Greece to return Tsar Samuil’s remains to Bulgaria

''We have reached a historic agreement on the return of the remains of Tsar Samuil'', Prime Minister Rumen Radev said at the beginning of a government meeting. He added that the agreement was the result of intensive negotiations between Bulgaria and Greece. “On Saturday, October 3, at 12:30 p.m., I invite all Bulgarians to Battenberg Square, in front of the Royal Palace in Sofia, to welcome the remains together and pay tribute to the great Bulgarian ruler”, Rumen Radev said, as quoted by BTA.

A decades-old unresolved issue of particular historical and symbolic significance to Greek-Bulgarian relations appears to be nearing a resolution, Greek news outlet naftemporiki.gr reported. The Greek government in Athens is expected to hand over the remains of Tsar Samuil to Bulgaria by the end of the week. They were discovered in 1969 by Greek archaeologist Nikolaos Moutsopoulos in the Basilica of St. Achilleios in the Small Prespa Lake.

The issue of returning the tsar’s remains was raised in 2022 by then-Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev during negotiations on practical energy and infrastructure connectivity between the two neighboring countries.

The Greek Orthodox Church has also expressed its position on the return of the tsar’s remains, according to the report cited by Bulgarian online media.

As a military commander and later as ruler, Tsar Samuil defended Bulgarian lands for 43 years against the Byzantine Empire’s invasion, which lasted for half a century. He died on October 6, 1014, in Prespa.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov