NEWS

The President: The Bitter Memories from the Two World Wars Commit Us to Building a New Europe Based on Human Freedom

“It is our common duty to preserve the memories from the brutality of war for the future generations for the sake of a better world based on unity and understanding,” President Rosen Plevneliev said, who attended today the ceremony commemorating the fallen in World War I. His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, who is on a visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Head of State, also took part in the commemorative event. Representatives of the diplomatic missions, accredited to Bulgaria also attended the ceremony held in the Commonwealth War Graves section of Sofia Central Cemetery.

Looking back at the ashes and ruins of World War I, we see the long road humanity has covered in the past 100 years, the Head of State emphasized in his statement. In the President’s view, the bitter memories of the two consecutive World Wars commit all of us to building a new Europe, based on human freedom, solidarity and the prosperity of the future generations. “The silence and humility of this sacred place remind us that in grief and in the face of death we are all equal. We should believe in the reconciliation of the nations and in humanity’s never-ending willingness for justice and peaceful development,” the President said.

“Paying tribute to the fallen, we are looking forward to our future. A future, for which our soldiers paid a high price,” Prince Edward said at the ceremony. The Duke of Kent emphasized that although they are resting far from their homes, the mortal remains of the British soldiers are in a British graveyard and all the people in the world share the pain from the soldiers’ lost lives and this is what reconciliation is built on.