Romania’s interim President Ilie Bolojan participated on Wednesday at Cernica Monastery in a religious service dedicated to the founders of the Union of Basarabia with Romania.

„I was honoured and happy to be with you to mark the Day of the Union of Basarabia with Romania in this place full of deep spirituality, Cernica Monastery. Today, we commemorate all those who, with faith and devotion, made possible the achievement of the historical ideal of our nation. (…) The celebration dedicated to the memory of those who sacrificed themselves for national and religious unity shows that the ideals of union remain alive in our consciousness and will continue to inspire the necessary cohesion to overcome difficulties and dissensions, so that we can build together the prosperous future we want,” Bolojan wrote in the guestbook of Cernica Monastery.

Bolojan also laid wreaths at the graves of the founders of the Union of Basarabia with Romania – Gurie Grosu, Pantelimon Halippa, Daniel Ciugureanu and Ioan Pelivan.

The event was also attended by ambassador of Moldova to Romania Victor Chirila, officials of the embassy and the Basarabia Students’ Organisation in Bucharest.

Chirila said that on March 27 it will be 107 years since the union of Basarabia with Romania and that the event at Cernica Monastery is a tribute paid every year to those who made the union possible.

„Today we are here to pay tribute to those founders and martyrs of the nation who made this union of Basarabia with Romania, the motherland, a tribute that we pay every year, but this year is more special because the interim president of Romania, Mr Ilie Bolojan, was with us. The President, through his presence, paid tribute to all those to whom today we owe the fact that Basarabia speaks Romanian, thinks Romanian, that Basarabia and Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Romania today have a future ahead of them, a future that I believe will bring us closer and closer, a future that will bring us a common destiny. We are going through difficult times, but I believe that together we will face these great challenges of the day. United we will overcome all difficulties,” the Moldovan ambassador told AGERPRES.

Antonina Cheptea, president of the Basarabia Students’ Organisation in Bucharest, spoke about the importance of the event.

„We annually organise a festival of Basarabia days in which we have several events to keep alive the memory of March 27, 1918. Every year, we come here to Cernica to commemorate the members of the Country Council buried here, (…) including Ioan Pelivan, Pantelimon Halippa and other artisans. It is very important to remember that we are not just witnesses of history, we are the heirs of that big dream, because thanks to them we can now speak Romanian, we have freedom, freedom of the press, we have the same culture, the same identity and we must remember the importance of this event,” said Cheptea.

AGERPRES