139th Anniversary of Unification of Bulgarian Principality and Eastern Rumelia Marked Countrywide

On Friday, September 6, Bulgaria celebrates the 139th anniversary of the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885. It is a public holiday, with observances held across the country. Commemorative events were scheduled across the country throughout the day.

Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and President Rumen Radev visited the city of Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria, to participate in a traditional ceremonial tattoo. Radev, who is also a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, saluted the servicemen and delivered a speech on the occasion. The tattoo in Plovdiv was the culmination of the observances across the country.

The celebrations in Plovdiv were also attended by National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, caretaker Interior MInister Atanas Ilkov, Metropolitan Nicholas of Plovdiv, representatives of the judiciary, politicians, as well as hundreds of citizens.

Addressing the public on Facebook, earlier on Friday, Glavchev wrote: "Today, we seek to remove the last border artificially separating us from the European Union. United we will succeed! Unity makes strength! Happy holiday! Long live Bulgaria," he said.

In Sofia, a solemn ceremony was held at the mausoleum of Prince Alexander I of Battenberg to mark the anniversary. The National Guards Unit took part in the commemorative event. Addressing the occasion, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev said that this day comes to recall the lessons of history, and for the sake of the national cause politicians should set aside their differences and unite, following their people.

In Varna, on the Black Sea, a historical reenactment of the unification events of 1885 took place. The reenactment on Independence Square recreated the moment when Prince Alexander I of Battenberg proclaimed for the first time the Unification of the Bulgarian Principality and Eastern Rumelia in Varna.

In Veliko Tarnovo, North Central Bulgaria, the festive programme included a blessing ceremony in front of the Mother Bulgaria monument in the city centre, a solemn march, performed by cadets of the Vasil Levski National Military University, as well as traditional folklore dances.

Solemn ceremonies, wreath-layings, military tattoos, historical reenactments and concerts were held earlier in the day or are to be held later in the day in all regional centres in Bulgaria, as well as in many smaller towns.

The Unification

Eastern Rumelia was established on May 19, 1879, by the Berlin Treaty as an Ottoman autonomous province (vilayet) on 35,208 sq km of Bulgarian lands south of the Balkan Range, with the southern city of Plovdiv as its administrative centre. In a nearly bloodless military coup, on September 6, 1885, local irredentists, organized in a Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee and led by Zahari Stoyanov, ousted the provincial government and arrested the provincial Governor General Gavril Krastevich without meeting any resistance. The revolutionaries reunited the territory with the Bulgarian Principality in defiance of the Great Powers' settlement of the Eastern Question. The unionists set up a provisional government under Georgi Stranski, and Major Danail Nikolaev was appointed commander-in-chief of the Rumelian militia (armed forces). Bulgarian troops entered the former Eastern Rumelia together with government officials of the Principality. On September 8, the head of State of the Principality, Prince Alexander I of Battenberg, issued a manifesto proclaiming himself "Prince of Northern and Southern Bulgaria" and arrived in Plovdiv on September 9.

The Union was eventually recognized by Turkey, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Great Britain, Italy and Russia by the April 5, 1886, Convention of Top-Khane. Under the Convention, the Prince of Bulgaria was appointed Governor General of Eastern Rumelia, thus keeping de jure the status of Eastern Rumelia as an Ottoman province despite its de facto administrative merger with the Principality. The Unification was legally finalized as late as in 1908, when Bulgaria declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Even without the drama of bloodshed, the Unification opened up a new chapter in the development of the Bulgarian nation by bringing divided territories back together into a single state. It remains a symbol of an independent national cause which succeeded despite unfavourable circumstances in a world dominated by foreign influences and the diktat of external powers.

/KK/