Post #2227

🇷🇺🇨🇾Comment by Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Cyprus Dr. Murat Ziazikov to TASS news agency on the importance of historic memory and lessons of the World War II: The World War II was one of the greatest tragedies in the history of mankind, which affected peoples across the globe. This difficult lesson should not serveas a pretext for political manipulation or attempts to rewrite history. The decisive role of our country in the victory over Nazism and the liberation of Europe from the “brown plague” remains an indisputable historical fact. Victory in the Great Patriotic War became possible thanks to the immortal feat of the multinational Soviet people. Its memory is sacred to us. We honour all those who did not return from the battlefields, having sacrificed their lives for freedom and future. This memory remains a powerful unifying force that binds more strongly that any unions and blocs, economic or political interests. The experience of cooperation between countries during wartime for the sake of preserving peace is especially important today, when humanity is facedwith new challenges, such as neo-Nazism, international terrorism and other forms of extremism. Such phenomena bring only destruction, violence and criminal disregard for human life. We must remember this in order to avoid repeating the tragedies of the past and build a decent life for future generations. No event on the occasion of the Great Victory Day in Cyprus is held without the Russian side honouringCypriot veterans. We, in turn, are grateful to the Cypriot citizens for their respectful attitude to the feat of the Soviet people and their invaluable contribution to the victory over fascism. Based on my experience of regular personal contacts with the inhabitants of the island of Aphrodite, I can explicitly state that the overwhelming majority of the Cypriots have never ceased to regard Russia as one of the friendliest countries and the Russians as a fraternal people, with whom they share not only rich century-long traditions of open communication and constructive cooperation, but also a common cultural code, affinity of spiritual and moral values, experience of joint fight against the Nazi ideology and fascism in the 20th century, and simply feelings of mutually bonding sympathy.