BTA Director General: Thanks to Anita Ekenova, Bulgarian Emigrants Show Every Year How They Carry Their Homeland in Their Hearts

Angela Georgieva, Petya Petrova

BTA Director General Kiril Valchev (BTA Photo/Milena Stoykova)

Sofia,

15.10.2025 18:06

(BTA)

Thanks to Anita Ekenova, Bulgarian emigrants show every year how they carry their homeland in their hearts, said Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev in his remarks during the award ceremony for Bulgarian Woman of the Year – St. Zlata of Meglen, which took place on Wednesday, October 15, at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia. This year’s award was given to Anita Ekenova from Lyon, France.

Valchev said that he first met Anita Ekenova at the end of May 2022 in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, where the seventh edition of the travelling folklore festival mottoed "Expats Join Hands in Worldwide Dance" was held. "At that time, BTA had just launched a new section, BG World, on its website, dedicated to news from and about Bulgarians around the globe, and I took the opportunity to ask Bulgarian folklore groups and associations worldwide to send us news that the Agency could publish," he said.

Valchev added that three years later, once again thanks to Anita Ekenova's invitation, he attended the tenth edition of the travelling folklore festival in Lyon, hosted by the dance group Ot Izvora (From the Spring), led by Anita Ekenova. "By then, we had the confidence to say that BTA had become the square for news from Bulgarian communities abroad - a platform not only connecting them with Bulgaria, but also with each other across different countries. Because in the BG World section, in just four years, the number of publications about Bulgarians abroad grew from 243 in 2021 to more than 8,000 in 2024."

He added that through BTA, Bulgarians around the world can now learn a great deal about the changing face of Bulgaria. However, he emphasized that the country needs the return of Bulgarians who, thanks to Anita Ekenova, have preserved what they carried with them from the source - their homeland.

"Because here, we need the knowledge and experience accumulated by Bulgarians across the globe. But most of all, we need the love for all things Bulgarian - the love that Anita shows with this dance festival," Valchev added. "Anita Ekenova is an example of how, wherever in the world a Bulgarian may be, they can love Bulgaria with all their heart," he said.

/DS/