ISTANBUL

Marking nearly three decades since a massacre that shocked the world, Türkiye on Thursday said: "We will never forget the Srebrenica genocide.”

"We commemorate with respect and mercy our Bosniak brothers and sisters who were martyred in the Srebrenica genocide 29 years ago," said the Turkish Foreign Ministry on X.

Stressing that the genocide remains a black stain of human history, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on X: "We will commemorate July 11th every year in our country as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide.”

In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslims were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked the eastern city of Srebrenica, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops there.

Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that a genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.