A number of political parties and civil society organizations on June 28 commemorated the 76th anniversary of the occupation of Bessarabia by the Soviet Union, IPN reports.
Members and sympathizers of the Liberal Party laid flowers at the commemorative plaque in the Great National Assembly Square. “Flowers and candles for those who suffered because of the Soviet occupation of June 28, 1940,” it is said on the party’s Facebook page.
Iurie Leanca, the leader of the European People’s Party of Moldova, on a social networking site wrote that June 28, 1940 is the day that profoundly marked the country’s destiny. “The ordeal of deportations, famine and oppression of the national spirit followed. Today, at a distance of 76 years, we need more than ever cohesion and solidarity to overcome the horrors of the past. Let’s learn the lessons of history. We should not allow the demagogy and populism of some of the politicians to keep us hostage of uncertainty and doubt in the future,” he said.
The party “The Right” made a public call to the senior administration, asking it to take measures for this day to be commemorated all over Moldova, by declaring June 28 as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Communist Regime following the Genocide, Deportations and Organized Famine.
Members of the association “Honor, Dignity and Homeland” announced that they will go to the monument to Ruler Stephan the Great and Holy with a huge flag in the evening to transmit the message that Moldova has Romanian feelings and should return to the old borders.
On June 26, 1940, Romania received an ultimatum from the Soviet Union by which it was warned to pull out its civil administration and army from the territory between the Prut and Nistru Rivers and from the northern part of Bucovina region during four days or a war would be waged on Romania. Given the pressure exerted by Moscow, the Romanian army and administration were withdrawn so as to avoid a war. On June 28, the Red Army of the USSR entered Bessarabia.
