AMBASSADOR'S MESSAGE: Ukraine's existence has been affirmed (08/24/97)

UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE: THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY

AMBASSADOR'S MESSAGE: Ukraine's existence has been affirmed

Following is the message of Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., issued on August 14, on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of Ukraine's independence. (The text published here was translated from Ukrainian by The Ukrainian Weekly.)

Six short years, filled with dramatic events, have passed since the historic day of August 24, 1991. In this period following the declaration of independence, the existence of the Ukrainian state has been mightily affirmed, both in the pragmatic dimensions of the geopolitical arena and in the consciousness of its citizens. Soon the children born into a free and independent Ukraine will enter the first grade of their schooling.

The country's youngest generations already find it difficult to imagine that there was a time when Ukrainian affairs were decided not in Kyiv, but in a foreign city, the hammer and sickle's imperial capital, which viewed Ukraine as a second-rate province, which oppressed any display of independence or freedom, and despoiled our language, our history, our identity.

On August 24, 1991, Ukraine's statehood was renewed without a single shot or drop of blood, and on December 1, 1991, the Ukrainian people democratically and legitimately confirmed the independence of their motherland, for which much suffering was endured over centuries.

Having weathered adversity, we approach the sixth anniversary of Ukraine's independence with considerable gains in our internal political life as well as in the international arena.

For over a year now, the new Constitution of Ukraine has been acted upon as a living document, a guarantor of the democratic development of society, based on the rule of law.

For just under a year, Ukraine has lived with a new currency, the hryvnia, which has become a convertible and highly stable monetary unit. Although faced with grave difficulties, economic reforms are moving forward.

As regards the economy, various crises remain unresolved: the fall in production; the backlog of unpaid wages, pensions and stipends. This causes tension in society, and makes the task of inciting political passions easier for those who would turn the wheel of history back and revive the bankrupt "Red" regime.

We believe the enemies of Ukrainian independence will not succeed in returning the young state to a new imperial yoke. We are convinced that the participants of the Second World Forum of Ukrainians, among whom are many distinguished representatives of the Ukrainian community in the U.S., will come out decidedly in support of political reforms and the strengthening of the independence of Ukraine, led by President Leonid Kuchma and the new government of our country.

The achievements of Ukraine in the international arena have been significant. The president of Ukraine had firmly set out his goal of integrating Ukraine into European and trans-Atlantic structures, and we have consistently moved along this course.

A true breakthrough in foreign policy was achieved in May-July, when our state signed a number of historic documents. Among them was the Joint Statement of the Presidents of Ukraine and Poland on Accord and Unity; the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation; a packet of agreements that conclusively resolve the problem of the Black Sea Fleet, which will temporarily be based in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol; the Treaty on the International Border between Ukraine and Belarus; the Treaty on Good Neighborly Relations and Cooperation between Ukraine and Romania; and finally, the signing of an unprecedented document, the Charter on Distinctive Partnership between NATO and Ukraine, the role of which is hard to overestimate today, inasmuch as the document will serve as the basis for Ukraine's national security in the broader context of European security in the 21st century.

As ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., in 1997 it was my joy and privilege to take part in two important events in Ukraine's contemporary history: the first session of the Ukraine-U.S. Binational Kuchma-Gore Commission, which has become the embodiment of the Ukrainian-American strategic partnership; and the official signing of the Ukraine-NATO Charter on July 9, which I attended as a member of Ukraine's official delegation at the Madrid summit of NATO member-states. This was a genuine diplomatic triumph for Ukraine, and a real, not simply declarative, act of acceptance into the European family of nations.

As we prepare for the celebration of the sixth anniversary of Ukraine's independence, I would like to express my sincere thanks to you, our compatriots, dispersed as you are over the broad expanses of the U.S. - from New England to sunny California, from Florida to Chicago - for your support of the independence of Ukraine, for your ardent and unquenchable love for your native land.

We, at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, have felt your support in matters large and small - in the political support from the community during the visits of President Leonid Kuchma to the U.S., and in the assistance given to create the George Washington Memorial Room [at our embassy]; we are grateful for your efforts during Congressional hearings on aid to Ukraine and for your warm words, which we hear during our meetings with you.

The holiday of the independence of Ukraine is our shared holiday, even though some of us have a bond of citizenship to Ukraine and others to the U.S. After all, we share a single common Ukrainian root anchored in the depths of a millennial history, in the earth of the motherland of our ancestors, who dreamed of freedom and independence for Ukraine.

I greet you, brothers and sisters, on the Independence Day of Ukraine!

May the star of Ukrainian freedom and independence shine eternally!

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