Radev: Thanks to the sacrifice of the martyrs, we now have a country

Bulgaria marks 150 years since the April Uprising. It broke out in 1876 and is one of the most significant and dramatic events in Bulgarian history - the high point of the national liberation struggle against the Ottoman Empire. Suppressed with cruelty, it attracted Europe's attention to the Bulgarian cause.

"150 years separate us from the feat of thousands of Bulgarians who rose up against the Ottoman Empire in the name of freedom," Rumen Radev, the leader of the Progressive Bulgaria party, which won yesterday's parliamentary elections in the country, wrote on Facebook. "The heroic impulse of our enslaved ancestors, who were not patriots for the sake of position and benefit, but daring and self-sacrificing heroes, ended tragically. But it brought the Fatherland out of non-existence and brought its fate to the attention of the European peoples. Its suppression and thousands of victims give rise to a wave of empathy in the Christian world. In Russia, the fate of the Orthodox Bulgarian people became the center of political passions. Thanks to the feat and self-sacrifice of the martyrs, today we have a state, a coat of arms and a flag, we speak and write in our native language. Let us not forget that the blood of our ancestors still flows in our veins. Let us be worthy heirs," Radev wrote.

"The Bloody Letter" heralds the beginning of the April Uprising

Editor: Miglena Ivanova