SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS

Statement Made by President Rosen Plevneliev at the Ceremony on Unveiling the Monument of the Bulgarian Tsar (997-1014) Samuil

Your Holiness,
Esteemed Mr. Deputy Prime Minister,
Esteemed Mrs. Mayor,
Your Grace,
Esteemed Ministers, Deputy Ministers,
Dear Compatriots,

From now on Bulgaria has its state sign of paying tribute to the great Tsar Samuil. Almost 200 years after the tsar’s death, a Byzantine chronicler depicted him as “that famous Samuil, whom Bulgarians are still talking about.” And truly, one thousand years after the age the tsar lived in, we cannot forget his feat. We remember the deed and self-sacrifice of Samuil and his soldiers, who showed us how to fight to the last gasp a battle for Bulgaria.

Samuil is a historical figure, which is a symbol of the fight to save the Bulgarian statehood. Samuil’s deed is more than topical today when we promote the cause of democratic Bulgarian statehood and European future. Such is the Bulgarian fate that we do not know where the majority of our tsars have been buried. Therefore our generation bears its historical responsibility to do its best to ensure that the bones of Tsar Samuil are sent back to Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian statehood should not calm down until Samuil’s mortal remains find eternal peace in their homeland, and namely here, in the Saint Sofia basilica, where he went to church. As if symbolically, right across Tsar Samuil’s monument the unique sculpture of his soldiers created by the great Dalchev is located, and behind the monument the Saint Sofia basilica is located – the centuries-old symbol of the capital, a place soaked with blood, closely related to Tsar Samuil’s fate.

Hopefully, this monument, this symbol of our gratitude to Tsar Samuil’s deed, will not split our society. In Bulgaria monuments of the communist leader who was about to make Bulgaria the 16th republic are still built. Yet a heated debate is provoked when a monument of a great Bulgarian Tsar is unveiled, who defended to his last minute the Bulgarian statehood.

There are monuments in Bulgaria’s capital of the Soviet army and the Russian emperor. However, we do not have a monument even of the founder of the Bulgarian state. We have no monuments of Krum, of Asparuh, of Omurtag, of Simeon, and of many other great Bulgarian rulers. As President, I would be happy if more national monuments of great Bulgarian rulers are erected. We owe this to the young people.

I would like to thank all people, without the participation and assistance of which the current monument would not have been possible and above all the Bulgarian Memory foundation, which does its best to ensure that we do not forget and respect the glorious past of the Bulgarian people.

I would also like to voice my gratitude to Prime Minister Bliznashki, the caretaker government which within the framework of the 1,000th  anniversary of the great tsar, did its best to ensure that the Bulgarian state commemorates his deed in a worthy manner. I would like to voice my gratitude to the Mayor of Sofia, to deputy Prime Minister Mrs. Buchvarova as a symbol of continuity in the work of the Bulgarian institutions and commitment to our people’s glorious and great history.

We hope that together with our brethren from Macedonia, we will soon commemorate Tsar Samuil’s deed. The presence of the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Stefan together with the Bulgarian Patriarch Neofit on the day of the holy brothers – 11 May, proves that Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia can together commemorate important and shared by the two countries events.

I also express my gratitude to the ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia for attending the ceremony today, a gesture which I highly appreciate.

A year ago, as Bulgarian President, in the presence of a representative of the Greek government, I paid tribute to the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil in Thessalonica, which is proof of the European approach in history and a policy of good-neighborliness. Sending back the bones of Tsar Samuil in Bulgaria will be a symbolic act of historical reconciliation between two peoples - the Bulgarian and the Greek, which have fought battles and shed blood.

The monument of Tsar Samuil in Sofia should endure time and become a place of homage. Let the children of Bulgaria gather here in the future so that they can recall the deed of a Bulgarian ruler, who fought a many-year battle for the freedom and honor of our state.

We bow our head to his memory!