President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said the modern world isn’t immune from repeating the tragic pages of the past, including crimes against humanity.
“The tragedy of Babyn Yar is a warning to all humanity. Any regime that does not honor human rights and freedoms is a threat to the very humanity and our moral duty is to prevent the recurrence of crimes against humanity and humanism,” Poroshenko said at the event dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the tragedy of the victims of Babyn Yar in Kyiv on Sept. 20.
Ukrainian President said that the modern world isn’t immune from repeating the tragic pages of the past.
“Such a prospect looks unreal at first glance. But if the leaders of some countries consider fighting for the so-called historical justice as the cornerstone, as Hitler, for instance, used to justify his crimes this way; if the international law is humiliated by the aggressor once again; if the current UN Assembly sometimes reminds of the League of Nations of that time; if Crimean annexation is called by the Russian propaganda as Anschluss in reverse translation from German… If it’s true, then where is the guarantee that we are immune from repeating other tragic pages of the recent past,” Poroshenko said.
According to Poroshenko, the scale of the Holocaust could have been reduced if other countries were not trying to close their eyes and did not restrain Jewish immigration.
“There were many who could be rescued if the world had demonstrated the proper solidarity and if governments then had not closed the door for Jews,” the president of Ukraine said.
“The lesson of the Babyn Yar is a reminder of the terrible price of political and moral myopia. This is the reminder that the indulgence to the aggressor just provokes him. Tragedies of this kind are not possible in the conditions of democracy: they are unique to authoritarian and totalitarian regimes only,” Poroshenko said.
