OFFICIAL NEWS
PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN VISITS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IN RIGA
On the same day, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Khanum Aliyeva, President of Latvia Mrs. Mrs. Vaira Vike-Freiberga and her spouse Imants Freibergs have visited the Statue of Liberty in Riga.
After the state anthems were performed, President of Azerbaijan laid a wreath on the monument.
President Mrs. Vaira Vike-Freiberga informed Mr. Ilham Aliyev the Statue symbolizes freedom of the Latvian people and was erected on November 18, 1935. For long years, the country had been under oppression of other states, and on November 18 in 1918, it was proclaimed an independent republic. In 1940, after Latvia was annexed to the Soviet Union, to lay flowers on the monument was, in fact, prohibited. Nevertheless, the Latvian people revered the national freedom movements, anniversaries of historical events, the memory of repression victims here. Late in the past century, the struggle of people for independence has began just here.