Turkish President Erdogan on Srebrenica genocide: In the heart of Europe, Western countries and institutions did little more than watch from a distance as an attempt at ethnic cleansing unfolded. While the United Nations Protection Force, deployed to protect civilians, was unable even to protect itself, the cities that had been declared "safe areas" became the sites of massacres that are still remembered with shame today. A total of 8,372 Bosniaks—including children, women, and the elderly—were murdered and buried in mass graves. Even though 31 years have passed, the wounds left in our hearts by the Srebrenica genocide continue to bleed.