Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the people who have called themselves Latvians have been in existence for centuries and centuries, but the nation state that we call Latvia has only existed for 100 years. So I come to the floor to express the fact that on Saturday, the Republic of Latvia celebrates 100 years as a country. As cochair of the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus, I recognized the centenary of Estonia and Lithuania in February, and I mentioned that I would be back this November to talk about Latvia's 100th anniversary, like I did Estonia and Lithuania back in February. On November 18, 1918, the People's Council of Latvia proclaimed independence. However, the establishment of a separate Latvian state did not come out of the blue. The movement toward an independent Latvia was a process of continuous historical development going back to the Latvian national awakening in the 1850s. At that time, between local German-speaking nobles and the Russian Imperial Government, and divided by the internal political boundaries between the Russian Empire, Latvians did not control their political fate. However, Latvians increasingly began to focus on promoting unity around their distinct language and culture. With the collapse of the tsarist government in Russia, Latvians began to push for a united autonomous territory, although independence did not yet seem feasible. When the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia and attempted to consolidate control of Latvia, the time came to declare independence.…”