The Srebrenica Genocide and Serbia's International Responsibility

Year 2023, , 822 - 838, 28.10.2023

Haydar Karaman , Burak Güneş

https://doi.org/10.25204/iktisad.1341988

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the crime of genocide that took place in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995, from a juridico-political perspective. While making this analysis, an attempt was made to show the extent to which the decisions made by the courts were political. As critical legal studies reveal, law is inherently political. It is also subjective because it is political. This subjectivity causes the law to side with the political power in the slightest power imbalance between the parties. In this study, it is claimed that the International Court of Justice, in its decision regarding the "genocide" that took place in Srebrebitsa, observed the international balance of power very skillfully and, as a result, tried not to shake the balance of interests and power of sovereign states with its decision. Based on this, the study revisits a number of issues related to the history and memory of Srebrenica; In order to keep the memory fresh and to consider the crime from different perspectives, it will also examine the aspects that resonate with political history as a whole and affect the process leading to the crime. When evaluated in this context, the present study aims to critically re-evaluate the decision of the International Court of Justice in the context of the law of state responsibility, while trying to keep alive the atrocities that took place in Yugoslavia.

Keywords

Srebrenica, Yugoslavia, Soykırım, ICJ, ICTY

Project Number

-

Srebrenitsa Soykırımı ve Sırbistan’ın Uluslararası Sorumluluğu

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı, 1995’te Bosna-Hersek Srebrenitsa’da gerçekleşen soykırım suçunu juridico-political (yasal-politik) bir hat üzerinden incelemektir. Bu inceleme yapılırken, mahkemelerin vermiş oldukları kararların ne derecede siyasi olduğu gösterilmeye çalışılmıştır. Eleştirel hukuk çalışmalarının ortaya koyduğu gibi hukuk, doğası gereği siyasaldır. Siyasal olmasından dolayı da özneldir. Bu öznellik ise taraflar arasındaki en ufak bir güç dengesizliğinde, hukukun siyasal güçten yana tavır almasına neden olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada da Uluslararası Adalet Divanı’nın Srebrebitsa’da meydana gelen “soykırıma” dair almış olduğu kararda, uluslararası güç dengelerini son derece ustalıkla gözettiği ve bunun sonucunda vermiş olduğu karar ile egemen devletlerin çıkar ve güç dengesini sarsmamaya gayret ettiği ileri sürülmektedir. Buradan hareketle çalışma, Srebrenitsa tarihiyle ilgili bir dizi meseleyi tekrar ele alırken; hafızayı taze tutmak ve suçu farklı açılardan ele almak amacıyla, bir bütün olarak siyasi tarihte yankılanan, suça giden sürece etki eden yönleri de inceleyecektir. Bu bağlamda değerlendirildiğinde eldeki çalışma, Yugoslavya’da meydana gelen zulümleri unutturmadan, devletlerin sorumluluğu hukuku bağlamında da Uluslararası Adalet Divanı’nın vermiş olduğu kararı eleştirel bir gözle yeniden değerlendirmek gayesindedir.

Keywords

Srebrenitsa, Yugoslavya, Genocide, UAD, EYCM

Supporting Institution

-

Project Number

-

Thanks

-

References

• Adaş, S. ve Konuralp, E (2020). Eski Yugoslavya’da Sırp milliyetçiliğinin tarihsel temelleri ve Yugoslavya Sosyalist Federal Cumhuriyeti'nin dağılmasına etkileri. Anadolu ve Balkan Araştırmaları Dergisi, 3(6), 107-139. https://doi.org/10.32953/abad.755901
• Andreas, P. (2004). The clandestine political economy of war and peace in Bosnia. International Studies Quarterly, 48(1), 29–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0020-8833.2004.00290.x
• Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro) (2023, 12 Haziran), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports, 2007, https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/91/judgment.
• Army of the Republic of Srpska. (2023, 7 Temmuz). “Srebrenica, reality and manipulation”. the International Scientific Conference, Banja Luka. https://ostavrs.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/SREBRENICA-engleski-sa-koricom.pdf.
• Barker, J.C. ve Sivakumaran, S. (2007). I. Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro). International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 56(3), 695-708. doi:10.1093/iclq/lei190.
• Bassiouni, M. C. (2013). Introduction to international criminal law. 2nd Revised Edition. Brill Nijhoff.
• Bicanic, R. (1972). Turning points in economic development, Mouton & Co. NV Publishers.
• Bieber, F. (2002). Nationalist mobilization and stories of Serb suffering: The Kosovo myth from 600th anniversary to the present. Rethinking History, 6(1), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/136425200110112137
• Biondich, M. (2011). The Balkans: Revolution, war, and political violence since 1878 (Vol. 3). Oxford University Press.
• Bora, T. (2018). Milliyetçiliğin provokasyonu- Yugoslavya. İletişim Yayınları.
• Cassese, A. (2007). The Nicaragua and Tadić tests revisited in light of the ICJ judgment on genocide in Bosnia. European Journal of International Law, 18(4), 649-668. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chm034
• Centrih, L. (2016). The road to collapse: The demise of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe.
• Cigar, N. L. (1995). Genocide in Bosnia: The policy of "ethnic cleansing". Texas A&M University Press.
• Dikici, A. (2016). Bosna Savaşı’nda Srebrenica savunmasının komutanı Naser Oriç’in hikâyesi. Avrasya Etüdleri, 50(2), 50–86. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/avrasya/issue/35350/392492
• Dixon, M., McCorquodale, R. ve Williams, S. (2011). Cases and materials on international law. Oxford University Press.
• Faucompret, E. (2001). The dismemberment of Yugoslavia and the European Union.
• Godina, V. V. (1998). The outbreak of nationalism on former Yugoslav territory: A historical perspective on the problem of supranational identity. Nations and Nationalism, 4(3), 409–422. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1354-5078.1998.00409.x
• Gutman, R. (1994). Bosna’da soykırım günlüğü. Pınar.
• Hobsbawm, E. (2020). Kısa 20. yüzyıl: 1914- 1991 aşırılıklar çağı. Everest Yayınları.
• Holbrooke, R. (2011). To end a war: the conflict in Yugoslavia–America’s ınside story–negotiating with Milosevic. Modern Library.
• Honig, J. W. ve Both, N. (1996). Srebrenica: Record of a war crime. Penguin Books. International Court of Justice, "Case Concerning the Application of the Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro):
• Judgment (Soykırım Davası)" (2023, 3 Temmuz), 26.02.2007, https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/91/judgments. International Law Commission, Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (2023, 10 Haziran), November 2001, Supplement No. 10 (A/56/10), chp.IV.E.1., https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft_articles/9_6_2001.pdf.
• İbrahim, K. (2013). Uluslararası hukukta temel belgeler. Seçkin Yayıncılık..
• Jelavich, B. (2006). Balkan tarihi: 20. yüzyıl. Küre.
• Johnstone, D. (2003). Fools’ crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO, and Western delusions. NYU Press.
• Kaplan, R. D. (2014). Balkan ghosts: A journey through history. Picador.
• Karatay, O. (2002). Bosna-Hersek barış süreci: Dayton Barış Antlaşması eki ile. Karam Araştırma ve Yayıncılık.
• Mann, M. (2005). The dark side of democracy: Explaining ethnic cleansing. Cambridge University Press.
• Mayall, J. (1996). The new interventionism, 1991-1994: United Nations experience in Cambodia, former Yugoslavia and Somalia. Cambridge University Press.
• Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America) (2023, 23 Haziran), Merits, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports (Nikaragua Davası), 1986, https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/70/judgments.
• Mulaosmanović, A. (2019). Islam and Muslims in greater Serbian ıdeology: The origins of an antagonism and the misuse of the past. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 39(3), 300–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2019.1652408
• NATO (2008), Footage of Karadžić’s speech NATO review, ‘Karadžić: from Sarajevo to the Hague’ (2023, 18 Haziran), 26.08.2008, 2008, https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2008/08/26/karadzic-from-sarajevo-to-the-hague/index.html.
• Oliver, I. (2005). War & pease in the Balkans. Tauris in assoc. with New Europ. publ.
• Owen, D. (1995). Balkan odyssey. Harcourt.
• Parry, C., Grant, J. P. ve Barker, J. C. (2009). Parry & Grant encyclopaedic dictionary of international law. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Pavkovic, A. (2000). The fragmentation of Yugoslavia: Nationalism and war in the Balkans. Springer.
• Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic, (IT-98-33-T) (2023, 18 Haziran), 19.04.2004, https://www.icty.org/en/case/krstic.
• Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić, (IT-95-5/18) (2023, 24 Haziran), 29 Eylül 2014 Duruşması, https://www.icty.org/en/case/karadzic.
• Shaw, M. N. (2015). What is genocide? Cambridge University Press.
• Shaw, M. N. (2017). International law. Cambridge university press.
• The Spanish Zone of Morocco Claims Case (2023, 28 Haziran), 2 RIAA 615, 1925, https://legal.un.org/ilc/documentation/english/a_cn4_169.pdf.
• UN Security Council Mission (UNSCM), Report of the Security Council Mission Established Pursuant to Resolution 819 (1993) (2023, 01 Ağustos), 30.04.1993, https://www.refworld.org/docid/4c4d3d202.html.
• UN Security Council, Security Council Resolution 757 (1992) [Bosnia and Herzegovina-S/RES/757] (2023, 18 Temmuz), 30.05.1992, https://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f2122c.html.
• UN Security Council, Security Council Resolution 819 (1993) [Bosnia and Herzegovina- S/RES/819] (2023, 9 Haziran), 16.04.1993, 1993, https://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f2bc28.html.
• UN Security Council, Security Council Resolution 836 (1993) [Bosnia and Herzegovina-S/RES/836] (2023, 21 Haziran), 04.06.1993, https://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f15330.html.
• Waever, O. (2008). Toplumsal güvenliğin değişen gündemi. Uluslararası İlişkiler Dergisi, 5(18), 151–178. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/uidergisi/issue/39260/462357
• Weidmann, N. B. (2011). Violence “from above” or “from below”? The Role of Ethnicity in Bosnia’s Civil War. The Journal of Politics, 73(4), 1178–1190. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/S0022381611000831
• Wiebes, C. (2003). Intelligence and the war in Bosnia, 1992-1995 (Vol. 1). LIT Verlag Münster.
• Wood, W. B. (2001). Geographic aspects of genocide: A comparison of Bosnia and Rwanda. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5661.00006
• Zimmermann, W. (1996). Origins of a catastrophe: Yugoslavia and ıts destroyers—America’s last ambassador tells what happened and why. Crown.