Ukraine joins U.S. and the world in remembering events of 9/11 (09/15/02)

Ukraine joins U.S. and the world in remembering events of 9/11

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine joined most of the world in commemorating the first anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, including a special conference hosted by Islamic Ukrainians, which on September 9 kicked off a weeklong series of memorial events in Kyiv.

The United States Embassy took part in many of the observances, including concerts and a photo exhibit, while Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada issued a special declaration and announced that it would fund a plaque for Ground Zero in Manhattan.

The week of remembrance in Ukraine's capital, dedicated to the nearly 3,000 victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon unexpectedly began with a conference by the regional branch of the Ukrainian Islamic organization, Arraid, at the Islamic Community Center in Kyiv. About 2 million members of the Islamic faith live in Ukraine, constituting some 4 percent of the population.

Ukrainian Islamic political and religious leaders, as well as state government representatives, discussed Ukraine's reaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks and how the events affected Muslims in Ukraine. From the outset, participants made it clear that no one was going to excuse the action of the Al Qaeda terrorists who organized and carried out the attacks.

"We, the Muslims of Ukraine, condemn the terrorist acts and we also condemn extremism in the name of Islamic principles, said Mufti Suleiman Mukhamedzianov, the spiritual head of Kyiv's Muslims in opening the conference.

Mufti Mukhamedzianov noted that among the dead victims of the four airliner attacks were many innocent Muslims as well (a later speaker claimed these victims numbered 500 victims). He demanded that the Ukrainian and the world's mass media make a better effort to separate the terrorists from the Islamic religion.

Yurii Kochubyi, head of the Ukrainian Organization of Foreign Affairs and editor-in-chief of the magazine Eastern World, explained that, counter to the pronouncements by many experts and academics after the calamitous events of September 11, a "clash of civilizations," did not begin, as some were quick to label a new era they said would ensue. Instead, the result was more understanding and more cooperation than was evident earlier.

"Those who predict that the 21st century will be the century of the clash of civilizations also forget that as history progresses civilizations have tended to coalesce," explained Mr. Kochubyi.

The former Ukrainian diplomat to the Middle East said, however, that members of the Islamic faith must do more to allow non-Muslims to better understand Islamic traditions, laws and principles in order to overcome an ever-stronger negative stereotype that is developing regarding the average Muslim. "It seems that every other bad guy in Hollywood today is either an Ahmed or an Omar," said Mr. Kochubyi. "These stereotypes need to be destroyed by us."

National Deputy Refat Chubarov, a leader of the Tatar community in Crimea, which compromises 13 percent of the peninsula's population, and a member of the Our Ukraine faction in Parliament, said that he was pleased the Ukrainian government has maintained its pro-Tatar policies and that the country's mass media have retained their objectivity.

"We must give due respect to Ukrainian politicians and to the mass media who restrained themselves from primitive reflexes," said Mr. Chubarov.

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine also organized official commemorations, most prominently an exhibition of photographs of the devastation in lower Manhattan by Joel Meyerowitz titled "Images From Ground Zero," which was organized by the City of New York and managed by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department.

Among those present at the opening on September 11, held at the National Museum of Art in Kyiv, were Ukraine's First Vice Prime Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Volodymyr Semynozhenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anatolii Zlenko, National Deputies Hennadii Udovenko and Les Taniuk, Head Mufti of Ukraine Sheikh Ahmed Tamin, and Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, along with representatives of the international diplomatic community stationed in Kyiv.

In opening remarks, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual stated that the commemoration is actually a celebration "of peace, freedom and prosperity for the entire world."

"The tragic events of last September were our fate, but they will not be our destiny," said Mr. Pascual.

He noted that the 3,000 who died as a result of the September 11 attacks, included people from more than 90 countries. He underscored that the globe has united in the war against terrorism and said that 160 nations have frozen the accounts of terrorists, while another 90 nations have detained or arrested terrorists. He said there have been other successes in the last year, most obviously the return of 1.5 million Afghans to their homeland.

At a press conference that preceded the opening of the exhibit, Ambassador Pascual thanked Ukraine for the role it has played in supporting the war in Afghanistan and the effort against terrorism as a whole.

"From the early days right after September 11, Ukraine was a major partner in the effort in the United Nations to condemn the actions of terror, and more importantly terror in general," explained Mr. Pascual.

The U.S. ambassador also noted the more than 3,000 overflights that Ukraine has allowed over its air space by the United States and its allies fighting in Afghanistan, as well as its own contribution of a force of military cargo airliners to the war effort. He also lauded the extensive exchange of intelligence between the United States and Ukraine regarding terrorist activities and Ukraine's decision to investigate and freeze the bank assets of possible terrorist groups.

Mr. Pascual announced that the U.S. would add $5 billion to its foreign aid budget to support the development of those countries that have supported the war against terrorism, such as Ukraine, if they continue to maintain their own reform efforts.

Earlier that day, Ambassador Pascual met with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to discuss various aspects of U.S.-Ukraine cooperation in the common fight against terrorism and the results thus far achieved. Mr. Pascual thanked the president for Ukraine's cooperation in support of the effort.

The Verkhovna Rada commemorated the tragic events of September 11 with a moment of silence at the beginning of the morning session that day and the reading of a proclamation that expressed condolences to the American nation and called for global solidarity in fighting worldwide terrorism. The Parliament announced that it would fund a plaque to be placed at Ground Zero in Manhattan on which would be engraved the names of the dozen Ukrainians and Ukrainian Americans who perished in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as a result of the September 11 attacks.

In the last major event of the memorial week, on Friday, September 13, President Kuchma and Ambassador Pascual were to attend a requiem concert at the Taras Shevchenko National Opera House in Kyiv, where the Ukrainian National Opera Choir and the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Volodymyr Spivakov were slated to perform to a full house of diplomats, politicians and paying public.

| Home Page |