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RADIO KOPER-CAPODITRIA CONNECTED PEOPLE AND NATIONS DURING THE TIME OF IRON CURTAIN, I BELIVE IT WILL CONTINUE TO LINK THEM IN THE FUTURE
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Radio Koper-Capodistria - (video in slovenian language)
Address by the President of the Republic Milan Kucan
Portoroz, 29 May 1999
"Decades ago Slovenia decided to guarantee a consistent and high systemic level of protection of rights for its ethnic minorities. In other words, Slovenia opted to take on the democratic principles recognised in the modern world. It recognised and understood the opportunity and advantages which every national community is offered by coexistence with other communities, and at the same time it became aware of all the dangers posed by division, isolation, egoism, xenophobia, and hegemony. Slovenia has transferred its experience and expert findings into its formal regulation of the status of ethnic minorities, emphasising the promotion of their rights, which in turn resulted in a highly positive evaluation by the international community during the process of accepting Slovenia into the circle of democratic countries,." stressed President Milan Kucan at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Radio Koper, which had been broadcasting programmes in Slovene and Italian for 50 years, thus proving an important guarantee of the rights of the Italian national minority on the Slovenian coast.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure to be able to join you, the listeners, editors and managers of Radio Koper, and your distinguished guests, in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Radio Koper-Capodistria or Modri Val as it is known today, which at the same time marks fifty years of Radio Koper successfully pursuing its mission.
Radio Koper came into existence at a time when the people living in the Primorska region and indeed all Slovenes were filled with joy at the return of Primorska to its home country, marking the end of the long fight of the Primorska people for human dignity and national freedom, a fight against tyranny to which Primorska was subjected in Fascist Italy. At the same time Radio Koper’s emergence reaches back to a time when the redrawing of national borders cast on the world the shadow of bloc division, and when the Slovene national body was redistributed not only among different countries but also on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Radio Koper began transmitting at the onset of the escalation of the Cold War, closed borders, ideological confrontations, and great distrust in international relations. At its very inception, Radio Koper was an important source of information for Primorska, the cross-border Slovenes, and for Italy. And such it has remained. It has remained independent, interesting, and trustworthy in its reporting on the pulse of life on both sides of the border; and it has remained bilingual, broadcasting its programmes in both Slovene and Italian. It has won loyal listeners from among Slovenes and Italians living on both sides of the border. Over the decades Radio Koper has become an active factor for open borders and friendly relations between two neighbours, Italy and Slovenia. It has consistently presented its system of values reflected in demanding objectives, self-confidence, self-trust, intellectual curiosity, culture, spiritual breadth, and in the highly professional attitude of the people who have created its programmes and the environment in which it has developed. It has enriched the Slovene environment with tolerance, a culture of dialogue, and respect for differences; it has consistently exercised the criteria of qualification and knowledge for communication with the world, while confronting xenophobia, fundamentalism, and intolerance. It has transcended national borders, which at first appeared to be entirely unbridgeable.
Radio Koper-Capodistria has matured, in keeping with the image and expectations dictated by its environment, an environment which it has co-shaped and has been shaped by. In so doing, it has followed the model of a multicultural environment, succeeding in upholding creative and fruitful contact between different cultures and peoples. Its development has also complied with the model of values and principles exercised by Slovenia in its ethnic community policy, in a territory where ethnic borders do not coincide with national borders and where language areas overlap.
Decades ago Slovenia decided to guarantee a consistent and high systemic level of protection of rights for its ethnic minorities. In other words, Slovenia opted to take on the democratic principles recognised in the modern world. It recognised and understood the opportunity and advantages which every national community is offered by coexistence with other communities, and at the same time it became aware of all the dangers posed by division, isolation, egoism, xenophobia, and hegemony. Slovenia has transferred its experience and expert findings into its formal regulation of the status of ethnic minorities, emphasising the promotion of their rights, which in turn resulted in a highly positive evaluation by the international community during the process of accepting Slovenia into the circle of democratic countries.
The current times, which arouse both great hope and great fear, call for high ambitions and consistent and clear guidelines with which Slovenia wishes, together and on equal terms with other countries, to exert an influence on emerging processes in the globalised world which will weave the fate of all of us. These complex processes call for new knowledge and fresh recognition, and for an adequate level of qualification in order to become capable of recognising and balancing them. I believe that we are in possession of enough experience and recognition to become involved in the dialogue about the future. Slovenia has understood and recognised the significance of the fundamental guidelines aimed at balancing the democratic and creative attitude of the majority towards minorities. It has also recognised the logic of the globalised world, in which processes of globalisation are taking place parallel to processes of individualisation. Slovenia has looked beyond its locally confined world and beyond the traps of spiritual self-sufficiency and political isolation. It has committed itself to complying with the principles of democratic regulation of society, protection of human rights, and consolidation of peaceful coexistence between peoples. This is why we have good reasons to expect that the initiative for Slovenia to preside over a round table as part of the Stability Pact for the Balkans, at which special attention will be given to the question of ethnic minorities, will be accepted.
Democracy should not be taken for granted and does not appear of its own volition. It consistently calls on people to state their position, and its principles are constantly tested in specific cases. It is a commitment which refuses to turn a blind eye on and be indifferent to problems but, rather, it calls for solidarity and zeal when other people’s rights are violated. Human rights are universal and indivisible. Universality means that they cannot be confined to a specific environment, specific region, or guaranteed only within the national borders of a single country or a group of countries. The exercise of human rights is associated with peace and stability, with democracy and social security, and with overall economic, social, cultural, and political development.
Today Europe and the world are facing a major test. The Balkan crisis urgently demands measures, peace, stability and security in the world. In the time when humankind is preparing to enter the third millennium, a millennium which will have to deal with issues of collective regulation of a globalised world rather than merely a world separated by individual community borders, as well as with issues regarding the survival of the Earth and its natural environment, a firm stance must be taken towards dictatorial regimes living in the past, regimes which at the close of the 20th century hide behind the convention on inviolable sovereignty of nation-states and use this guise to brutally and systematically violate human rights, posing a threat to the peace and stability of others. Responsibility for peace and security in the world, which are collective values, begins at home. This is inevitable if we wish these values to be the foundations on which the future of a common Europe and an interdependent world are to be built. The international community decided to use force to put an end to the humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo, after all other political means had been exhausted. Dilemmas and opposition have nevertheless remained. They involve questions on fundamental human rights which when brutally and systematically violated justify the international community’s intervention in a sovereign nation-state. Is this then a right, or is it primarily the obligation of the international community to intervene? In other words: in the name of what and whom should a sovereign country be punished for trampling brutally on generally recognised values? The dilemmas are clear. So are the objectives. An agreement must be reached. In this, I firmly believe that we will be guided by the bitter experience of the past, and by a recognition that the road of agreement, co-operation, creativity, tolerance, and coexistence between different civilisations, cultures, religions, and peoples, based on the consistent assertion of human dignity and rights is the only path which reaches beyond national borders, which builds bridges and creates a world of peace and prosperity, as well as a world of global responsibility for peace.
Radio Koper-Capodistria will in the future continue to be part of our lives while the modern globalised world is facing all these challenges. Radio Koper-Capodistria connected people and nations during the time of the Iron Curtain, and I believe it will continue to connect and link people in the future. I wish Radio Koper-Capodistria every success in its mission, great professional satisfaction to its staff, and a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment to its listeners.
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