NEWS

Rosen Plevneliev made an appeal to Parliament for a debate on the Syrian issue

President Rosen Plevneliev honoured today the memory of King Boris III and attended a mass for the dead on the 70th anniversary of his death. The memorial service, at which His Holiness the Bulgarian patriarch Neophyte was present, was held in the Rila Monasery, where the tomb of the Bulgarian monarch is.

“My attendance is a sign of respect by one Bulgarian statesman to another, it is also an act of humaneness towards the family and the heirs of King Boris III, who in recent years unfortunately had to be submitted to the injustice of desecrating the family memory in Bulgaria”, said the Head of State before journalists.

In response to a question on the crisis in Syria and an appeal by citizens that we should not intervene in a future military conflict, President Rosen Plevneliev called on Parliament to activate debates and to make responsible decisions. In Syria chemical weapons were used against civilians, and the President expressed his strong belief that this is absolutely inadmissible. According to the President “it is a matter of principles, from which the world democratic community and the progressive humanity should not retreat”. Rosen Plevneliev stressed that the culprits for the chemical attack in Syria should be immediately singled out and they should suffer just punishment. “It is important that the Bulgarian Parliament do what has been done in many other European countries - conduct its own debate, point out clearly the arguments and assess carefully the role of everyone in the situation in which the region is in”, added the President.

In connection with the concerns at the escalation of the refugee flow towards Bulgaria the Head of State commented that the presidential institution is doing its best within its powers and in conjunction with other state institutions to ensure the humane treatment and protection of those who need it. The President reminded those present that the Security Council at the Cabinet has already identified concrete steps in this direction.