Mr. Mayor,

Mr. Deputy Prime Minister,

Distinguished Members of the Parliament,
Members of the Cabinet,
Your Holiness,
Generals, Army Officers, Sergeants and Soldiers,
Your Excellences,
Residents and guests of the proud town of Vratsa,

Dear Compatriots,

Tomorrow, June 2^nd, right at 12 at noon, whistles will blow all over the country. All vehicles will halt, Bulgarians will remain standstill. As every year at this moment – the whole nation, we all, are to bow down before the feat of Hristo Botev and in honor of all who perished for our freedom and independence.

Dear compatriots,

For 135 years the name of Hristo Botev equates with Bulgaria’s freedom. His name had become the measure of our national and human dignity, the unreachable and unrepeatable example of sacrifice.

We always remember with agitation of our souls the pages of history we know from childhood: Botev gathers the troupe, boards on the ship “Radetski”, writes his farewell letter to his wife: “ My dear Veneta If I die, I would like you to know that after my Homeland, I loved you most”, he than puts on the military uniform, takes hold of the ship, descends with the troupe on the coast at Kozlodui, and takes the road to Okolchitsa (the place where the fight against the turks broke out). Here, in the heights of the Balkan, the genius poet, publicist and revolutionary meets his death – and his immortality.

Year after year, at the eve of June 2^nd, the recognition and the spirit of Bulgaria gather here at the militant Vratsa. Year after year, as we honor the deeds of Botev, we ask ourselves: what is the legacy left to us of this genius, who transformed himself into a symbol of Bulgarian freedom?   Is it only the call for freedom? Is it only the ideal for equality or is it only the call for brotherhood? It seems to me what he bequeathed to us is the urge for dignity. Freedom, equality and brotherhood unite in one word – “dignity” in the mind of Botev. Dignity is what Botev’s poetry wants to awake in his countrymen and in his people.

What else besides faith in the dignity of his people could be in his thoughts and belief that after getting free the Bulgarian people at an equal foot with others will embark on the road of progress and develop its democratic roots.

Botev’s deep conviction was that the Bulgarian people carries in its very nature  the democratic principles, which left to develop freely will bring about the affirmation of human dignity, of progress and prosperity. It is to this cause of the future free development in particular that he sacrificed his life.

Dear compatriots,

It is only natural for every man and every people to think of the future. In one of his articles Botev describes the Bulgarian people in the following way: he has opened the doors of his house, looks to the world, with his back turned to the past and ahead to the future.

Let us ask ourselves today, let us ask ourselves tomorrow, keeping quiet and silent amidst the whistles blowing: what is the future we want for ourselves and what is the future we are working on? Are we aware of our responsibility before the future – all of us, living in Bulgaria today?

How are we developing the people’s, the democratic principles? What is our attitude towards human dignity? In what consists our patriotism today? These questions are important. The answers difficult. The latter are challenging us, but keeping our conscious awake.

Today at last Bulgaria finds itself in the free and democratic space of Europe, dreamed by the poet. And let us, right today, say loud the clear message that in this space we can not tolerate divisions, partisanship, instigations of parts of our people against each other, encroachments upon the human dignity. I would like to underscore here that it is the obligation of every Bulgarian citizen and particularly of every politician to work for the unity of the nation, for its prosperity and for the equality and dignity of its citizens in the name of our common goals.

Our unity, dear compatriots, has no alternative. Our unity is the guarantee of our dignity; unity is what will allow us to follow the road on progress, the road for which our genius poet Hristo Botev gave his life.

Let us, dear compatriots, live and work in such a way that we prove worthy for Botev’s sacrifice, and for all who perished for the freedom and independence of our cherished – free, independent and democratic Bulgaria.   

Long live Bulgaria!