A national committee for the commemoration of the 170th anniversary of Hristo Botev will be set up on 18 January in Parliament, said Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva at the poet’s anniversary commemoration ceremony at his birthplace, Kalofer. It set the beginning of a series of celebrations, held under the auspices of the Speaker of Parliament, to pay homage to the memory of Hristo Botev this year.

On Hristo Botev square, Tsveta Karayancheva received the parade order and guard of honour of the representative units of the 61st Stryamska mechanised brigade. She laid flowers at the monument of poet’s mother Ivanka Boteva and Hristo Botev’s bust in Hristo Botev National Museum.

170 years after the birth of our immortal poet and revolutionary, his songs, which are a symbol of our aspiration to freedom and independence, still touch the hearts of all Bulgarians, said the Speaker of Parliament in her speech at the ceremonial meeting in Hristo Botev 1869 cultural centre. Botev will live in our souls and the souls of future generations, added Tsveta Karayancheva.

The birthplace of Botev is where we can best understand his poetry and appreciate the significance of his work, because this is where his passion was born, said Mayor of Kalofer Rumen Stoyanov. We are Bulgarian inasmuch as we hold a piece of Botev in our hearts, he said to those who attended the commemoration of the 170th anniversary of the eminent poet and revolutionary.

The Speaker of Parliament saw Botev’s museum and wrote in the visitors’ book: “Our homage to Botev’s heroism is homage to Bulgaria, our native land, because without Botev, we would not have our Fatherland today. We will know and remember him, as long as Bulgarians live.”

Museum director Asya Nikolova introduced the exhibition of the poet’s few personal belongings, preserved until today, and presented an honorary plaque to the Speaker of Parliament.

The event was attended by, among others, MPs, Mayor of Karlovo Emil Kabaivanov, Chair of Karlovo’s Municipal Council Teodor Shoylekov and chief of garrison Brigade General Plamen Yordanov.