The European family protects Slovakia from any further occupation or forced “fraternal” assistance, Peter Stano, head of the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, said on the 58th anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces.
Stano highlighted respect, freedom, solidarity and justice as fundamental values of the European Union.
“Today, Slovakia is part of the free world, and we have the freedom to choose where we want to belong, with whom we want to cooperate and how we want to live,” Stano said.
The more than two decades of occupation and subsequent “normalisation” following August 1968 were marked by persecution. Many people who openly rejected the so-called fraternal assistance lost their jobs or social status.
Since 2021, August 21 has been commemorated in Slovakia as a Memorial Day.
Source: TASR
