"The massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995 constituted one of the most tragic chapters of the Yugoslav civil wars of the 1990s," Tadic said in the article stressing that "the Serbian parliament on March 30 adopted a historic declaration on Srebrenica that unequivocally condemned the war crimes that took place there."

He said the declaration is the product Serbia's absolute dedication to restore trust and promote friendship and understanding between two proud nations in our region and, more broadly, two great religious traditions present throughout our increasingly interdependent world.

"As such, this unprecedented document-the first of its kind in the Western Balkans-extends profound condolences and sincere apologies to the families of the Bosnian Muslim victims."

Tadic also said that in the declaration Serbia reaffirms full support for the efforts to successfully complete its cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which includes locating, arresting and extraditing the Bosnian Serb wartime commander who has been indicted for his role in Srebrenica, Ratko Mladic.

The ICTY indicted Mladic for genocide in Srebrenica, however the term "genocide" is not mention in the Serbian parliament's declaration or Tadic's article in The Wall Street Journal.

Tadic said in the article that the declaration also underlines Serbia's commitment to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. "We hope it will help facilitate a process for its three constituent peoples to come together in agreement on necessary internal reforms."

"Silence is no longer acceptable, and neither is hiding behind outdated wartime rhetoric," said Tadic, adding that the era of accountability had begun in Southeast Europe.

The Serbian president did not mention in the article that Serbia carried out an act of aggression against Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo in the 1990s and that almost the entire Serbian political and military leadership ended up before the ICTY, charged with war crimes. Instead he said that Serbia had "demonstrated the courage to be the first to apologize for heinous atrocities that were committed by all sides in the Yugoslav civil wars."

He called on other countries in the region to do the same.

"Accepting one's share of responsibility for what happened in the past is an integral part of the democratic consolidation of every country in our neighborhood," Tadic said, adding that this is "an indispensable step in the advancement of sustainable peace and stability in the Western Balkans."

By taking the lead in regional reconciliation, Serbia has opened the door for others to step through, in the hope that we can together build a prosperous and inclusive future as members of the European Union-our central strategic priority, said Tadic.