site.btaUPDATED President Iotova Says March 3 Defines Bulgaria’s Identity
President Iliana Iotova described March 3 as a measure for belonging, memory and identity at Bulgaria’s National Day ceremony at National Assembly Square in Sofia on Tuesday.
She accepted the honour guard of representative units of the Bulgarian Army and said that places such as Shipka, Sheynovo, Sofia, Pleven and Stara Zagora are “places where we go with humility and reflection” and where “we can say only gratitude and prayer”.
The day marks Bulgaria’s freedom and has long been an enduring dream for generations of Bulgarians: a dream of liberty, independence and a homeland of their own, Iotova said. She added that this dream was born out of the people’s suffering during five centuries of Ottoman rule and from the remembrance of Bulgaria’s centuries-old, glorious history.
Iotova said everyone reads the date differently. “Each of us reads differently the concepts of freedom, truth, justice and memory. We believe differently. But in the end we make our choice,” she said, adding that the choice is personal, but urging that it be shared: “Let us make this choice common – let our path forward be common,” she said.
She warned that Bulgaria faces a clear alternative. Either, together, Bulgarians will “climb the high achievements of the Bulgarian nation”, safeguard them and respect them, or they will go “down – towards apathy, resignation and division”. “If we have understood the lessons of history and the bequests of the heroes, we must choose the first path,” she added.
In her speech, Iotova recalled the role of the Russo-Turkish War in Bulgaria’s liberation and the significance of the Treaty of San Stefano in restoring Bulgaria’s name to world history. She added that it was a just cause that drew soldiers, officers and volunteers from Russia and found resonance across Europe at the time.
She paid tribute to the Bulgarian volunteers, officers, cadets, intellectuals and freedom fighters whose heroism contributed to the historic victory. “History does not remember their names, but it calls them martyrs, victors, heroes,” Iotova said.
She also recalled the message left by surviving volunteers who laid the first stone of the Shipka monument: “In memory there can be no division. Memory is union. And Bulgarian destiny is unity.”
“Bow to the memory of all heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our beloved homeland. Long live Bulgaria,” Iotova concluded.
/КТ/
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