site.btaPresident Iotova: Peace Is Possible in a World Full of Conflicts

"Peace is possible in a world full of military conflicts, and I will say so from the highest international tribune of the United Nations," President Iliana Iotova said in an interview with Bulgarian National Television ahead of her upcoming address at UN headquarters in New York.

For the first time in many years, there has been discussion about reorganizing the UN itself, an organization created under different historical circumstances, Iotova said. The world has changed considerably since then, and the deadlock in the UN Security Council needs to be addressed, she added. The only way to achieve peace is to seek solutions and compromises through diplomatic efforts and to create conditions for shared security, the Bulgarian President said.

Iotova said it was a source of pride for Bulgaria that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had mentioned this country not as one facing sanctions, but in connection with plans for the Bulgarian Government to host a summit in several months with the participation of many countries to discuss Europe's energy and infrastructure connectivity and security.

“I have always dreamed of such a role for our country, rather than a policy in which our positions are usually an echo of what someone somewhere else has decided,” Iotova said. She stressed the importance of Bulgaria having a clearly stated position, backed by the State and citizens, while seeking allies for specific causes and defending the country's interests.

Asked about the election campaign, Iotova said she would not put labels on it. The campaign for president and vice president, in which she will participate and which officially begins on September 25, will be positive and will involve dialogue with people about the country's most important problems, she said. “I can argue with arguments, reasons and facts, but not with lies,” Iotova said.

Iotova also said that members of the team working on her campaign had approached her months ago and offered to run the same campaign for one of her opponents, who at the time was still caretaker prime minister. “I refused. And the way I have conducted myself throughout my time as President of Bulgaria has demonstrated a different style and a different way of working,” she said.

On the Petrohan murders case, Iotova said it was “one of the greatest bleeding wounds for us as a society.” Politics disappears from the issue when people see, read and understand what happened there, she said.

Iotova questioned how nobody had noticed for so long what was happening just a few kilometres from Sofia and why certain politicians appeared in photographs from the area.

She said many questions remained to be answered, which was the responsibility of other institutions. Iotova also questioned how the children who were killed had been allowed not to attend school for years and who had registered the school they attended. The investigation should be pursued to the end and determine whether similar structures exist elsewhere, she said.

“Any attempt to sweep this case under the carpet is another blow to us as people,” Iotova said.