BRAMA, Feb 7, 2005, 12:00 pm ET
Press release
Ukrainian Consul General opens Yalta Conference 60th anniversary exhibit in New York
A collection of photographs titled Yalta Remembered: Images from the FDR Library and the National Archives
is on display at the Ukrainian Institute of America from February 4 to March 4, 2005.
Serhiy Pohoreltsev of the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York spoke at the opening event, which took place on February 3.
Вітальне слово Генерального консула України в Нью-Йорку С.О.Погорельцева до учасників заходу, присвяченого 60-й річниці Ялтинської конференції.
On behalf of the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York let me welcome you on this exhibit that marks the 60th Anniversary of the Yalta Conference.
I am sure that during the symposium which takes place in the framework of this commemoration its participants and guests will be able to present their own views on the place of the Yalta Conference in the history and its significance for the contemporary world.
I am positively aware of the ambiguity of the decisions made in Yalta and their negative influence on the split of the post-war Europe and the beginning of Cold War.
Despite that, I would like to take this opportunity for presenting you several aspects of the Conference that are of no ordinary importance for my country.
On 11 February 1945, following meetings in Yalta, the leaders of three nations declared their resolve to establish "a general international organization to maintain peace and security". On my opinion, precisely that very decision let the present UN officials name the Yalta Conference "the milestone in the United Nations history".
This year we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of this organization born out of the sufferings caused by the Second World War. The determination, enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" is as vital today as it was sixty years ago.
The United Nations has been tested by conflict, humanitarian crisis and turbulent change, yet it has survived and played an important role in preventing another global conflict and has achieved much for people all over the world.
For Ukraine that decision in Yalta had also an additional very important meaning. On April 25, 1945 among the delegates of 50 nations gathered in San Francisco for the 1st UN Conference were the representatives from Ukraine.
Despite the fact that Ukraine was not an independent state, it is of my strong belief that millions of Ukrainian soldiers who perished on the battlefields of the World War II fighting against the Nazi regime deserved their homeland to be among the first 51 original member states of the UN.
Someone could say it was a simple chance that Ukraine became a venue for the Conference. They may think so, but we also have the right to use this opportunity for reminding the world about Ukraine and its historic and contemporary place in our planet.
And I am glad that the people of New York and the city's guests will be able to find out more about Ukraine both from the picture images presented by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum, the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, Ukrainian Institute of America, the scientific symposium and two cultural exhibits representing the different aspects of life of contemporary Crimea, an integral part of Ukraine.
Thank you very much.
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