President: Georgia continues to fight for its freedom, 95yrs on from Soviet occupation

Ninety-five years after Georgia was taken over by the Red Army and occupied by the Soviet Union, Georgia continues to fight for its freedom, and this fight will only end with a victorious Georgia, says the country’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili.

The top official voiced these poignant words this afternoon as he laid a wreath at the Memorial of Fallen Georgian Cadets near Kojori settlement, several kilometres from capital Tbilisi, marking the 95th anniversary of Georgia’s Soviet occupation. 

Ninety-five years ago our ancestors launched a fight for Georgia’s independence to free the country from the Soviet Union rule. After 70 years our generation managed to win and create an independent state.  Today our fight to achieve freedom … is still in progress and we will together win this battle,” said Georgia’s President. 

The Memorial of Fallen Georgian Cadets near Kojori settlement. Photo by the President's webpage. 

Other top officials, representatives from state agencies, invited guests and members of the public visited the site today to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of victims of political repressions of the Communist occupational regime. 

The United States (US) Embassy to Georgia uploaded a photo and story on its official webpage about one of the most prominent heroines of the time, Maro Makashvili.

An extract from Makashvili’s diary released on the US Embassy webpage read: "We will win bravely”. She was a 19-year-old student who volunteered as a nurse at the frontline when she was hit by a shell and died early on in the clash.

The United States Embassy said the US was a proud partner of Georgia in its statement marking the anniversary of Soviet occupation of Georgia. Photo by the US Embassy to Georgia. 

On this somber day we remember Maro Makashvili’s words of defiant hope and we celebrate that, in the end, Georgia did win. The US is proud to partner with Georgia, to continue supporting a nation that is sovereign and free,” the US Embassy wrote. 

The Day of Soviet Occupation was first officially marked in Georgia on February 25, 2010. 

Parliament unanimously passed a resolution instructing the government to organise various memorial events each year on February 25 to commemorate vast number of victims.

Click here to watch a short documentary about the Soviet Russian invasion of Democratic Republic of Georgia.