site.btaSofia University Rector Urges Today's Bulgarians to Have Faith as Did April Uprising Participants 150 Years Ago

The people who planned and conducted the 1876 April Uprising of the Bulgarians against Ottoman rule started out with faith in Bulgaria's future. "If in today's society we all, through our behaviour and actions, manage to restore this faith in Bulgaria's future, then we will have done our job," Sofia University Rector Georgi Valchev said on Monday during a national gathering at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences commemorating the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the April Uprising. The meeting was held under the auspices of Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova.

Valchev thanked local authorities nationwide, the school system and the teachers who have managed to engage students in the anniversary celebrations. He noted the role of the media, particularly the public service broadcasters, among them the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) which co-organized a series of conferences in the four former capitals of the districts of the April Uprising.

Academician Ivan Ilchev delivered a report entitled "The Uprising that Put Bulgaria Back on the Map of Europe". The historian noted that the insurrection was carried out without foreign assistance.