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Poland and Belarus to set up team of experts to resolve Polish minority conflict

Poland and Belarus will set up a team of experts to resolve the Polish minority conflict, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters following his meeting with Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Kyiv on February 25.

“The President of Belarus assured me that the group of experts would try to find solutions satisfactory to both parties,” Polskie Radio quoted Mr. Sikorski as saying. “I accepted this in good faith... I think I managed to convince President Lukashenka that this is a matter of urgency.”

Messrs. Lukashenka and Sikorski were staying in Kyiv to attend the inauguration of President-elect Viktor Yanukovych.

Mr. Sikorski noted that he had arrived in the Ukrainian capital city with a special view to meeting with the Belarusian leader. The meeting reportedly lasted more than an hour instead of the expected half an hour.

The fact that Mr. Lukashenka agreed to the meeting suggests that Belarus “takes seriously the Belarusian-Polish relationship and the Belarusian-European relationship,” Mr. Sikorski said.

He called on the Polish media and politicians not to stir up passions and let the experts do quiet behind-the-scenes work so that they will be able to generate solutions in an atmosphere free of provocations. In the meantime, the Polish community in Belarus would have two autonomous organizations and the two countries would be able to develop their economic, cultural and political relations, the minister said.

“I believe the dialogue and our conversation are proof that the government of Belarus realizes the seriousness of the situation and wants to find a solution,” Mr. Sikorski noted.

“While tackling any issues that exist between Poland and Belarus and especially the issues that you are talking about, you should proceed from the fact that those 200,000 people of Polish origin are my Poles and my voters, and I’m responsible for them personally.” Mr. Lukashenka said. “And I’ll do everything so that they will have a good life in Belarus.”

The Belarusian leader seemed surprised at a question about the recent brief police detentions of dozens of activists of the unrecognized “unofficial” Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB). “There were no arrests,” he said. “No one went to prison. Well, maybe a few persons. But they themselves wanted to show that they were in a bad way.” //BelaPAN