2018-05-05 13:17 update: 2018-09-26, 17:11
Ambassador to US calls on Jersey City mayor to apologise to Senate Speaker Archive PAP/ Jakub Kamiński
Polish Ambassador to the US Piotr Wilczek addressed a letter to Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop on Friday, in which he appealed to him to apologise for remarks he made about Polish Senate (upper house) Speaker Stanslaw Karczewski.
On Thursday, Fulop said in a Tweet that Karczewski is "a known anti-Semite, white nationalist and Holocaust denier" with "zero credibility." He also claimed Karczewski was "the only unpleasant thing" in an ongoing dispute over the planned removal from a Jersey City square of a monument to the victims of the Katyn massacre.
"I was shocked to see your accusations against Senator Stanislaw Karczewski, the speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Poland," Wilczek wrote. "They are untrue, hurtful and unfitting for international dialogue between those holding office in two alliance countries." The ambassador went on to point out that one of the Senate's duties is to take care of the Polish diaspora around the world.
That was why "Speaker Karczewski expressed his alarm at the future of the Katyn Memorial in Jersey City, alarm which I share and expressed in a letter I wrote to you on Monday, respected mayor," Wilczek continued. "Due to the gravity of your groundless accusations, I request you in the name of the Republic of Poland to apologise to the Senate speaker," the letter stated.
"Your sudden announcement concerning the Katyn Monument and the lack of more specific details from your office has saddened many people, however we cannot allow ourselves to be guided by emotions."
The ambassador concluded by appealing to Fulop to "clean up the atmosphere and again focus attention on the problem facing us, for constructive dialogue to find a solution which will not require the long-term removal of the Katyn Monument."
On Monday, Steven Fulop announced plans to build a park on the grounds on which the memorial stands, and the monument's temporary move to the city's Department of Public Works. Plans to move the memorial, which commemorates 1940 mass executions of 22,000 Polish POWs by the Soviets in west Russia's Katyn Forest, evoked a hefty response from the local Polish community, which had not been consulted about the plans. Protests against the memorial's removal have also been voiced by Poland.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Marek Magierowski pointed out that Mayor Fulop had insulted Poland's number-three person. "Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop insulted not only Stanislaw Karczewski personally, but the number-three person in the Republic of Poland; the situation demands firmness," the deputy FM wrote on Twitter in reference to the ambassador's letter. (PAP)
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