site.btaBulgarian Community in Moldova Celebrates Bulgaria Independence Day

The Bulgarian community Moldova marked the 114th anniversary of the declaration of Bulgaria’s independence in front of the Bulgarian Militia Memorial in Cisinau. Students from the Vassil Levski Bulgarian Lyceum recounted the events of September 22, 1908 and sang Bulgarian folk songs. 

The gathering was addressed by the Bulgarian Ambassador to Moldova, Evgeny Syoichev, who spoke of the historic significance of the day for the Bulgarian people, as well as by the Chairman of the Taraclia regional council, Ivan Paslar.

The Chairman of the Academic Society of Bulgarian Studies in Moldova, historian Ivan Duminica, spoke about the part played by the then prime minister of the Principality of Bulgaria, Alexander Malinov, in the declaration of Bulgaria’s independence. Besides everything else, Malinov was of Bessarabian Bulgarian origin. Duminica also explained why the date should be marked by the Bulgarian Militia Memorial.

Even before the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation of 1877-1878, the first Bulgarian volunteers to fight for Bulgaria’s freedom from Ottoman rule gathered in what is today Cisinau in the fall of 1876. These 700 or so men were supported by the Cisinau Bulgarian Society. The first regular militia of some 300, mainly from Cisinau and Southern Bessarabia, began on March 31, 1877.

Finally, flowers were laid at the memorial in honour of the memory of all who contributed to Bulgaria’s independence.