Estonia’s Justice Minister Urmas Reinsalu has announced that he will reply in writing to his Greek counterpart, Stavros Kontonis, who refused to participate in a conference on crimes committed by Communist regimes held in Tallinn on August 23.
According to Kontonis, the conference did not reflect the view of the Greek government and the Greek people, which is that Nazism and Communism could never exist as two parts of the same equation.
The statement and the government’s refusal to participate in the summit, has caused a fierce political row in Greece, reminiscent of the ugly civil war rivalry between the communist Left and the loyalist Right in the 1940s.
“I shall reply to my colleague in writing,” Reinsalu told a press conference, adding that “we are faced with the important job of clarifying and increasing awareness”.
“Paradoxically this letter will also issue a very clear justification, why those kind of activities are vital and necessary for our future as well as for the millions of victims,” Reinsalu said.
“I would say that this is not a political but value-based and legal question. The basis of this is human dignity, which is undividable,” the minister said.
“It is not necessary to compare or equalise different totalitarian regimes – there is no need – we just simply look at the results of their activity. It is not important to people what kind of ideology is the reason they are killed,” the president of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience (PEMC) Goran Lindblad said.
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