site.btaBNT Host Urges Critical Reflection on Bulgaria’s Revolutionary History

“Talking about Bulgaria and love for Bulgaria is not just to praise ourselves, but to understand what isn’t working and what we can fix,” said Boyko Vasilev, executive producer and host of the Panorama talkshow on Bulgarian National Television. He was speaking here Wednesday at a BTA-organized conference that commemorates a December 1875 decision by the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee to launch the 1876 April Uprising in Bulgaria.

The event brought together academics, public officials, diplomats, journalists, and students from Bulgaria and Romania. It is part of a joint initiative of BTA, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), called “14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe” for commemorating anniversaries in Bulgarian history that are significant for European history through to 2032, when 1,400 years will be marked since the establishment in 632 of the first Bulgarian state in Europe - Old Great Bulgaria.

Vasilev shared his emotions after visiting earlier in the day sites linked to the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee and Hristo Botev’s detachment boarding the ship Radetski, as well as the Pantheon of the National Revival and Zahari Stoyanov’s tomb in Ruse. He emphasized the courage and vision of the young revolutionaries: “These people were relatively wealthy, but they showed there is something far more important than wealth. They sought the ultimate freedom: to make their own free decisions.”

He also highlighted Stoyanov’s Notes on the Bulgarian Uprisings, noting that asking the right questions about what motivates collective action, and what ultimately leads to glory or failure, is often more important than finding definitive answers.