'Lithuanian-Polish relations have been considerably improved after the recent parliamentary elections and the establishment of a center-left coalition with the participation of the Social Democratic Party, the Labour Party, the Order and Justice Party and also Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania Party (EAPL). Bilateral relations have deteriorated as a result of certain decisions that were carried out by the former conservative-liberal majority, including the annulling of the Law on National Minorities and the adoption of an edited version of the Education Act, which discriminates students from educational institutions with Polish, Russian and Belarusian languages of instruction,' the statement says.
The opinion of the party on who is responsible for the scarred Lithuanian-Polish relations is expressed in the statement.
'Unfortunately, representatives of the former ruling majority are not happy about the good relations between Lithuania and Poland and habitually incite conflicts in Lithuania and drag the courts (for example, challenge Minister's of Education and Science regulations) and various mass media services into the disagreement. The mass media that are connected to the Conservative Party (LNK, BTV, alfa.lt, Info žinios) and Liberal Party (Lietuvos Ryto TV, lrytas.lt, lrt.lt) during the past six days have spread the conflicting news story lines that were all related with the poster hung at the Poznan stadium. It is evident that the happenings, which occurred with the Lithuanian mass media after the poster incident, were not only somebody's order but it also looks like it was planned to incite hysteria in Lithuanian society,' it is stated in the statement.
EAPL Press Office said that it is not worth for Lithuanian political parties to respond to such incidents.
'The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania - the Party that unites representatives of various nationalities: Poles, Belarusians, Russians, Lithuanians and others citizens belonging to a different strata of our country, condemns this and any similar incidents, however, emphasizes that there was a certain and planned provocation. The EAPL believes that the constant repetition of the poster's absurd content is what the provocateurs want and expect. Therefore, Parties should not react to the similar provocations because, after all, such provocations occur on almost daily basis. The investigation conducted in Poland will detect the perpetrators of this incident, but even now is known that this is a well planned and executed provocation, that in recent times, unfortunately, happen very often:
1 – last year in the Puńsk region the names of that area, which were written in Lithuanian and Polish languages, were covered with the paint; it was done during one night in different towns that are located in hundreds of kilometers apart,
2 – a poster was 'unnoticeably placed in the often-visited Rossy cemetery that had words constituting a threat directed against the leader of the EAPL W. Tomaszewski
3 – at the Poznan stadium Lech, where is impossible to bring in a large object, a 50-meter (according to the media) poster with probably an impressive weight, was not only brought but hung as well,' it is noticed in the statement.
'The scope of the provocation illustrates that its performance would not be possible without the knowledge of the special services. It seems legit to conclude that the escalation of the incidents by various media resources is also a planned action that is a contrary to the Law of Public Information, which requires objective public's information. The Act is also contrary to what we are witnessing today, namely continuous, almost hysterical dissemination of provocative and irritating content. A notabene saying: "Lithuanian is a boor, Polish is a master" which was created over 10 years ago and has been frequently repeated in the TV show "Dviračių žinios" on the LNK channel that supports the Conservatives Party. This fact demonstrates the true author of this saying. Therefore, the most important question remains unanswered: why the individual politicians and media representatives remain silent and give no response to such provoking TV programs but carry about the poster,' the statement says.
Based on www.awpl.lt
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