NEWS

Prime Minister Borut Pahor in Bazovica: "We are here because we do care"

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today attended the central memorial event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the execution of the heroes of Bazovica – Slovenian and Croatian patriots and antifascists. The event took place at the memorial at Bazovica. Mr Pahor addressed the participants assembled for this occasion and laid a wreath at the memorial to the fallen heroes.

   

In his address, the Slovenian Prime Minister emphasised that "upon this anniversary, we have gathered today in Bazovica because we do care and because we do not want to forget that people who had courage and a vision of a free world lost what is most valuable. They lost their lives in order to enable today's generations of Slovenians, Italians, Croatians and other people to live and breathe freely. He went on to say that in the light of the experience from the 20th century, it is highly important "which ideals have inspired us and which of them we cherish so much that they keep inspiring us still today. Are these the ideals of a philosophy and ideology of superiority of a certain human being, race, religion and a political conviction, or rather the idea and belief that although different, we are all equal. We all must respect and encourage one another and live together, in coexistence "and not in fear of the future, but with great hope for the future," said the Prime Minister.

  

People like the heroes of Bazovica, to whom we bow our heads today, "conferred on us the responsibility of preventing certain dark shadows of the past century from ever returning and harming the current and future generations," emphasised Mr Pahor.  We must therefore urge young people "that regardless of their religious beliefs or political ideals, they respect one another, believe in one another and inspire mutual courage."