» Does not contribute to reconciliation »: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized Poland for the state holiday in memory of the victims of the Volyn tragedy
Foreign Ministry of Ukraine. Photo Shutterstock
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine believes that the decision of Poland to introduce the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of « Genocide, committed by the OUN and the UPA in the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic, » contains the spirit of good neighborly relations between countries.
Source: ”European truth« With reference to the statement of the Ukrainian foreign policy department
Details: On June 5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the decision of the Seimas of Poland to establish the victims of the « genocide, committed by the OUN and the UPA in the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic. »
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« Such unilateral steps do not contribute to the achievement of mutual understanding and reconciliation that our countries have been working on for a long time, in particular in the format of a common Ukrainian-Polish group on historical dialogue, which operates with the participation of ministries of culture and institutions of national memory of the two countries, » the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry emphasized that Ukraine « consistently stands for a scientific, impartial study of complex pages of common history. »
Therefore, the Foreign Ministry is convinced that the path to real reconciliation lies through the dialogue, mutual respect and joint work of historians, and not through political unilateral evaluations.
Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called on Poland « to refrain from steps that can lead to increased tension in bilateral relations and undermine the achievements gained by constructive dialogue and cooperation between Ukraine and Poland. »
The foreign policy department reminded that the Poles should not be sought by the Poles among Ukrainians, and Ukrainians – among the Poles, because the enemy is common – Russia.
Prehistory:
- In response to the mass destruction of Ukrainian monuments in Poland in 2015-2017, Ukraine introduced the so-called moratorium on the search and exhumation of the Poles’ remains, which were killed in 1943-45 by improper investigation of these crimes.
- The issue of exhumation for years has been an apple of discord in relations between Ukraine and Poland. Polish authorities, headed by Donald Tusk, pressed on Kyiv demanding to cancel the moratorium.
- Warsaw even said that the solution of historical disputes would be one of the binding Ukraine’s accession conditions in the EU.
- At the end of April in the Ternopil region, in the territory of the now -existing village of Puzhniki, began to exhumulate the remains of the Poleskilled in 1945.
- Head of the Polish-Ukrainian Working Group on Historical Dialogue Pavel Koval called it a breakthrough in relations between both countries.
