site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria Marks 146th Anniversary of Liberation from Ottoman Rule
Bulgaria is celebrating its national day on Sunday. March 3 marks the 146th anniversary of the signing of the Preliminary Peace Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, which ended the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War and restored Bulgarian statehood.
The San Stefano Treaty was signed by Russia and the Ottoman Empire in San Stefano (then a village on the western outskirts of Constantinople and now Yesilkoy, a neighbourhood of Istanbul). It constituted Bulgaria "an autonomous tributary Principality" following 482 years of Ottoman rule in the Bulgarian lands.
This year, the town of Kazanlak (Central Bulgaria) hosted the commemorations on Mt. Shipka in the Central Balkan Range. They began with a prayer service at the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the town of Shipka followed by a solemn commemoration ceremony at the Monument to Liberty.
President Rumen Radev and National Assembly Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov addressed the thousands of people gathered near the monument.
Bulgaria's National Day was marked with commemorative events across the country. Observances were held in Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Dobrich, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Stara Zagora, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, Yambol, among others.
In Sofia, a ceremony of raising the national flag took place in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier. It was attended by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel, cabinet ministers, Chief of Defence Admiral Emil Eftimov, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev, representatives of diplomatic missions and religious denominations in Bulgaria, among others. Later in the day, the officials attended a solemn military tattoo in the National Assembly Square.
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