SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS

Statement Made by President Rosen Plevneliev on the Occasion of the 130th Anniversary of the Unification of Bulgaria

Esteemed Mr. Deputy Chair of the National Assembly,
Esteemed Presidents Stoyanov and Parvanov,
Esteemed Mr. Mayor,
Esteemed Mr. District Governor,
Esteemed Assembly Deputies,
Esteemed Right Reverend,
Your Excellencies,
Dear Compatriots,

There are events in Bulgaria’s history which cannot be obliterated by the passing years and which the people’s memory always transmits through the centuries. Today we mark one of those days that always remain written in golden letters in our national history.

The unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia today as well, 130 years later, shines with its purity and nobleness, with the people’s aspiration for justice. On the memorable 6 September 1885 the Bulgarian people proved that it has the desire, the will and the readiness to decide its own fate in free and united Bulgaria! “No longer can anyone criticize the Bulgarians that they have no idea of statehood, no people’s self-consciousness, that their freedom was something granted which they did not know how to value, nor how to relish,” the Czech Konstantin Irechek wrote after the unification.

True – a mere seven years after the Bulgarians were liberated, they, holding their heads high, dared to revise the decisions imposed from outside and prove that they were united more than ever before in their ambition to live worthy lives. Because, although the Treaty of Berlin partitioned Bulgaria, as a military correspondent at that time successfully pointed out “these countries were divided only externally. Internally, (however), they remained closely linked. The two countries resembled two bodies with one heart.” A heart beating with the slogan “Freedom, independence and Bulgaria for itself.”

The bold dreamers who had the courage to start the act of unification had the strongest weapon – the pure thoughts and the people’s will. Their dream was the ideal of the Bulgarian people. Therefore not accidentally the young Bulgarian Prince Battenberg chose the road to Plovdiv, not another one. Therefore not accidentally only a couple of days later the mobilized Bulgarian soldiers started on their way not to wage a war, but as if to attend a wedding.  Therefore not accidentally the army of the captains recorded glorious victories which once and for all ensured the long life of this great deed.

We should remember that our predecessors stood up as one to protect the Unification. “The whole Bulgarian people, the Christians, the Mohammedans, the Armenians, the Jews enthusiastically cried with joy,” a foreign journalist wrote in his memoirs. It was namely in these first years of the life of Free Bulgaria that the feeling of a filial duty was formed, with which the Bulgarians defended their homeland in the Balkan and World Wars that ensued.

With the joint efforts of all Bulgarians our young Bulgarian state overcame the first and greatest hardship it faced. Free Bulgaria proved that it is strong, united and vital. That it will not melt in the darkness of timelessness and will ensure its worthy place in Europe and the world. Therefore we can justifiably argue that “when the cannons at Slivtitsa roared, the real understanding about homeland emerged in Bulgaria.”

Dear compatriots,

Unfortunately, currently there is a record number of conflicts in the region and in the world. We are experiencing hard times. The simultaneous crises and the interaction among them considerably increases the risks. Only together can we resolve any crisis. The way we solve or aggravate the problems in the state determines the people’s attitude to the politicians and institutions. The most severe crisis is the crisis of public trust. Will people have trust in the institutions which will efficiently solve their problems or will they close themselves in passivity and mistrust. Will egoism predominate in Europe by restricting the fundamental human rights – for instance those of the refugees? The refugees are people as we are. They are fathers and mothers, engineers and teachers. They are human beings in need. They are escaping from the horrors of war and from the Islamic State’s machine for terror.

Not a single country alone, no matter which one, can solve the refugee crisis.  Europe can resolve the crises, no matter whether they are a Greek crisis, a Ukrainian crisis, a refugee crisis or any other, only if we are together. Europe is strong when it is united. The Bulgarian people is strong when it is united. We are not only Bulgarians, but also Europeans. We are ensuring our worthy place in the European family, as Levski taught us. We should protect the unity of the Bulgarian nation, we should continue to believe in the message conveyed by the founders of the European Union, a united voice and alliance of the European peoples, as a lesson we learned from two world wars and a lot of conflicts and casualties which generations of Europeans experienced and suffered in the past.

Dear compatriots,

Celebrations as the current one are meaningful not because we have to superficially seek national pride in past events, but because we have to have the ambition to transmit the wisdom and lessons learned through the centuries. I believe that the most important message conveyed by the Unification is that the Bulgarian people succeeds only when it is united. When there is a national ideal, when it has the courage to decide its fate, when it has real leaders who accompany it and obey its will.

In a mere couple of weeks a referendum and elections will be held. From this high rostrum I call on for a constructive and well-founded dialogue, for tolerance and mutual respect. Unification does not mean unanimity, but it means lending an ear to the others’ arguments. Unification means working together, to the best of one’s ability, to ensure a brighter future for our homeland, for Bulgaria’s children!

Long Live the Unification!

Long Live Bulgaria!