Turning the pages back... Novembe 1, 1998 (10/28/01)

Turning the pages back...

Novembe 1, 1998

Three years ago, the Ukrainian government officially acknowledged for the first time the legitimacy of the 1918 Western Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR) with a visit to Lviv by President Leonid Kuchma on November 1, 1998, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the formation of the short-lived state.

Our Kyiv correspondent, Roman Woronowycz, reported that, appearing before a packed auditorium of political, cultural and business dignitaries at the Lviv Opera House, President Kuchma made it clear that his government now recognizes the contributions of the western Ukrainian state toward Ukraine's democratic development.

"In its significance, political ramifications and impact on the future development of Ukraine, the establishment of the WUNR foretold of the coming freedom," said President Kuchma. He called the declaration of the WUNR in the wake of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's collapse "the revival of Ukrainian national statehood after a break of many centuries."

The Weekly correspondent noted that, in more than seven years of independence, no Ukrainian government leader had officially acknowledged the existence of the Western Ukrainian government, which lasted for less than three months before it willingly united with the government of the Ukrainian National Republic in Kyiv on January 22, 1919, although it did keep its own governmental structure.

The news story also reported that the president brought along a large political contingent to Lviv that included Second Vice-Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Viktor Medvedchuk, Vice Prime Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Valerii Smolii, Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk, Minister of Defense Oleksander Kuzmuk, Minister of Internal Affairs Yurii Kravchenko and Minister of Information Zinovii Kulyk, as well as Lviv Mayor Vasyl Kuibida and Kyiv Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko. Seated on the dais were representatives of the strongest political parties of the Lviv Oblast, including a large contingent of leaders of the Rukh Party and National Deputy Slava Stetsko from the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists.

In his address, President Kuchma complimented the leaders of the WUNR for putting political differences aside in order to build a strong Ukrainian state and called on today's political leaders to follow their example. He quoted Symon Petliura, the supreme commander of the Ukrainian National Republic's army and the president of the Directory of the UNR: "Symon Petliura in a letter found not long ago in the national archives, which he wrote shortly before his demise, said, 'First of all we need a common understanding, without which we will not be able to mobilize for our common cause.' These words are accurate today, as well," said President Kuchma.

After placing a wreath at the monument to Ukraine's national bard, Taras Shevchenko, located in the city center's Freedom Square, the president decided to walk the 300 meters to the Lviv Opera House. At the Shevchenko Monument the president was officially greeted by contingents from several Ukrainian nationalistic organizations that have frequently criticized the president's policies, including veteran soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which marched onto Freedom Square 500 strong in official uniforms; members of the Ukrainian Kozak Movement in their historical garb; and the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Organization.

About 1,000 members and supporters of three political organizations that are considered part of the extreme political right, the Ukrainian National Assembly, the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Social-Nationalist Party, gathered before the building in which the WUNR was proclaimed, a block from the proceedings on Freedom Square. Waving black-and-red banners, their colors symbolizing revolution, speaker after speaker called for a Ukrainian government free of former Communist apparatchiks and those who once persecuted Ukraine.

After listening to the speeches, a small group of the demonstrators then marched to two local cemeteries where the remains of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen who fought in the Ukrainian-Polish war in 1918 are buried, where commemorations concluded peacefully.

Source: "Ukraine marks 80th anniversary of Western Ukrainian National Republic" by Roman Woronowycz, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, November 8, 1998, Vol. XVI No. 45.

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