President awards Ukrainians in Warsaw
PR dla Zagranicy
Jo Harper
31.07.2015 16:21
President Bronisław Komorowski presented awards on Friday to people “strengthening Polish-Ukrainian cooperation.”
President Bronisław Komorowski at the awards ceremony at the Belweder Palace in Warsaw on 31 July. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk
The awards, which were handed out at the presidential palace in Warsaw, went - among others - to members of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland.
One example was Aleksander Kolańczuk, a historian and Ukrainian civic activist living in Poland.
Kolańczuk was presented with the officers’ cross of the "Order of Polonia Restituta" for his “renowned services to developing Polish-Ukrainian cooperation.”
Others to receive the order were the first head of the 25-year-old Union of Ukrainians in Poland, Jerzy Rejt, and the current head of the organisation, Piotr Tym.
"It doesn’t happen very often to award minorities living in a common fatherland,” Komorowski said.
“Polish-Ukrainian relations have had unspeakably painful moments, but in the context of the freedom regained by Poland and by Ukraine, we are consistently building a vision of a state where there is a place for minorities and respect for cultural, linguistic and religious diversity,” he added.
The outgoing president also recalled Poland’s support for an independent Ukraine on ”its difficult path towards the Western world.” (jh)