The Ukrainian Weekly 2003, No.43

www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Instructions for new Diversity Visa Lottery — page 3. • Ukrainian American Veterans hold 56th national convention — page 4. • Adrian Karatnycky speaks on Ukraine’s domestic and foreign affairs — page 9. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXI HE No.KRAINIAN 43 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2003 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine HistorianT says UPulitzer awarded Russian-UkrainianW dispute over Tuzla escalates by Roman Woronowycz Yanukovych called for calm and the use of to Duranty should be revoked Kyiv Press Bureau diplomacy to defuse the situation. “We cannot allow this to turn into armed by Andrew Nynka 1932 be revoked, The New York Times KYIV – A diplomatic tussle that began reported. The letter asked the newspaper conflict,” warned Mr. Yanukovych on PARSIPPANY, N.J. – A noted with the construction of a dike by Russia to for its comments on Mr. Duranty’s work. October 21. “We must resolve this at the Columbia University professor of history link the Russian Taman Peninsula with the As part of its review of Mr. Duranty’s negotiating table.” has said in a report – commissioned by Ukrainian island of Tuzla in the Kerch work, The New York Times commis- On October 22 the prime minister’s The New York Times and subsequently Strait escalated to full-blown crisis begin- sioned Dr. von Hagen, an expert on early office announced that Mr. Yanukovych had sent to the Pulitzer Prize Board – that the ning on October 20 when Moscow question canceled a trip to Estonia and would fly 20th century Soviet history, to examine Ukraine’s sovereignty over the tiny island 1931 dispatches of Pulitzer Prize winner nearly all of what Mr. Duranty wrote for instead to Moscow on October 24 to meet Walter Duranty showed “a serious lack of and demanded proof of the country’s right with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail The New York Times in 1931. to it. balance.” “After reading through a good portion Kasyanov, to address the Tuzla issue. The Twenty-six days after Russian construc- agreement to meet came only after Mr. Prof. Mark von Hagen said in an inter- of Duranty’s reporting for 1931, I was tion vehicles began an unannounced con- Yanukovych made a personal phone call to view with The Ukrainian Weekly on disappointed and disturbed by the overall struction project to build a dike into the Mr. Kasyanov’s office. Earlier in the day October 23 that Mr. Duranty’s reporting picture he painted of the Soviet Union for Kerch Strait in the direction of Tuzla Island, Russian officials said the Tuzla matter from the Soviet Union could be charac- that period,” Dr. von Hagen wrote. “But terized as “cynical in tone and apologist a five-mile strip of land sparsely populated would be discussed only at a previously after reading so much of Duranty in 1931 mostly with pensioners and vacationers, the scheduled meeting of foreign ministers set in purpose and effect in terms of justify- it is far less surprising to me that he ing what the Stalinist regime was up to.” area had become the central focus of an for October 30. would deny in print the famine of 1932- international dispute bordering on armed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who “That lack of balance and uncritical 1933.” acceptance of the Soviet self-justification conflict. until that point had remained uncharacteris- Asked if his opinion of Mr. Duranty’s The same day that Moscow announced for its cruel and wasteful regime was a tically quiet as the crisis evolved, ordered reporting would change if he were to via diplomatic note that it questioned disservice to the American readers of The Krasnodar Krai officials to halt construction examine only those 13 articles for which Ukraine’s sovereignty over Tuzla, Kyiv New York Times and the liberal values of the dike on October 22. The Ukrainian Mr. Duranty won the Pulitzer Prize, Dr. supplanted a border guard detachment that they subscribe to and to the historical press reported that construction was sus- von Hagen replied with a resolute no. had been carrying out border defense exer- experience of the peoples of the Russian pended for an hour near midnight, but The reporting for which he won the cises since October 10 with 14 gunboats and Soviet empires and their struggle for resumed early in the morning of October Pulitzer Prize was “quintessential of the and aircraft to patrol the area around the a better life,” Dr. von Hagen wrote in his 23. Ukrainian government television stated problems of Mr. Duranty’s analysis,” Dr. Ukrainian-Russian border, which is found on October 23 that Presidents Putin and 4,138-word report. von Hagen said. The professor said that 150 meters southeast of the shore of Tuzla. The New York Times commissioned Kuchma had held their first telephone con- Mr. Duranty’s award “diminishes the Two days later, with construction mov- versation on the matter that day, but did not Dr. von Hagen to write an independent prize’s value.” ing to within 200 meters of Tuzla Island, assessment of Mr. Duranty’s reporting on give details. “It should never have been awarded in Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma cur- Later on October 23 Ukraine’s the Soviet Union after the newspaper the first place,” Dr. von Hagen said. “I tailed a state visit to Latin America to return Verkhovna Rada, in an uncharacteristic received a letter from the Pulitzer Prize started reading [Mr. Duranty’s work from to Kyiv to keep rein over an increasingly show of unity, passed a resolution con- Board in July. 1931] and kept saying: this is apology, vitriolic dialogue between the diplomats of demning the Russian actions as “an In the letter, the board said it was clearly apology.” the two states. Upon arrival, Mr. Kuchma unfriendly act that will force Ukraine to responding to “a new round of demands” immediately flew to the island to meet with revise its current relations with the Russian (Continued on page 18) that the prize awarded to Mr. Duranty in Ukrainian officials monitoring the construc- Federation,” with 369 of the 450 members tion of the dike, which the Ukrainian and of the parliament supporting the declaration. Russian press refer to as a dam. The island, ownership of which until House of Representatives adopts As the Ukrainian president returned from now had never been in dispute, lies in a Brazil, Ukrainian border troops moved pon- body of water that Kyiv and Moscow have resolution on Famine of 1932-1933 toon boats into place to block any attempt to found difficulty in delimiting. Russia would extend the dike into Ukrainian territory. like to leave both the Kerch Strait and the Meanwhile Ukraine’s Armed Forces con- Sea of Azov undelimited and in common WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of famine in order to suppress criticism of ducted unexpected military training exercis- ownership, while Ukraine is seeking a more Representatives on October 20 adopted the Soviet regime”; es at Chauda, located 70 kilometers (50 traditional border delimitation and demarca- House Resolution 356 “Expressing the • “Western observers and scholars who miles) south of Tuzla at the southern tip of tion. sense of the House of Representatives reported accurately on the existence of the Kerch Peninsula. The one-day training, Russia has defended the building of the regarding the man-made famine that the famine were subjected to disparage- which Ukrainian military officials said was dike as a necessary decision made by offi- occurred in Ukraine in 1932-1933” by a ment and criticism in the West for their planned in advance, included live-fire exer- cials of the Krasnodar Krai, who insist the vote of 382-0. reporting of the famine”; cises and the use of MiG 29 and SU-27 jet dike would control ecological damage to The resolution was introduced by • “the Soviet regime and many schol- aircraft. the coast of the Taman Peninsula. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the ars in the West continued to deny the With authorities on both sides of the con- Ukraine said it believes the real point House International Relations existence of the famine until the collapse frontation increasingly warning that the sit- behind the construction is to reconnect the Committee, with Christopher Smith (R- of the Soviet regime in 1991 resulted in uation could escalate out of control, island with Russian territory to change the N.J.), chairman of the Helsinki many of its archives being made accessi- Ukraine’s Prime Minister Viktor territorial configuration of the Kerch Strait Commission, and Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), ble, thereby making possible the docu- and give Moscow a hedge in ranking member of the House mentation of the premeditated nature of border delimitation talks. International Relations Committee, as the famine and its harsh enforcement”; Although nearly every original co-sponsors. • “the final report of the United States Russian politician and diplo- The resolution makes the following government’s Commission on the mat has stated that Russia points: Ukraine Famine, established on has no intention of connect- • “many Western observers with first- December 13, 1985, concluded that the ing to the Ukrainian island, victims were ‘starved to death in a man- hand knowledge of the famine, including no one has explained where made famine’ and that ‘Joseph Stalin and construction will end. The New York Times correspondent those around him committed genocide The crisis began when Walter Duranty, who was awarded a against Ukrainians in 1932-1933’ ”; Russia began construction Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his reporting • although the Ukraine famine was one of the dike from its Taman from the Soviet Union, knowingly and of the greatest losses of human life in the The tiny island of Tuzla, located in the Kerch Strait, Peninsula in the direction of deliberately falsified their reports to is highlighted in the rectangle below Kerch.

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