Italian president commemorates Foibe massacres

(ANSA) - Rome, February 10 - Italian president Sergio Mattarella on Friday spoke in memory of the Foibe massacres.
    February 10 is the 'National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe'. The 'foibe' refers to mass killings mainly in Friuli-Venezia Giulia , Istria and Dalmatia during and after World War II against the local Italian population.
    As many as 15,000 Italians were tortured or killed by Yugoslav communists who occupied the Istrian peninsula during the last two years of the war. Many of the victims were thrown into the narrow mountain gorges during anti-Fascist uprisings in the area and the exact number of victims of these atrocities is unknown, in part because Tito's forces destroyed local population records to cover up their crimes.
    "The Europe of peace, democracy, freedom and respect for cultural identities was the response to the horrors of the twentieth century, which the 'foibe' were" part of, he said in a message read at the Chamber of Deputies. He went on to say that this was a "commitment that, 70 years after the peace treaty that put an end to the tragic war sparked by Nazi-Fascism, must remain to knock down fanaticism forever, the father of barbaric acts and cruelty fed by hatred."