Politically correct history

RIGA - One of the reasons why Harmony Center (SC) is talking about the “right” word to be used for describing the events of 1940 - the Soviet Union’s invasion of Latvia - is the fear that some political powers might start talking about a “de-occupation” in the future, Riga mayor and SC candidate for the prime minister’s post, Nils Usakovs, said, reports LETA.
“We can see that the popularity of the nationalist alliance has increased, and I believe that their representation in the new parliament will be larger. A year ago there were serious talks about the inclusion of the alliance in the government. Therefore, we see that what I used to call a marginal political power was offered to work in the government. So, of course, we are concerned,” said Usakovs.

The leader of SC emphasized that this is why it is so important to say that the Soviet regime ended with the withdrawal of what already were Russian, not Soviet troops. “It means that for all the people who stayed here and have a legal status - the passport of a citizen or non-citizen - this cannot be changed. It is a very important step so we could talk about unity and society integration,” pointed out the politician.

“If we talk about SC, I want to stress that not for one moment - neither last year with Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis nor now in any discussions - have we talked about the nature of the issue, only about the form thereof. If someone wants to pose ultimatums and ask questions about history, we will not respond. No party has the right to examine another party in such a way,” said Usakovs.

“Therefore, we will not talk about the nature of the issue, about the word to use in describing the 1940 events, on principle. But, as I have said many, many times, there is no doubt that Latvia was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, and this was followed by grave crimes against the Latvian nation by the Stalin regime,” explained Usakovs.