Reform Party Supports Building of Officers Monument
Published: 22.02.2012 14:37
Military guard of honor at the War of Independence monument
( Photo: Postimees/Scanpix )
The Reform Party plans to support a veterans organization's plan to build a monument in Tallinn to officers killed by the Soviet regime.
A memorandum of cooperation signed with the Estonian Freedom Fighters Union states that the monument will be initiated and completed before the current parliamentary term is out in 2015, the party's board announced on February 22.
The monument will honor Estonian officers killed and executed under occupation regimes from 1940 on. The Soviets notably carried out a decapitation strategy, with few top statesman and officers escaping execution or deportation.
The party also pledged to look for ways to complete restoration of the Estonian Veterans' Memorial Church in Pärnu County and to restore pre-recession funding through the Defense Ministry for the organizations administered by the Union.
"It is in all of our interests to honor and respect the battle waged by these men for the independence of the Republic of Estonia," said Mati Raidma, head of Parliament's National Defense Committee.
The Reform Party has signed a similar agreement with Memento, an organization representing those whose rights were violated under Nazi and Soviet rule. The coalition party often associated more with market reform ideas also led the construction of the War of Independence monument on Freedom Square and has embraced patriotic initiatives of its partner in government, IRL.
Kristopher Rikken