site.btaSouthern Forum of National Minorities of Ukraine Kicks Off in Odesa on Friday

The Southern Forum of National Minorities and the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine kicked off in Odesa on Friday. The event, organized by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience and the Odesa Regional Military Administration, serves as a platform for dialogue between representatives of state and local authorities, the diplomatic corps, public organizations, and experts from Kyiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, and Kherson Oblasts.

Forum participants discussed important issues in ethnic politics in four panels: the prospects for European integration in the field of the rights of national minorities and indigenous peoples, the preservation of cultural heritage, the role of youth in public life, and ways to overcome the problems faced by national minorities and indigenous peoples in Ukraine.

Official guests included representatives of the diplomatic corps in Odesa, among whom Bulgarian Consul General Svetoslav Ivanov and First Secretary at the Consulate Boris Borisov.

The head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience Viktor Yelensky addressed the participants with words of support and gratitude, emphasizing that Ukrainian military personnel representing national minorities are increasingly choosing to describe themselves as Bulgarian, Gagauz, Roma, and others, which demonstrates their will to preserve their ethnic identity even in the most difficult conditions.

He added: "Today, we see how the State is taking systematic steps to support and develop national minorities. Despite the challenges of war, we cannot lose our cultural diversity. This is not only a requirement of European integration on the path to EU membership, but above all, a step by the State towards the people in order to preserve and develop Ukraine's national wealth."

There are around 204,000 Bulgarians living in Ukraine according to the latest census. Bulgarians in the Odesa region number more than 150,000 and were the third largest population group in Ukraine in 2001, according to the official census. About 50,000 - 60,000 Bulgarians live in the city of Odesa itself. The largest compact Bulgarian population is concentrated in the Bolhrad, Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi districts.