Lukashenko honors feat of Soviets during WWII as Belarus marks Independence Day

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday said Minsk honors the feat of the Soviets during World War II, as he marked the country's Independence Day.

“Today our country celebrates the Independence Day, the main holiday of Belarusian statehood. We celebrate it at the foot of the majestic monument (the Mound of Glory). The monument that was erected in honor of the heroes who liberated Belarus from the Nazi invaders,” Lukashenko told a ceremony near the capital Minsk.

He described the Mound of Glory as a “holy place,” saying that fierce battles took place in the area, where thousands of soldiers gave their lives and “the fraternal bonds of a large multinational country were sealed with blood.”

“The fighters did not divide themselves into Belarusians and Russians, Ukrainians and Kazakhs, Armenians and Georgians, Tajiks and Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks and others. They did not divide the land into their own and someone else's. They fought for our fatherland,” the president said.

Lukashenko said Belarus honors and remembers the feat of the Soviets, expressing that they all bow before their compatriots and thank the soldiers of former Soviet republics.

He added that the future of Belarus will be shaped by “dreams and desires” of its people. "We have one land, one country ... Now it's your turn – the youth. Take care of this piece of land, you will not have another,” he said.

Belarus celebrates Independence Day on July 3 to mark the liberation of Minsk by the Red Army from the Wehrmacht, armed forces of Nazi Germany, in 1944.