Speech by President Rumen Radev at the Solemn Drill and Ceremony with Firework Display on the Occasion of 143 Years of the Liberation of Bulgaria
Dear Madam President of the National Assembly,
Dear Madam Vice President,
Dear Madam Deputy Prime Minister,
Dear Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence,
Dear Members of Parliament,
Mr. Chief of Defence,
Dear Generals, Admirals, Officers, Sergeants and Soldiers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear Compatriots,
On this day, 143 years ago, Bulgaria was restored on the map of Europe.
The path to freedom was a lengthy and agonizing one. The monk Paisius led us out of the gloom of ignorance of our glorious past. The national patrons in Tsarigrad revived the independent Bulgarian church. The Apostle of Freedom formulated in simple words the strategy of our national revolution and the idea of a “pure and holy Republic”. Benkovski and the Aprilovo martyrs from 1876 inflicted the crucial wound in the heart of the tyrant. The fair quill of MacGahan conveyed the truth of the Batak Massacre to the world. Gladstone and Hugo brought the Bulgarian tragedy to the European scene.
Freedom finally came harbingered by the banners of the Russian Tsar Alexander II and his army, which defeated the Ottoman Empire. After announcing war in Petersburg, people crossed themselves and embraced each other in the streets. As General Skobelev said: “Russia is the only country in Europe with enough idealism to fight for feelings.” Dostoevsky wrote in his diary that “this is a war unheard of before, a war for the weak and oppressed, aiming not to take away, but to give freedom”. Led by these sentiments, the sons of noblemen enlisted as volunteers in the army. The Bulgarian people considers all the warriors of the Emperor’s army who died for our freedom as its heroes: Russians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Byelorussians, Finns, Poles, as well as the Romanians, Serbs and Montenegrins whose resting place transpired to be in our land. This morning, thousands of Bulgarians gathered atop Shipka for us to pay homage to our glorious volunteers.
Every year on this date we celebrate our heroes. But the valour of our predecessors cannot cure the vices of the present. It is our responsibility and our task.
The third of March is a day of remembrance but also of unity around the historic truth, the ideal of Levski, in which Bulgarians are not divided by faith or origin, nor by rank or riches, but together building the pure and holy Republic. At the crossroads of the currents of history that Bulgaria is currently facing, sovereignty is to be defended with a wise judgement and consistent efforts. Today we pay homage to our heroic forefathers and we know that freedom and justice are never granted for nothing, but that every generation must stand up for them so as to bequeath them to the ones yet to come.
Eternal memory to the heroes!
Long live Bulgaria!