MEETINGS WITH THE LITHUANIAN POLITICIANS

As the Council of United Circassia, during our visit to Lithuania between September 1-5, we submitted our application to the Lithuanian Presidency and the Lithuanian Parliament requesting the recognition of the Circassian genocide. We also held meetings with many politicians on various issues. We discussed cooperation opportunities with the Lithuanian Parliament and also with members of the European Parliament, former ministers and academics. During the very productive meetings, we exchanged information on the obstacles to the exercise of political and democratic rights by the Circassian nation and their struggle for freedom.

​

One of the most important issues that drew attention in Lithuania is the great similarities between the history of Lithuania and Circassia. We learned that the Russification and assimilation practices that are still being implemented in Circassia were implemented in the past in Lithuania and that they were saved from this persecution with independence. We have learned that Lithuanian was preserved only in remote villages of Lithuania, which was under the occupation of the Russian Empire between 1795 and 1918, and that Russian and partly Polish were dominant everywhere else, and that with independence it was possible to raise a generation with a native Lithuanian language and national consciousness in just 20 years. This generation later led the way in preserving the language and identity during the Nazi occupation during World War II and then the Soviet occupation until 1990. Today, the Lithuanian nation uses every opportunity to keep the bloody pages of the Russian threat and the Russian occupation alive in its memory. They use every opportunity to teach the new generation what Russian oppression is.