Parliament marks 100th anniversary of SLA

THE PART Slovak Americans played in the struggle for national liberation and the creation of a sovereign Slovak state was recognized by the Slovak Parliament in a declaration on May 15 that marked the one-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Slovak League of America (SLA). In doing so, the parliament acknowledged the extraordinary contribution the SLA made as an integrator and bridge linking Slovakia and America, the TASR news wire wrote.The League was set up in 1907 as an association for ethnic Slovaks living in the United States. "We recall its co-operation with Czech organizations in the USA, with which it signed the Cleveland Agreement in 1915 and the Pittsburgh Agreement in 1918. This made a significant contribution towards the creation of a democratic Czecho-Slovak Republic, during which the SLA never ceased advocating for the national rights of Slovaks," the declaration reads.