On the 26th anniversary of granting the status of national symbols to the historical white-red-white flag and Pahonya emblem, ex-political prisoner Eduard Palchys and Young Front leader Zmitser Dashkevich have filed a 18-page position paper to the Ministry of Culture.
The document includes proofs of the historicity of the flag collected by historian Alyaksandr Kuryanovich.
In September, the activists launched a campaign to grant the status of non-material historical and cultural value to the white-red-white flag. Within a month, they managed to collect more than 10,000 signatures, for which the Ministry of Culture a few months said that there is no documentary evidence of the historicity of the flag.
“A year ago, they said that they would have to employ professional historians and spend a lot of budget money for research. Here is the study which PhD Alyaksandr Kuryanovich has made for some months, for free and on his own. Each of you can now can refer to this paper in a personal appeal or petition. Long live Belarus!” blogger Eduard Palchys said.
Livestream by Eduard Palchys
In a few days, Dashkevich will know the name of the official who will take a decision on the issue.
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On 19 September, 1991,25 years ago, the historic symbols were officially recognized as the state symbols. This decision was taken by the Supreme Council of the BSSR of the 12th convocation after the Soviet collapse. Parliamentarians then adopted a resolution to change the name of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic into the Republic of Belarus.
Historical Belarusian symbols were official until the referendum in 1995, when Alyaksandr Lukashenka changed them to the Soviet ones, a red and green flag, which came up in Stalin’s time.
