Resad Trbonja who is Remembering Srebrenica’s representative in Bosnia. Resad had taken care of us from the moment we arrived in Sarajevo (until we passed through security upon our departure) but it was only now that we heard his story. He told us that he was only 19 when the conflict began. A He took the time to address our questions; normal teenager who did normal things we spoke about the need for reconciliation and then one day everything changed. in order to move forward. However that Resad and many others had to put down reconciliation must not be at the cost of college books and pick up arms. What justice. Just as Mufti Husein Kavazovic should have been the best, most carefree

We bade farewell to the other delegates at the airport and then headed to Sarajevo Old Town for lunch as we had a few hours before our flight was due to depart. Walking through the cobblestoned streets we passed mosques, churches, and a synagogue in such close proximity. I am still at odds to comprehend how a group of people who lived in relative harmony for so many years could turn on one another. Surely it didn’t happen overnight. And now, back home, I am concerned. I see a climate of hatred fuelled by ignorance. Certainly not everywhere. But propagated by some elements of society. These elements want us to fear each other, to view one another as “the other”.

Upon the return of the other delegates we made our way to the Building of the Presidency for an audience with President Bakir Izetbegovic. He is the son of the late Alija Izetbegovic who represented Bosnia at peace talks to end the conflict and subsequently became the country’s first president. The presidency consists of three members; one Bosniak, one Croat elected from the Federation, and one Serb elected from Republika Srpska, who serve a four year term concurrently during which period the chairmanship rotates every 8 months. President Bakir Izetbegovic is the current chairman.

73

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

So now it is imperative that we take the advice of all these great people about whom I have written. To fight evil as Tarik Samarah said. To fight for justice as the mothers of Srebrenica said. To stop hating as Hasan Hasanovic said. To turn towards one another in our shared humanity as Mufti Husein Kavazovic said. To work towards reconciliation and rebuild for the future as President Bakir Izetbegovic said.

And to be vigilant to hatred as Resad Trbonja said.

We must do all of this because the alternative does not bear thinking about.

Resad said something so simple yet so powerful: “War. Nothing is worth it�.

And he is right. Because when you choose war there is no way back. You cannot undo war. You cannot undo killing. And therefore we must fight now. Fight a war of love and understanding for our unity. all images taken by photographer Jasmin Agovic

Group photo with Mufti Husein Kavazovic support us by joining our page on

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine support us by joining our page on

74

Life has its ups and downs You can talk confidentially online or by phone whenever you need to.

Whatever your worry, it’s better out than in.

www.childline.org.uk ChildLine is a service provided by the NSPCC. Registered charity numbers 216401 and SC037717. 7244/11

Masjids Around The World The city of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina was once part of the Ottoman Empire. Remnants of the Empire can be seen within the architecture of the impressive mosques in the city. The Gazi Husrev-Beg Mosque is one of the most famous mosques in the area and a fine example of Ottoman architecture.

The mosque is named after Gazi HusrevBeg; the governor of Bosnia who is credited with financing much of the buildings in the old city of Sarajevo. He also financed the building of his mosque in 1531. The architect was Mimar Sinan, who went on to build the famous Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, Turkey.

The mosque was damaged by Serbian forces during the siege of Sarajevo but has now been restored.

At the entrance there are four archways resting on pillars which lead to a wooden

support us by joining our page on

76

Gazi Husrev-Beg Mosque Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

doorway surrounded in beautiful mosaics and Islamic calligraphy. The ceiling outside the doorway contains a murqarna’s which looks like a honeycomb structure falling from the ceiling.

16th Built: Century

Capacity: unknown

total. This provides an ample source of light and allows the mosque to appear much bigger than it really is inside.

Outside the mosque is a courtyard with a fountain which is topped by a domeshaped wooden structure. The shape and style of the dome is the same as the domes of the mosque. The courtyard is used as a meeting place between prayer times. There is one ‘pencil’ minaret which resembles the minarets of the mosques in Istanbul.

The main prayer hall is covered by a dome with a 13-metre span, and 26 metres in height. Either side of the main dome are two semi domes.

There are further mini domes on the roof of the mosque entrance. The interior of the domes are decorated in Arabic calligraphy and other colourful symmetrical patterns. The result is a simple This mosque was the first mosque in the yet stunning design meshing architectural, world to receive electricity in 1898 during ceramic, and calligraphic art. the period of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. There are prayer facilities for Below one of the semi domes is the mihrab both men and women. The mosque also where the imam leads the prayer. The houses a library, a madrassa (seminary) front of the mosque has 5 arched windows and a cemetery. and the mosque displays 51 windows in

77

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

To the east of the mosque lies the tomb of Gazi-Husrev Beg and the general Murad-Beg Tardic. The madrassa consists of a square courtyard surrounded by 12 rooms. The mosque once also included a hospice, soup kitchen, Qur’anic school and a khanqah (a building used for Sufi gatherings), which were all removed in the nineteenth-century. A clock-tower stands where the soup kitchen once was.

The legacy of the Ottoman Empire can still be seen in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mosque is simple in design but beautifully decorated. It is a focal point of the city and today symbolises the defiance of the Bosnian people against divisive politics, being restored to its former glory.

Zeeshan Arif

Inscription of a land

poetry

Once upon a time a worthy caller asked: Who is that, what is that, forgive Where is that Whence is that Where to is That Bosnia Tell

And the questioned gave then a prompt reply to him: Bosnia, forgive, there is a land Both barren And barefoot, forgive Both cold and hungry And even more Forgive Defiant By A dream Mak Dizdar (1917-1971)

Tuzla Massacre Here one does not live just to live.

Here one does not live just die.

Here one dies just to live Mak Dizdar (1917-1971)

Death and the Dervish Bismilahir-rahmanir-rahim!

I call to witness the ink, the quill, and the script, which flows from the quill; I call to witness the faltering shadows of the sinking evening, the night and all she enlivens; I call to witness the moon when she waxes, and the sunrise when it dawns.

I call to witness the Resurrection Day and the soul that accuses itself; I call to witness time, the beginning and end of all things - to witness that every man always suffers loss Meťa Selimović

support us by joining our page on

78

Da sam ptica/If I was a Bird

Mak Dizdar

Da sam ptica i da imam krila/If I was a bird and if I had wings

cvjetaj Bosno, u mirisu rudi/Bloom Bosnia, in redolence ripen

ja bih cijelu Bosnu preletila/I would fly over entire Bosnia

iz teb’ i ja da napajam grudi/From you I feed my soul

letila bih, nikad ne bih stala/I would fly, I would never stop

Uvijek si mi kao sto si bila/You’re always the same

dok se Bosne ne bih nagledala/Until I had enough of Bosnia

sva zelena, vesela i mila/All green, cheerful, and loving

Nad Bosnom se planine izvile/Above Bosnia, mountains rise zelenilom svu je okitile/They dressed her up in green

tvoja pjesma nek’ te uvijek krasi/Let your song always adorn you zdravo Bosno, uvijek zdravo da si/Goodbye Bosnia, always remain healthy Mirza Bašić

79

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

Recipes Bosnian Cevapi

Ingredients: • 750g beef mince • 400g lamb mince • 1 small garlic bulb, plus 4 cloves • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda • 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika • 1 egg • 150ml sparkling water • Olive oil • 6 red peppers • 2 aubergines • A bunch of flat leaf parsley • Juice of 2 lemons • 1 onion, chopped • 6 flatbreads, to serve • Sour cream, to serve • Pickled guindilla peppers, to serve (optional)

support us by joining our page on

80

Method

1. Make the cevapi (grilled meat) at least a few hours before you want to cook them, or ideally the night before. Place the minced beef and lamb in a large bowl, then crush in the 4 garlic cloves. Sprinkle over the bicarbonate of soda and paprika, and season.

2. Crack in the egg and use your hands to scrunch everything together. Add as much of the sparkling water as you need to make a smooth, pliable mixture.

3. Divide the meat into 10–12 pieces and roll each one into a sausage shape about 10cm long and 2cm thick. Place the cevapi on an oiled baking tray, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge until needed.

4. For the ajvar (red pepper sauce), preheat the oven to 230C/ gas 8. Place the whole peppers and aubergines on a large roasting tray

81

along with the unpeeled garlic bulb and roast in the oven for 30–40 minutes, or until the vegetable skins are blackened, turning halfway through.

5. Once the peppers and aubergines are charred, place them in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 20 minutes, to steam off the skins. Once they’ve cooled slightly, pull off and discard the skins, seeds and stalks and chop the flesh on a board.

6. Squeeze out the garlic from 6 of the roasted cloves and add it to the vegetables along with most of the parsley, then chop it all together.

(If you have much roasted garlic left over, stir it into softened butter and store in the fridge – it’s great for garlic bread!)

7. Keep chopping everything together, season with salt and pepper, squeeze over the juice of 1 of the lemons and drizzle over a good glug of olive oil. Adjust the

www.facebook.com/fifteen21magazine

seasoning to taste, then set aside.

8. Finely chop the remaining parsley, tip it into a bowl, then mix in the onion and remaining lemon juice.

Set aside.

9. Just before you’re ready to serve, warm your flatbreads in the oven, and place a griddle pan over a high heat. When hot, cook the cevapi for 10–12 minutes, until cooked through.

10. To serve, spread some ajvar on top of the warm flatbreads, with a couple of cevapi and a guindilla pepper on top of each, a dollop of sour cream and the herby onions on the side.

Enjoy!

Jamie Oliver

National Events

To add your local study circles, conferences, events or courses please email events@fifteen21.com

Birmingham

Leicester

The Zawiya Centre T: 0121 766 8364 W: www.thezawiya.com

Masjid An-Noor T: 0116 262 5440 W: www.idauk.org

Arabic, Tajweed, Youth activities & Study circles for both brothers and sisters, various dates

Monthly Youth Programme for boys, starts first Saturday of each month

Bradford

York

Islam Bradford Centre T: 01274 395521 E: info@islambradford.com

York Central Masjid T: 01904 413 123 E: contact@yorkmosque.org

Study Circles, for brothers and sisters (separate classes), various days & times

Brothers Qur’an Circle, every Friday, between Maghrib and Isha Salah Sisters Qur’an Circle, every Sunday, 11am to Dhuhr Salah

Cambridge Cambridge Masjid T: 01223-350134 E: cambridgemosque@gmail.com

Arabic, Study Circles, Qur’anic Studies for both Brothers & Sisters, varies days & times

Edinburgh Edinburgh Central Mosque T: 0131 343 3802 E: edinburghmosque@hotmail.com

Arabic, Tajweed, Youth activities & Study circles for both brothers and sisters, various dates

FIFTEEN21 Issue 26 Out Friday 30th October 2015!