site.btaApril Uprising Debate Is Debate about Today's Bulgaria, Says Journalist Boyko Vasilev

The discussion about the 1876 April Uprising is not just a remembrance, it is a discussion about today's Bulgaria, according to National Television (BNT) journalist Boyko Vasilev. "I was honoured to take part in the discussions initiated by the Bulgarian News Agency [BTA] and dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the April Uprising," Vasilev said on Monday, recalling his participation in recent conferences held in the press clubs of the national news agency in the centres of the four revolutionary districts of the uprising: Veliko Tarnovo, Sliven, Vratsa and Panagyurishte.

The TV journalist was speaking at the launch of the April issue of BTA's LIK magazine, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the April Uprising. The issue was presented together with a special edition of the Journal of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, devoted to the same anniversary. The launch of the two publications was held in Koprivshtitsa, the place of "the first shot" fired during the insurrection.

Vasilev, who joined online, noted that on Monday evening, BNT will broadcast a special live programme entitled "Dream Bulgaria", which will tell three stories from the 1876 uprising.

He highlighted several questions that the BTA-initiated discussions had raised for him. "What were the moments in Bulgarian history when young people could teach their mothers and fathers about freedom? Were these moments frequent?" Vasilev asked. He recounted that during the April Uprising young men aged between 21 and 26 stood before their fathers and confronted them with the question of freedom or death. These youths were wealthy and educated and had the opportunity to build careers in the Ottoman Empire. "They had everything except full political freedom," the journalist said.

For him, the role of Georgi Benkovski as a leader in the organization of the uprising is of great interest. In Vasilev's words, Benkovski raises several questions about Bulgarian leadership. "He used mythology, including a miracle, to mobilize Bulgarian peasants to rise up and demand their freedom," Vasilev said.

Vasilev also pointed to the role of journalists such as Hristo Botev and William Gladstone, whose work contributed to Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule. He explained that the journalists poured their talent into achieving freedom, without gain, without careers; they sought freedom itself as their purpose.