Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko comments on Belarus’ safeguarding experience, new challenges

MINSK, 17 September (BelTA) – Many-century experience is Belarus’ safeguard, head of state Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the patriotic forum "We are Belarusians!" dedicated to the Day of People’s Unity in Minsk on 17 September, BelTA has learned.

"The more we see how modern states are collapsing, how peoples are losing their homeland, home, traditions, the more closely we look at the history of our native land. The land which thousands of years ago welcomed our ancestors with a harsh climate, taught them to stick together in order to survive and become masters in their homes. We understand that, in fact, there are no new challenges. There are no unexpected twists and turns in history. There are forgotten old lessons and threats. There is a safeguard - centuries-old experience that has taught us to be together in happy and difficult times," the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko added that time itself, the time of the global redivision of the world, returned the date of 17 September to the calendar of public holidays. The symbol of the unity of the Belarusian people was 1939 - the year when the Belarusian lands reunited into a single state.

The president recalled that for many centuries Belarusians were one: when they adopted Christianity, when they were up against the German Teutonic Order, Napoleon's French army, when they defended their faith, language and culture, when they created the basis of their national statehood together with the fraternal Soviet peoples, when they stood up against fascist aggression and when they rebuilt the Soviet country from the ashes of the Great Patriotic War. And also when they began to build a sovereign Belarus on the ruins of the Soviet Union.

"We, Belarusians, do not need to be told how important it is to live in peace and harmony, to be a single nation. Life has taught us. Our compatriots born under the Polish occupation can tell a lot. Those who know about the danger of losing their homeland and breaking away from their families. They know what it means to live in their native land, but to be an outcast in the eyes of privileged fellow citizens for many decades. They understand why on 17 September the country celebrated the day of liberation of the working people of Western Belarus from the Polish oppression, occupation. No matter the name of the holiday, it objectively reflects the essence of this holiday," the head of state said.

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