site.btaRomanian Parliament Marks Bulgarian Alphabet Day

Bulgarian resounded in the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of parliament) in Bucharest on Monday. Speaking from the rostrum, MP Gheorghe Nacov, the voice of the Bulgarian minority in Romania, greeted his colleagues in connection with Bulgaria's Alphabet Day, May 24, which is also officially Bulgarian Language Day in Romania.

Bulgarian Ambassador to Romania Radko Vlaykov was in the chamber. BTA was the only news institution invited to cover the event.

"Happy letters' day!" Nacov said, speaking to the MPs in Bulgarian. Switching to Romanian, he recalled that May 24 was declared Bulgarian Language Day in Romania in 2015 on the initiative of Niculae Mircovici, who represented the Bulgarian minority in Parliament at the time.

Nacov went on to say that the people of the two neighbouring countries have a shared history, and Orthodox Christianity is their common religion. The Cyrillic alphabet used to be another link between them for a long time, he added. The earliest standard form of the Bulgarian language was created in Vinga, in today's Arad County, Western Romania in the second half of the 19th century, as Bulgarian linguists know well, Nacov said.

He also noted that Romania provided shelter to Bulgarian revolutionaries and a home to Bulgarian immigrants. Romania was a strong ally in the struggle for Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule, he said.

His speech was applauded by the Romanian legislators.