site.btaBTA Director General: Bulgaria Is Everywhere There Are Bulgarians, October 29 to Be Marked with Ilia Lukov Concerts in Odesa, Taraclia

On the occasion of Bulgaria's National Day, March 3, the Bulgarian Consulate General in Odesa in cooperation with the BTA National Press Club in the city organized a meeting with representatives of the Bulgarian community and a cultural programme on Saturday. BTA Director General Kiril Valchev together with folk singer Ilia Lukov made a video address to the gathered representatives of the Bulgarian community from Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.

"Dear Bulgarians who have gathered in Odesa to celebrate the National Day of Bulgaria, March 3, happy holiday from the BTA in Sofia, whose building is lit up in the colours of the Bulgarian flag. I wish you many holidays in your souls, not in the calendar, because the greatest holiday for the soul is freedom," said Valchev.

"During these three difficult years of war, we did many things together," he uderscored and pointed out that the BTA opened a national press club in Odesa with a permanent correspondent, many meetings were held, including the 19th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, which was also in Odesa. "And the last thing we did together was the concert to celebrate the Day of Bessarabian Bulgarians, October 29, the concert in the park near the BTA National Press Club, on Deribasovska Street. The concert of Desi Dobreva and your ensembles from different villages of Odesa region", Valchev recalled.

"Now we are at the BTA together with Mr. Ilia Lukov, with whom we have just signed an agreement, with which we will jointly organize the celebration of October 29, the Day of Bessarabian Bulgarians this year, with concerts organized by the National Press Club of the BTA in Odesa, the Consulate General in Odesa and personally by Consul General Svetoslav Ivanov, whom I personally congratulate," said the Director General.

He said that the week before, after and during the celebration, Lukov will give concerts in other settlements in Odesa Region: Bolhrad, Izmail, Kamchik, Kulevcha, and also to Bulgarians in Taraclia in Moldova.

A special greeting to the Bulgarians in Ukraine was also given by Lukov - the song Call for Bulgaria, which is based on a text by the Bessarabian Bulgarian poet Petar Burlak-Valkanov. "With this song, we started the concert in Hall 1 [of the National Palace of Culture] in Sofia on October 29. I am happy that in the hall there were more than 300 of our young students from Moldova, Ukraine, Kosovo, Albania, Western suburbs", said Lukov. "Call for Bulgaria is a greeting to all of you, a wonderful embrace that can give you strength in times when it is not easy for you," the singer also said.