Independent Belarus is integral part of Europe
- 12.03.2008, 8:36
A Belarusian week in honour of the 90th anniversary of the Belarusian National Republic foundation has begun in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The programme of the week includes meetings of Belarusian politicians with EP leadership, discussion of the situation in Belarus. A discussion on the topic Independent Belarus is Integral Part of Europe will be held in Strasbourg on 12 March.
BNR President Ivonka Survilla, former speaker of the Supreme Council Stanislau Shushkevich, as well as Vintsuk Vyachorka, Lyavon Barshcheuski, Mikola Statkevich, Alyaksandr Milinkevich, Syarhei Kalyakin, and former candidate for presidency Alyaksandr Kazulin’s daughter Volha were invited to Strasbourg. Radio Svaboda asked MEP Jacek Protasiewicz, head of the delegation for relations with Belarus, to appraise the significance of those events.
“I’d like to say that it’s very important for us that, firstly, members of the European Parliament, especially the western ones, will understand in the BNR 90th anniversary Belarus has been independent for almost 100 year, not several years. Belarusians as one of the European nations proclaimed the independence after the World War I, and the tradition of independent Belarus has been kept in the form of the BNR Rada in a strange land.
Secondly, we want to turn attention to the current situation in Belarus, where democracy is violated, human rights aren’t respected, and Belarusian citizens have no opportunities to share their views freely and take part in public life. This the primary purpose of the celebration, in which many representatives of political and other circles from Belarus and abroad are engaged.”
President of the Belarusian National Republic Ivonka Survilla shares her impressions of meeting in Strasbourg:
“I’d like to say how glad I am that finally we have such friends in Europe and in the world. If we had had them in 1918, our destiny would have been other. Now Europe knows about us, is concerned about us, as well as the US, and I believe we will soon become the country we are dreaming about.”
Besides political meetings, a cultural programme has been prepared for the participants of the week: Yury Khashchavatski and Uladzimer Arlou’s film about the history of the Belarusian National Republic, exhibition of artists Alyaksei Marachkin and Ryhor Sitnitsa and photographer Ihar Krasheuski.