Turning the pages back... January 23, 2005 (01/22/06)

Turning the pages back...

January 23, 2005

One year ago, on January 23, 2005, Viktor Yushchenko was inaugurated as president of Ukraine during ceremonies in Kyiv. Our editorial of January 30, 2005, noted that the inauguration marked a turning point in the history of Ukraine. "A leader freely elected by the people, through myriad trials and tribulations - the man known as 'the people's president' - was inaugurated as the third president of Ukraine since the country re-established its independence in 1991," we wrote.

Following are excerpts from that editorial.

* * *

In a trio of speeches delivered on his inauguration day before different audiences, the new president delivered his message clearly and eloquently.

At the Verkhovna Rada, the new president addressed national deputies and guests from the international community. He told them that Ukrainian democracy was "built with millions of Ukrainian hands," and he explained that "The citizens of Ukraine have secured an honest election, and the transfer of government has been legitimate. This is a tremendous national victory." ...

On Independence Square, [the president said]: "Today Ukraine is a free and independent nation. We have thrown the burdens of the past off our shoulders. No one will ever dare to dictate to us how we are to live and whom to elect." ... Declaring the "victory of freedom over tyranny, of law over lawlessness, of the future over the past," he pledged to "change Ukrainian life." ... it was a speech that sought to ensure all the people of Ukraine, no matter their ethnic or religious background, or their political persuasion, that the new Ukraine will protect their rights because it will be "a state governed by the rule of law" ...

Finally, at the Mariinskyi Palace, at a state reception for foreign dignitaries, President Yushchenko emphasized: "A new Ukrainian nation has been born in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century. We are starting a new epoch of Ukrainian and European history in the third millennium." ...

Source: "A historic inauguration" (editorial), The Ukrainian Weekly, January 30, 2005, Vol. LXXIII, No. 5.

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