Letter to the editor regarding the guest commentary by Rolf Hochhuth (“Die Presse”)

Letter to the editor regarding “President Trump, the US hardliners and Crimea”, guest commentary by Rolf Hochhuth, “Die Presse” 24/02/2017, page 27

1783 as a benchmark for Europe’s order?

Rolf Hochhuth rightly points to the year 1783, when Russia “ripped” Crimea away from the Ottoman Empire. Why the incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Empire back then should be more legitimate than the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine under Khrushchev, he does not explain. Surely he does not intend to use the year 1783 as the benchmark for the European order. Even if Ukraine did not exist as a state at that time, there is an indisputable Ukrainian culture and language. Does he intend to doubt the right to exist of Poland (which was partitioned at the time) or Slovenia (which only became an independent state for the first time in 1991) or Kosovo (which is still not recognised by all European countries – including Ukraine)? Why should the 1783 treaty for Russia’s takeover of Crimea be more valid than the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Russia guaranteed Ukraine’s borders (including Crimea)? It is, however, terrifying when a German poet seeks to recognise an annexation referendum as legitimate following the military occupation of a country or region.

With the request for publication as a letter to the editor.

Kind regards, Rainhard Kloucek