site.btaGreatest Contribution of Greeks, Bulgarians to Europe Are Greek, Cyrillic Alphabets, Says BTA Director General in Thessaloniki

The Greek and the Bulgarian alphabets are the greatest contribution of Greeks and Bulgarians to Europe, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said during a cross-border conference held here on Wednesday. The event was part of BTA’s Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project.

He emphasized that the Greek alphabet and the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet were added to the one alphabet of the remaining 25 countries in the EU, namely the Latin alphabet. "That is why today at this conference we preferred to have our rich languages ​​sound symbolic, without the need for the mediation of the English language," Valchev said.

Valchev stressed that EU membership is mutually beneficial: “We often hear how much money Bulgaria and Greece receive from the EU, but we must also recognize how much the EU benefits from Bulgaria and Greece and its people”, adding that BTA’s project, “Europe in the Balkans: Together through Knowledge”, supported by the European Commission, seeks to foster knowledge exchange between people in Bulgaria, the Balkans, and the rest of the EU.

He recalled that BTA started this project in Veliki Preslav to emphasize the inclusion of the Cyrillic alphabet as the third alphabet in the EU thanks to Bulgaria. He pointed out that 2025, marks 1140 years since the death of Saint Methodius, as well as 1170 years since the creation of the first Bulgarian script (Glagolitic) in 855 by him and his brother Saint Cyril. The Glagolitic alphabet is the first graphic system of the Bulgarian language, upon which the students of the Thessaloniki holy brothers created and developed with the patronage and support of the Bulgarian rulers the second graphic system, namely the Cyrillic alphabet.

"It was the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, born in Thessaloniki with Slavic blood, who created the strongest connection between today's Bulgarians and Greeks, namely knowledge," Valchev stressed, adding that the Bulgarian alphabet became the first Christian alphabet in the EU, as the other two alphabets were created during pagan times. "This Christian essence is especially visible in the first graphic version of the Bulgarian letters because there are many Christian symbols in the Glagolitic alphabet," he noted.

Valchev said that BTA introduced a new Cyrillic font in 2025, called LIK, named after the name of the BTA magazine for literature, art and culture. The LIK font was created by the National Academy of Arts in Sofia based on the letters of the students of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century in Bulgaria. BTA provides it for free use by all Bulgarian public institutions in the name of achieving a unified look, Valchev emphasized.

He pointed out that the Greek and Bulgarian alphabets make a much greater contribution to the EU than two other options for expression, as they carry the centuries-old wisdom of the eastern parts of Europe, namely the Greek from Antiquity, and the Bulgarian from the spread of Christianity. Valchev stated that Christianity first became a legal religion in the Roman Empire precisely in the Bulgarian lands, through the edict of 311 by Emperor Galerius in Serdica (today's Sofia), adding that Sofia bears the name of God's wisdom, just as the Greek capital Athens bears the name of the goddess of wisdom in ancient Greek mythology.

Valchev emphasized that the wisdom of the common Orthodox faith remains the strongest commonality between Bulgarians and Greeks, to whom Europe owes the preservation of Christianity in its eastern part and which is the basis of the values ​​of the EU, being also imposed as universal human values. A symbol of this commonality is Mount Athos, where, alongside the Greek monasteries, there is also the Bulgarian Zograf, he noted, adding that they celebrated the feast of its patron Saint George on Tuesday there.

He pointed out that Greece and Bulgaria contribute to the EU with many more things, naming the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea as examples, which are Europe's path to the Eastern World. "In the EU, these seas can be much more connected, with Bulgaria having an interest in participating in the development of the Aegean Sea ports of Alexandroupolis and Kavala, as well as using the port in Thessaloniki, just as Greece has an interest in using the waters of the common rivers that come from Bulgaria and on which agriculture in Northern Greece depends," Valchev pointed out.

He stressed the fact that Bulgaria and Greece have been together in Europe for centuries before the EU as well, but their membership in the EU has removed all borders between them. "Exactly a year ago, here again in Thessaloniki at the previous conference, again on a joint project of BTA with the European Commission (...), we talked about the fact that the common border between Bulgaria and Greece should be fully opened as soon as possible and Bulgaria should be part of Schengen (...)," Valchev noted, adding that today this is already a fact, as both Bulgarians and Greeks now can travel freely to the other country for tourism, business, work, education and cultural events. 

Valchev stated that it is through dialogue that Bulgaria and Greece bear a great responsibility to jointly convey knowledge about the EU to the other countries in Europe that are not members of the EU. This is also a continuation of the policy of Bulgaria, which dedicated its first presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2018 to the enlargement of the EU in the Western Balkans, as well as of the common European policy to promote the development of regional cooperation through targeted financing with cross-border cohesion funds, he said.

He recalled that at the cross-border conferences in Skopje, Belgrade and Bosilegrad BTA noted Bulgaria's contribution in passing on its knowledge about the EU and the opportunities in the EU to Bulgarian citizens in the Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia. "We also emphasized this at the BTA National Press Club in Bucharest in Romania, as membership in the EU removed all borders between both countries", Valchev noted. Especially valuable knowledge that Bulgaria and Greece must convey to countries still outside the EU is the opportunities in the field of education that the EU provides for European citizens, he stressed, adding that the emphasis of the conference here is the participation of university professors from Thessaloniki, Blagoevgrad and Varna.

Even before the border openings between Bulgaria and Greece with the entry into Schengen, the national news agencies of Bulgaria and Greece set an example by eliminating the barriers to knowledge about current events in both countries, Valchev recalled, stressing that the common past requires that people know their present better. He stated that the two agencies have been together in the European Alliance of News Agencies for years, while BTA also became the headquarters of the Association of Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA - SEE), with its first president being the President of the Athens Macedonian News Agency (AMNA-MPA) Aimilios Perdikaris, who is participating in this conversation today.

"We used our cooperation in these international organizations to deepen our cooperation in the name of more knowledge about today in both countries. For more than three years, we have been exchanging one news item with AMNA-MPA every day under an agreement that we signed on December 3, 2021, which was one of BTA's first agreements for daily exchange of news with the national news agencies of the Balkan countries," Valchev recalled. He announced that by the end of 2025, BTA plans to send a permanent correspondent and open a National Press Club in Athens, thanks to which Greece will also be a permanent part of the general European talks that BTA organizes.

The European Commission's choice of BTA to organize this joint project on cohesion policies and the common future of the Balkans is natural, as for 127 years the "B" in the agency's name has stood not only for Bulgarian, but also for Balkan, Valchev emphasized, adding that news about the Balkans have been present in BTA since its first day in 1898. He noted that since 2021 BTA has a Balkans Directorate and that the agency announces the annual Athlete of the Balkans ranking since 1973, which it creates with the participation of the sports editorial offices of all Balkan news agencies.

Information is the basis of any understanding and that is why BTA makes great efforts to provide more knowledge about Bulgaria's neighbours, Valchev concluded. "In this way, we help to fulfill the advice of the Thessaloniki Saint Cyril, who in the words of the Roman Pope was a precious man, that just as fire tests gold and silver, a person should use his mind to separate lies from truth", he stressed.

BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project aims to raise public awareness and foster open dialogue about cohesion policy, local achievements, and the implementation of the EU's policy priorities. The project kicked off with a conference in Veliki Preslav in November 2024. The schedule of conferences until the end of September 2025 includes events in the following cities: Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Razgrad, Ruse, Samokov, Svishtov, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Troyan, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, and Yambol. Cross-border conferences will be held in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje, and Thessaloniki. The project builds on the Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future and Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future projects, implemented by BTA in 2023 and 2024, respectively.