NEWS

Vice President: Bulgaria is losing spiritual territories, retreating in the world cultural rivalry

On the initiative of Iliana Iotova, a Sacred Language National Conference on the Bulgarian language is being held at Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv

Bulgaria is losing its spiritual territories, we are falling behind in the world cultural rivalry, we fail to present our best achievements abroad, and we are weak in the field of public diplomacy. Our mistakes lead to retreats, to weakened authority. The world does not know well enough our long history, our rich culture, our contribution to the creation of Slavic civilisation. With these words, Vice President Iliana Iotova opened the Language Sacred National Conference on the Bulgarian Language, which is being held on her initiative. Head of State Rumen Radev addressed the forum.

At Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, officials the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, university professors from all over the country, and representatives of academic institutes are debating the teaching, preservation and prospects of the Bulgarian language at home and abroad, the development of Bulgarian studies and the establishment of a Bulgarian National Cultural Institute. In preparation for the forum, three groups of leading specialists met on these main topics.

The conference was held on the day of the 160th anniversary of the birth of Prof Ivan Shishmanov and exactly at Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, because 2022 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Hilendar monk and 260 years since the writing of his A Slavonic Bulgarian History.

Unified language policy, sustainability and development of Bulgarian lectureships abroad, the need for a Bulgarian National Cultural Institute - these three topics were emphasised by Vice President Iotova in her speech. She raised the issue of the preservation of the Bulgarian language and identity in our historical Diasporas, in the new emigration, the role in modern times of the language, thanks to which our nation has survived over the centuries.

As a pressing national task the Vice President defined the restoration of the position of Bulgarian studies. We can no longer be satisfied with the mere observation that we occupy a weak peripheral place in Slavic studies. We have been displaced by our counterparts from the Republic of North Macedonia, Iotova pointed out and stressed that for the first time in years the Ministry of Education and Science had allocated funds for the purposeful development of Bulgarian studies. According to the Vice President, institutional support is needed for the development of a comprehensive lectureship infrastructure, with clear objectives for the content of teaching, for the elevation of the status of the Bulgarian lecturer, for the strengthening of interest in Bulgarian lectureships, for the resumption of the tradition of meetings in Bulgaria of world-leading specialists in the field of Bulgarian studies, history and culture. This autumn the Vice President is planning such a forum.

Iliana Iotova is convinced of the necessity of a Bulgarian National Cultural Institute as a supranational institution that will work for the positive image of Bulgaria abroad, for our compatriots abroad - for their connection with each other and with the Bulgarian state, for the preservation, recognition and dissemination of the Bulgarian language, for the Bulgarian national identity, its preservation and development. The idea of a Bulgarian Cultural Institute is not new, it has been revived over the years, but it remains closed in dusty folders. We want to make it happen together. This is a non-partisan task, not subject to mandates, and this institute must necessarily be established by law. All those who support the idea are convinced of this - here in Bulgaria and among our compatriots abroad. We are ready with a concept after meetings held already in 2018 with more than 80 Bulgarian writers, movie directors, artists, actors, scientists, cultural experts, sociologists, etc., after meetings with representatives of institutions, the Vice President said.