site.btaInitiative Committee Proposes Construction of Khan Asparuh Monument on Site of Former Soviet Army Monument

An initiative committee proposed building a monument to Khan Asparuh, the founder of the Bulgarian state, on the site of the former Soviet Army Monument, the committee's Chair, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences member Georgi Markov, said at a press conference held on Monday at the National Press Club of the Bulgarian News Agency. This monument would serve as a unifying symbol for the entire nation, he added.

The committee includes prominent public figures such as zoologist Prof. Petar Beron, writer Rumen Dechev, political scientist and journalist Iskren Veselinov (deputy chair of the initiative committee), Union of Architects in Bulgaria Chair Petar Dikov and poet Boyko Lambovski.

The proposal will be submitted to the Sofia Municipality and the Initiative Committee will request a meeting with all relevant institutions.

In a statement to the public and institutions, the committee said that the location of the former Soviet Army Monument was highly symbolic for Sofia and the country. If a monument is to be erected there, it must embody an unifying and indisputable idea. The statement reads that the Soviet Army Monument has become a symbol of a contested past, opposition and division. The committee believes that Bulgarian society needs an indisputable historical symbol that carries a message through the years, inspiring self-confidence and optimism, and attracting visitors to Sofia and Bulgaria's glorious millennial history.

According to Iskren Veselinov, this initiative is a test for Bulgarian society, which has been extremely divided for years, with the only thing it can agree on being to block itself. Veselinov pointed out that 2031 will mark 1,400 years since the recognition of the so-called Old Great Bulgaria, after which came Danube Bulgaria. He expressed his support for the creation of a monument to Khan Asparuh.

Boyko Lambovski stated that every mature nation must be careful about the symbols of remembrance it creates, as these shape future generations. He added that Bulgarian society has not been careful, and there are many examples of this in the country's recent history for which everyone should feel ashamed. For example, Varna was called Stalin, and there were boulevards named after Hitler and Mussolini in Sofia, the poet recalled. 

Petar Beron said that the monument must be built as quickly as possible. He stated that an occupying army that brought a regime to Bulgaria which killed 20,000 people should not have a monument in the centre of Sofia. According to Beron, Bulgarians unite when presented with something positive, such as a monument to Khan Asparuh.