#Bikers from #Turkey on the road to #Srebrenica

After BiH, motorcyclists are returning to Istanbul to honor the fires in a coup attempt last year in Turkey.

The fears that witnesses and survivors of genocide in Srebrenica still feel, 22 years after the evil, and there are no real words to describe them, say motorcyclists from Turkey who come this year to commemorate the victims in this Bosnian town, as part of the Peace March. Between 50 and 70 enthusiasts from this Eurasian country flew on July 7th from Istanbul, passing Greece, Macedonia and Serbia to burials and commemorate victims in Srebrenica on July 11th. Then they return to Turkey. Their journey will last for nine days.

The organizer of the campaign is the humanitarian organization IHH, and its coordinator, Mustafa Ozbek, tells Al Jazeera that dozens of bikers are coming to honor the victims "one of the most brutal and bloodiest events in the entire history of Bosnia and Herzegovina". "Our trip to BiH has more goals. One of them, of course, is to raise awareness of the genocide that took place 22 years ago. We also want to reiterate the mutual respect of history, feelings of community, common ideas and solidarity between the people of BiH and Turkey, "our interlocutor points out.

Pain in full force

"A campaign called MotoBosna aims to condemn genocide, ill for all people, in which more than 8,000 men, elderly and boys were killed. Every year, this tragic event is marked in various ways and we want to be part of it, "the organization said. They add that "the new mass graves of the killed Srebrenica people are constantly revealed, and the pain is again present in its full force." "After visiting BiH, our motorcyclists will complete the journey and return to Istanbul to be part of celebrating memories of martyrs who fell on a failed coup last year," IHH said.

Ozbek says that Turkey's bikers have withdrawn their desire to join their colleagues on wheels that come every year in Srebrenica from many European countries. "So far no Turkish biker group has participated in the genocide, and we want to change that. Every year, we want our members and fellow citizens to travel to Srebrenica and to show that we are with the families of victims, as well as with BiH, "he says.

A special mission

Turkish bikers will join Sarajevo in the sixth Srebrenica motomaraton 2017 "Do not forget and do not repeat". According to organizer Enver Sulic, about 600 motorcyclists will travel to Potocari and Srebrenica. The bikers from BiH, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Libya, Switzerland and Turkey will take part. Earlier, Sulic told us that Turkish guests wanted to visit Sarajevo, and they also had a special mission in Srebrenica.

"They also come to help the association EMAUS, their school in Potocari. We accidentally proposed this year to make a humanitarian fund raising campaign. In the camp in Ilidza we will have a box and every one of us will deposit money. I know that no single biker will have a lot of 10 marks (five euros) on an average of 500 people - that's 5,000 marks (2,500 euros). We will hand that money over to this association, it's a novelty this year, "Sulic said.