iDadeus Vita is a member of the Polish parliament and the ruling Law & Order party. He chairs the finance and trade commission in the Polish Parliament and a member of the Polish delegation to the European Commission in Strasbourg.

 I had the honor of having the following interesting Interview with polish deputy Dadeus Vita.

♦ Vahram Emiyan : - What can you say about your party and its activities?

 

● Dadeus Vita : - The party, to which I am a member, is called Law & Order, and it was formed a few years ago. After the downfall of the communist regime in 1989, Poland was facing a great difficulty in exposing the truth about that era. After the downfall of that regime a “round table” was set up, during which an agreement was reached not to discuss that era. Those who participated in those talks were convinced that the history, the details and mistakes of that era must not be discussed. The problem is that those men were members of that regime’s nomenclature and now although they are no longer top ranking politicians but have important positions in business, media and banking sectors, a fact that  creates many problems because the secret service had thousands of members who had a good education, special information and good connections. They used that experience and advantage to occupy posts in big business. So now we have a business system which is formed of persons who where members of the secret service or occupied a post that allowed them to have access to special information, and as you well know information is very important in business, and the secret service had  very good information  and used to run our life.

Now the majority of the Polish people are noticing that there is a problem. During the communist era a policeman and a prisoner used to receive the same salary, and now people are noticing that those people who at the time were persecuting them are now earning 10-12 times more money than they, which is not just. Those who during the communist era were poor, now are even more poor. While those who at the time occupied a high position, are now receiving a very good salary. We, some politicians started talking about  this problem, but it is very difficult to change the way people think, because although we have many newspapers, but those newspapers are in the hands of people who may not be “red” communists, but are at least “pink” and after 1989 those newspapers did every thing they could to blur these facts. Our party decided to change that situation. The general elections of 2005 gave us the opportunity to do just that, because our parliamentary group’s membership increased from 40 to 150. Beforehand we could only talk about it.

 

 ♦ V. Emiyan : - Before two years the Polish parliament adopted a resolution, presented by your party, recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Did you have any difficulty in passing this resolution?

 

● D. Vita : - This resolution was adopted by the previous parliament where we had only 40 members. We didn’t encounter much difficulty, and some people had even not heard about it. Now I hear that the Turkish authorities don’t blame our party, but are asking about who was the president of parliament and are pointing their finger at him. They don’t want to know who presented it. This resolution was prepared by the parliament speaker Mark Yurikh and Mikha Viasdovsky who is now the minister of education. At the time that bill was a way of showing to the Polish public that we want to reveal the truth and organize polish public life on foundations that are more transparent. Now we have more opportunity to do that, because we are the Polish parliament’s biggest party. At the time of the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution we were a small group. Now we occupy 150 sits in the 460 member Polish parliament and we have formed a coalition government. We have some problems in the coalition, but we have the opportunity to reveal the facts to the public by presenting new television programs and by supporting people like father Dadeus Isakovich Zaleski. Father Zaleski is a priest of Armenian origin who has written a book exposing the activities of priests who worked for the secret service. He faced many difficulties in writing and publishing his book. We are facing many difficulties, because we have only a short time, just 2.5 years and we want to reveal the truth, so you can imagine, we have many enemies.

 

♦ V. Emiyan : - What was Turkey’s reaction to the adoption of this resolution?

 

● D. Vita : - At the time I wasn’t a member of parliament and I can’t say that a Turkish official said anything to me. But I have heard from my friends, who at the time where members of parliament that officially Turkey did nothing, but on an unofficial level Turkish officials have said that they dislike the parliament speaker and they want to talk with him. Turkish officials officially did nothing, but I hear that when the opportunity arises they try to heart Poland.  

 

 ♦ V. Emiyan : - Poland has the biggest population in the EU. Will Turkey’s membership of the EU create problems for Poland?  

 

● D. Vita : - I don’t expect problems that are specially for Poland. I would like to see a strong and unified Europe and I would like to build that Europe on strong foundations and that foundations should be the 2000 year old values of Europe, which are the Christian values. I am a member of the Polish delegation to the European Commission, so I am in contact with politicians from different countries and I want to see a Europe based on Christianity. I don’t think that Turkey’s EU membership is a good idea, but I know that that would allow to build an Islamic state that is not like Iran. For that reason I don’t know which is better? To have a unified Europe that includes that country or a unified Europe without it? Because it would be worse for all if Turkey started working with Iran. May be it is better to have Turkey join European Union, but as you know the European Union want’s Turkey to talk about the truth and your history is part of that truth, something  which Turkey is not willing to do and that is a problem.

 

♦ V. Emiyan : -  Do you think that Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU?

 

● D. Vita : - I already told that I don’t think that it is ready. You should know that I am not happy with some countries who have become members of the EU long before Poland. As I stated, I want a Europe based on Christian values which many members do not consider to be important and that is why we have many problems. I am not sure that Turkey is ready, but I am also not sure that the European Union itself is ready to open its doors to other countries. I would prefer to see countries like Ukraine as members of the EU, may be even Serbia, because in these countries the Christian foundation is better and I think that an EU who does not have good foundations, in the event of accepting Turkey’s membership will cease to exist just like the Soviet Union. In reality I don’t know which is better. May be it’s better to include some countries in this Europe who has lost its foundation or put an end to this cooperation.

 

 ♦ V. Emiyan : - After becoming a member of the EU what changes have occurred for Poland? and what are the problems?

 

 ● D. Vita : - We have some problems, but what we have gained is far greater. We have the opportunity to take more money from the EU than what we pay to the EU budget. I think it’s good. Poland  lacks building materials. Now we have the opportunity to build roots, houses and to allocate funds for environmental problems, so our environment is better and we have the opportunity to have  purer water. So it’s good. But personally I don’t want to see the idea of EU as a business idea. I want to see it as a group of countries who are interested in the same values.