The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, arrived at the national monument of the Foiba di Basovizza, on the Trieste Karst, to participate in the solemn ceremony on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance.
Meloni entered accompanied by the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani.
Present, among others, were the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Luca Ciriani, and the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi.
The Day of Remembrance was established in 2004, by state law, to "preserve and renew the memory of the tragedy of the Italians and of all the victims of the foibe, of the exodus of the Istrians, Fiumes and Dalmatians from their lands after the Second World War and of the most complex story of the eastern border".
"I came here many times, as a girl when to do so meant being pointed at, accused, isolated. And I returned as an adult to finally celebrate that day of remembrance which swept away once and for all the conspiracy of silence which had shrouded the tragedy for unforgivable decades of the Foibe and the drama of the exodus into the oblivion of indifference" said Meloni at the National Monument of Basovizza for the Day of Remembrance of the Foibe victims.
"We are here to ask for forgiveness once again on behalf of the institutions of this Republic for the guilty silence that for decades has enveloped the events of our eastern border and to pay homage to all Istrians, the Julian-Dalmatians, to remain Italian, decided to leave everything, homes , goods, land to remain with the only thing that the Tito communists could not take away from them and that is their identity", he added
"To deny these facts by trying to remove the memory of a crime is to commit it again."
It is a passage from the speech of the mayor of Trieste, Roberto Dipiazza, at the solemn ceremony at the Basovizza foiba on Remembrance Day.
"In this place - he said - where every stone is a lament, with pride and authentic emotion I thank on behalf of the city the centre-right parliamentarians of this region who are discussing and carrying forward in the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the Chamber a bill for the revocation of this high honor from the executioner Tito. At the moment unfortunately, despite everything that history tells, some deputies of the left and centre-left still consider it inappropriate to remove the honor from Tito. I tell these people that the foibe and the Exodus are a tragedy of our country, not of one part. I ask these people to be part of this historical moment."
"I remind these people - he reiterated - that continuing to deny these facts by trying to remove the memory of a crime means committing it again. Honor to the martyrs of the Foibe, honor to our exiles. Long live Trieste, long live Italy, long live the truth".
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