site.btaBSP - United Left Reacts to Other Parliamentary Groups' Declarations on 100th Anniversary of St Nedelya Bombing

The BSP - United Left Parliamentary Group Wednesday issued a declaration in connection with the 100th anniversary of the bombing attack at the St Nedelya Church and reacting to declarations on the same occasion, released earlier by GERB-UDF and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria.

"The loss of human life could always be an occasion for social reconciliation. We have repeatedly urged from this rostrum that we should not and must not invoke the blood of those killed a hundred years ago in connection with our current political aims and objectives," said Galin Durev MP of BSP - United Left, reading the declaration in the debating chamber.

"All of us assess this historical event as one of the most tragic events in Bulgarian history, but we should still mention that it took place in a specific historical context. In that period Bulgaria was gripped by a bloody civil war and we should not deny this fact of history," the lawmaker went on to say.

"Let us recall that the events preceding that attack were the bloody suppression of the June and September [1923] uprisings. Let us recall that a Protection of the State Act operated in Bulgaria and the then Alexander Tsankov cabinet used it to deal with the political opposition in the country," Durev added.

"We should also keep in mind that that unlawful and unconstitutional government of Bulgaria, which came to power in a coup d'etat after the assassination of Prime Minister Alexander Stamboliiski, was completely ostracized by the international community, which even refused to finance Bulgaria so as to cope with the refugee crisis," he added. Durev insisted that "in order to advance as society, we need to return to reconciliation, we need to revisit the lessons of that period. There is no way we can seek to throw bridges to each other, to build our future, if uncomfortable truths are thrown out of Bulgarian and history curricula," he added, saying that apart from the church attack, all forms of political repression of citizens should be condemned.

"Let us remember that violence begets violence, so let us not invoke the blood of the dead in our present-day political actions for the sake of our current political objectives," the BSP - United Left declaration concludes.