Kravchuk addresses audiences in Toronto and at Soyuzivka (09/01/96)

Kravchuk addresses audiences in Toronto and at Soyuzivka

Constitution is 'Ukraine's passport'

by Andrij Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - Ukraine's former president, Leonid Kravchuk, appeared before an audience of about 750 at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in this provincial capital's downtown on July 22 to speak on a topic of immediate interest for Ukraine and the diaspora: the newly adopted Constitution and the Russian presidential elections.

The evening's sponsors were the Canadian Friends of Ukraine, and executive member Prof. Jurij Darewych, who served as master of ceremonies, did much in the way of following protocol and encouraging an atmosphere of respect for the honored guest.

In his word of introduction, Prof. Darewych hailed Mr. Kravchuk as a man who "has engraved his name in the book of Ukraine's history," and who "will take his place alongside [Hetman Bohdan] Khmelnytsky, [Hetman Ivan] Mazepa, [Ukrainian National Republic President Mykhailo] Hrushevsky and [UNR Directory President Symon] Petliura."

Former CFU president Bohdan Myndiuk (currently also the executive director of the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce), then rose to commend Mr. Kravchuk for having participated in the first peaceful transfer of power in newly independent Ukraine following the 1994 presidential elections and for having actively cooperated with current President Leonid Kuchma in securing Parliamentary ratification of the new Constitution, thus averting a potentially divisive national referendum on the subject.

It was also announced that Mr. Kravchuk would be heading a newly formed agency called the International Union of Ukrainian Businessmen, set up as a wing of the Ukraina Association, and that Dr. Eugenia Pasternak of Toronto (director of the Ivan Franko Home for the Aged) would serve as liaison officer in Canada. Mr. Kravchuk did not elaborate.

According to a mission statement since obtained by The Weekly, the businessmen's union intends to "establish a communications network for entrepreneurs worldwide, and to provide organizational, methodological, legal, financial and other support for business-entrepreneurial organizations, including marketing services."

In his address, Mr. Kravchuk offered comments on some particulars of the historic Constitution, its expected impact on Ukraine's society, and the effect of its adoption on his country's international "imidzh" - a word with which many Ukrainian politicians now pepper their speeches, - i.e., image.

Mr. Kravchuk said the new Constitution is "Ukraine's passport into the international community," which he said now recognizes Ukraine as a nation on the path of democracy and the rule of law.

To thunderous applause, the former president stressed that Ukrainian has been firmly ensconced as the state language, and said that he can no longer be blamed for "coercing the Supreme Council back in 1989" on the question. He added that Article 10 provides a better formulation regarding the state's support for the maintenance and development of other languages, in that it does not require hair-splitting and debate over what constitutes "a concentrated settlement of a minority" as the old Law on Language did.

Mr. Kravchuk hailed the adoption of the blue-and-yellow flag and "golden trident on the blue shield of Volodymyr" as national symbols.

He went on to say that the Constitution would gradually transform Ukrainian society, and that politicians will become more accustomed to being ruled by an authoritative legal document.

"Now there is a law that everyone must follow, from the president on down," Mr. Kravchuk said, "It is something people will have to get used to."

He said the new document provides for a clear division of powers between the various branches of government, and that a new system of authority is being confirmed. But Mr. Kravchuk voiced his opposition to those calling for immediate elections for all levels of government, saying that the country would not be able to withstand the strain in its current economic condition.

Referring to the Parliament's change of heart after years of arduous debate over the charter's adoption, the former president said the Supreme Council became more accommodating as the realization spread that the document would have been adopted without Parliament. Mr. Kravchuk opined that the Agrarian, Socialist and Communist factions realized that even they would not be able to capitalize on the divisiveness a referendum could provoke, particularly in difficult economic times.

In turning to economic affairs, Mr. Kravchuk claimed that Ukraine's difficulties with rampant corruption are no different than those facing other former Soviet states. He said this is an inevitable symptom of the co-existence of "the new and the old" in Ukraine's political and administrative order.

Mr. Kravchuk called Ukraine's industrial sector "unnatural" and "deformed by the Soviet legacy" and needful of "geographical reorientation" toward the West and redesigned for lesser dependence on former ties established under the ancient regime.

Topically, he cited statistics about the non-viability of the local coal industry, saying that Polish coal costs $35 a ton to produce, Russian coal $21 a ton, while in Ukraine it is being produced at levels ranging from $72 to $400 a ton. For Mr. Kravchuk, the involvement of about 2 million people in this industry and the struggles of pensioners seeking to live on $20 a month are the gravest economic problems facing his country.

Mr. Kravchuk said the middle class is growing in Ukraine, suggesting that it now includes 10 percent of the population, but added that impoverishment is sucking ever more people down.

The former Communist ideologue said he frequently confronts those who assert "they lived better" under the Soviet regime. "Who lived better? I know who lived better, and it wasn't you," Mr. Kravchuk related.

Describing the political climate prior to the recent presidential elections in Russia, Mr. Kravchuk said that "people were marching around the Russian Parliament with eyes ablaze, ready to assume roles of executioner, ready to decide who will hang from what lamppost."

However, the former president said "history spoke otherwise" and expressed confidence that Ukraine and Russia will be "equal partners" economically and politically.

Apart from opining that re-elected Russian President Boris Yeltsin is a known quantity and thus preferable than any alternative, Mr. Kravchuk made no further comments about the changing political scene in Moscow.

'Ukraine exists and will continue to exist'

by Halyna Kolessa

KERHONKSON, N.Y. - Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of independent Ukraine, spoke here at the Ukrainian National Association's upstate New York resort before an overflow audience of 700, addressing the topic of "Ukraine after the Adoption of the Constitution."

Mr. Kravchuk's July 27 visit to Soyuzivka was arranged during his visit to the U.S. as representative of the Fund to Promote the Development of the Arts in Ukraine. He was welcomed to the resort with the traditional Ukrainian greeting of bread and salt by representatives of the local Ukrainian community, Dr. Roman Baranowsky and members of the Plast and SUM-A youth organizations, as well as by the Soyuzivka management.

Once inside the Veselka auditorium, the former president and current member of Parliament was welcomed with a standing ovation. He was then seated on the dais along with UNA President Ulana Diachuk, Ukraine's Consul-General in New York Viktor Kryzhanivsky and fellow Parliament Deputy Yaroslav Kendzior, as well as Bohdan Mysko, foreign adviser to the president of Ukraine, and Roman Lun, a representative of the Porozuminnia (Understanding) organization.

Mrs. Diachuk welcomed the distinguished visitor and introduced him to the audience by noting his significant role in the re-establishment of independent Ukrainian statehood.

Taking the podium, Mr. Kravchuk underlined the fact that Ukraine had gained its independence five years ago "without a single shot being fired, without a single drop of blood being shed." Within a very short time, he noted, the Soviet empire disintegrated and Ukraine was recognized by nearly all the world's countries.

He characterized this as "a historic event, one, I would say, of planetary proportions, as this was the beginning of strategic changes in the world, the beginning of new relations among nations in Europe, and not only in Europe. And Ukraine, as a great European state, immediately took its rightful place in the world community."

Noting the Ukrainian populace's diversity, he said that despite that diversity "there was not a single village, town, city, region or oblast where less than half the population voted for independence" during the December 1, 1991, plebiscite on the issue. Even in the Crimea and Sevastopil, he underlined, the vote for independence was greater than 50 percent.

The first president of independent Ukraine also offered his opinion of the achievements of the newborn state. "The Ukrainian state is developing it is gaining authority among the world; it is proceeding along the democratic path of democracy, and economic and political reform; and it is strengthening its statehood, independence and security." He pointed to the appearance of new people and new enterprises, and said "the people are becoming the true masters of their own state, their own land."

While acknowledging current problems - low salaries, the non-payment of wages, paltry pensions - he observed that new forms of life are emerging.

Besides, he asked, "Where and when was it possible in a mere five years to build a new state, perfect in all respects?"

With the approval of the Constitution of Ukraine on June 28 "a new period in the life of Ukraine began." He went on to state, "The Supreme Council on the morning of June 28, 1996, became different. In one night it became different. In the process of adopting the Constitution and debating it, there was a definitive polarization of all political forces that exist in the Supreme Council." Even among the Communists, he said, there were those "who understood that it is impossible to go back. Just as no one has yet been able to revive a dead person and raise him from the coffin, it is impossible to revive the Soviet Union, the socialist system or the Communist Party."

Continuing on the topic of Ukraine's newly approved Constitution, Mr. Kravchuk commented:

"Why was it so important to have a Constitution? This serves to underline the path we have taken. This is the beginning of a new stage: Ukraine became mature; it has its own passport; it will develop its own laws and life based on the new Constitution.

"Is our Constitution perfect? We, of all the countries that arose on the territory of the former Soviet Union, took the longest to adopt a constitution. But, I believe that as of today we have one of the best constitutions, the best that could be adopted in Parliament in 1996 with its current membership. And this happened because centrist democratic factions in the Supreme Council were active, not missing a single opportunity to underline the objective necessity of adopting the Constitution. It was thanks to this that the work of the Supreme Council, the presidential administration and political forces, parties and movements came together and on June 28 gave us the new Constitution."

Mr. Kravchuk cited as the Constitution's pluses the fact that it clearly states that the state language of Ukraine is Ukrainian; that national minorities are recognized; that it enshrines the Ukrainian flag and emblem; and that Kyiv is recognized as the capital of Ukraine. "Thus, there will be no more falsifications" regarding "these fundamental historical and national questions," he explained.

Our most important task, now that there is a Constitution of Ukraine, is that "we have to learn to live by the Constitution," the former president observed. "Our people, who lived at the time of the Soviet Union, during the rule of the Communist Party, knew well that there were no functioning laws, that there was only one law: the decisions of the Communist Party."

In concluding his remarks, Mr. Kravchuk said: "Regardless of the most impossible obstacles, regardless of internal problems and external pressures - and these do exist, especially on the part of our northern neighbor [Russia] - we can state that Ukraine exists and it will continue to exist. No one will change this, no matter what he does. Because this is the will of the nation."

Mr. Kravchuk's address was followed by a question and answer session. Afterwards, Mr. Kendzior screened a videotape of the historic events of June 27-28 in Parliament when the Constitution of Ukraine was adopted.

(The news story above is an abridged version of the Ukrainian-language news story filed by Halyna Kolessa, member of the editorial staff of Svoboda. It was translated by Roma Hadzewycz.)