Czechs recall 'Velvet Divorce' 30 years after Czechoslovakia split

Record ID: 1705126

  • Title: Czechs recall 'Velvet Divorce' 30 years after Czechoslovakia split
  • Date: 3rd January 2023
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER CZECH PRESIDENT, VACLAV KLAUS, SAYING: "The Czechs were quite happy In Czechoslovakia. The Slovaks had a feeling that the Czechs are the bigger brother, big brother, and older brother, and that the Slovaks are in the second, secondary position in the country."
  • Embargoed: 17th January 2023 14:05
  • Keywords: 20th century history Czech Republic Czechoslovakia Slovakia Velvet Revolution anniversary gentle revolution
  • Location: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
  • City: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003006703012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: At midnight on December 31, 1992, the then 74-year-old state of Czechoslovakia, founded from the ruins of World War One, vanished to be replaced by independent Czech and Slovak republics. Now, 30 years later, former Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, who helped negotiate the split, reflected on the country's dissolution and the lessons learned.
    "My task was to make the split, which I considered at that moment inevitable, friendly, peaceful, and fair," Klaus told Reuters.
    "Together with the Slovak prime minister, (Vladimir) Meciar, we succeeded in fulfilling the task," he added.
    The country's dissolution, also often called the "Velvet Divorce" was not put to a popular vote because Klaus and Meciar, who negotiated the split, refused to allow a referendum on the issue. Some Prague residents still hold discontent about this decision.
    "I think most public opinion polls at the time were not in favour of splitting, but Mr. Meciar and Mr. Klaus, for their own reasons, felt they should," said former U.S. diplomat, Cameron Munter.
    But while Czechs were happy being part of Czechoslovakia, many Slovaks felt like secondary citizens, Klaus recalled.
    Journalist Jiri Skacel, who reported on the forming of the two new countries, said Slovaks were so excited about being independent, that some queued for days in front of a Bratislava post office in 1993, to get a hold of the first Slovak post stamps.
    (Production: Jiri Skacel, Isabella Ronca)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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