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Bulgarians Bring Flowers to Monument to Alexander II to Express Gratitude for Liberation from Turkish Rule

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Bulgarians Bring Flowers to Monument to Alexander II to Express Gratitude for Liberation from Turkish Rule


04.03.2015

The Bulgarian national holiday – Liberation Day – was celebrated on March 3, marking the 137th anniversary of the liberation of Balkan country in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Government officials, members of the clergy and other residents of Sofia laid flowers at the Monument to the Tsar Liberator – Alexander II, which is situated in front of the National Assembly of Bulgaria.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev, Bulgarian Patriarch Neofit, Chairperson of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva, Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova, the Minister of Defence, the Council of Ministers, ministries, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) and the parliamentary groups.

Anatoly Karpov, President of the International Association of Peace Foundations, read a message from State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin to the participants of the ceremony. The message was read in Russian without a translation.

Earlier in the day Patriarch Neofit of Bulgaria held a solemn service at the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia. Along with high-ranking members of the Bulgarian clergy, priests, representatives of the Russian and Romanian Orthodox Churches with the Bulgarian Patriarchate, Patriarch Neofit said prayed for the souls of all Russian, Romanian, Finnish, Ukrainian and Belarusian soldiers and members of the Bulgarian volunteer corps who died for Bulgaria’s liberation.

In Moscow on March 3 a memorial service was held at the chapel built in honor of Russian soldiers who died during the Siege of Plevna. On this date each year a service is held in honor of the Russian and Bulgarian soldiers who gave up their lives during the war.

On March 3, 1878, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed, putting an end to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and an Eastern Orthodox coalition led by the Russian Empire, and re-establishing the Bulgarian state.

Russkiy Mir Foundation Information Service

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