President: Declaration of Sovereignty Opened Our Way to Independent State

Bratislava, 17 July (TASR) - The Declaration of Slovakia's Sovereignty opened the way for all Slovaks to their own independent and sovereign state, President Peter Pellegrini has said in connection with the 33th anniversary of the adoption of the declaration. "Today we have our own state with clearly declared values that should help us all to achieve the national reconciliation that is needed so much," the head of state has posted on a social network. Pellegrini stated that if Slovaks want to fulfil the message of this declaration today, it's enough for them to recall its wording - "Recognising the right of nations to self-determination, we declare that we too want to freely shape the way and form of our national and state life while respecting the rights of everyone, every citizen, nation, ethnic minority and ethnic group, the democratic and humanistic messages of Europe and the world". MPs adopted the declaration 33 years ago, on July 17, 1992. This happened at a time when Slovakia was still part of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic and talks were underway between Czech and Slovak representatives on the further arrangement of ties between Slovaks and Czechs. ko/df