site.btaPoliticians Reflect as the Nation Honours Its Heroes on Botev Day

Sirens halted traffic and pedestrians across Bulgaria for two minutes, marking the Day of Hristo Botev and Those Fallen for the Freedom and the Independence of Bulgaria, Monday.

The midday signal for remembrance marked ceremonies in Sofia, Vratsa, and many other towns, where officials, students, and citizens paid tribute to the 19th-century revolutionary and those who followed his example.

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov set the tone, placing flowers at Botev’s monument in the capital and writing that “history is not just remembered – it speaks… Hristo Botev is not just a name in the textbooks, but a symbol of the unwavering will that each of us carries,” Zhelyazkov said.

Across social media, political voices took up the theme of sacrifice. “It’s not easy being a hero… You need to make sacrifices… That’s probably why there aren’t that many heroes,” There Is Such a People (TISP) leader Slavi Trifonov wrote, urging Bulgarians to honour those without whom “we wouldn’t exist.”

The sirens’ echo became a moment for self-examination, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov argued. “Let us bow our heads to our great ancestors and reflect, if only for a moment, on what we have done and what we are willing to do for the freedom and independence of Bulgaria,” Kostadinov said, while inviting supporters to protest this week against adopting the euro.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov linked past struggle to present duty, posting Botev’s immortal line “He, who falls in fight for freedom, lives forevermore” and adding, “We bow our heads in tribute to Hristo Botev and those who died for the national liberation of Bulgaria.”

From City Hall, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev reminded citizens that the heroes “did not seek recognition… For them, the homeland was not a territory, but a cause,” Terziev said, urging honesty and vigilance “not only on the days of remembrance, but on all the other days.”

The day also rekindled Botev’s European vision. “150 years ago, Botev was aware that… we had to change the way our society functioned according to the principles of the newest science of freedom,” Continue the Change co-chair Kiril Petkov said, pointing to education, science and culture as the route forward.

Education Minister Krasimir Valchev echoed that message in Stara Zagora, noting that “Botev is at the heart of the national narrative that we pass on to our children… the spirituality that has preserved us through the centuries.”

For the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left, Botev’s legacy formed “the political criterium for social justice, humanity and progressiveness,” the group said, stressing that the poet-revolutionary “is not a professional revolutionary, rebel or chieftain… a revolutionary in spirit.”

High on Mount Okolchitsa, where Botev’s detachment fought its last battle, National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova called him “a symbol of liberty against oppression, a symbol of self-sacrifice for the homeland, and of complete harmony between his words and deeds,” Kiselova said as wreaths were laid and church bells tolled.