Tiraspol, June, 19. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Pridnestrovie celebrates the 27th anniversary of Bendery tragedy. Early in the morning in the capital hundreds of citizens came to the Memorial of Glory to honor the memory of the victims of that undeclared war. The rally-requiem was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Tsurkan, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council Galina Antyufeeva, city leaders and representatives of veteran organizations.
June 19, 1992 is the most tragic date in the modern history of Pridnestrovie. During the fierce fighting in Bendery, dozens of enterprises, hundreds of residential buildings and administrative buildings were destroyed and damaged, tens of thousands of people were forced to leave the city. The tragedy claimed the lives of 489 Pridnestrovians, of whom 66 were from Tiraspol.
Attendees honored the memory of those who killed and died from wounds in the post-war time with a minute of silence.
“This is the blackest, most terrible day in the history of our country. No one thought that, apparently, in peacetime, when the Great Patriotic War was over, such a tragedy would happen,” Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Galina Antyufeeva said in an interview.
Participants of the events which had been happened 27 years ago noted that June 19 was a kind of “red line” that had divided people's lives before and after.
“We came on the 20th of June, the city was in mourning, people left Bendery en masse, ran towards the Parkani Arch, and at that time snipers fired at them from the upper floors of residential buildings. We were tasked to protect civilians and not to let the enemy in Tiraspol, to keep the bridge at all costs. When they attacked the bridge, there were about 40 of us, while there were many more of them. Only in the first 40 minutes of the battle, more than 15 people were killed from our side, but we still managed to keep the bridge,” the fighter of the Tiraspol battalion of the Territorial Rescue Squad, Valery Osipov recalls.
"It must be remembered not for the sake of those killed, but for the sake of those who is alive - the young generation, our children, grandchildren, so that they appreciate what we did in the 92nd," the defender added.
The widow of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Bochkovsky, Nina Vyacheslavovna is sure that the mistakes of the past should not be forgotten so that they do not occur in the future.
“Such dates should not be forgotten so that the tragedies do not repeat. Unfortunately, no one learns from the mistakes of others. For example Yugoslavia, or other hotspots ... for Russia the Chechen war is a bloody gash,” Tiraspol citizen noted.
Wreaths and fresh flowers were laid at the graves of the defenders in memory of those who died. Graduates of schools in the capital sent balloons of the Pridnestrovian flag out in the sky. It became a peculiar symbol of the call for peace and freedom.
At the end of the rally, the participants went to Bendery to participate in memorial events, as well as to the Dalneye and Novoe metropolitan cemeteries, where defenders of the republic are buried.
