Statement by Georg Georgiev, national coordinator of the Government for combating antisemitism
14 February 2018 News
In my capacity as national coordinator for combating antisemitism and in connection with an alarming and, I could say, a disgraceful event, which is upcoming, namely the Lukov March, planned for Saturday, I am declaring:
The Bulgarian people have shown over the years that their tolerance and ability to live side-by-side in the same territory with members of different races, peoples and ethnic groups is solid and they would not allow any compromise on the ethnic model, established over so many centuries. In 1943 Bulgaria did not bend under Nazi pressure and did not abandon its Jews to the concentration camps. For fifty years Bulgarian people withstood the repressions, oppression and terror by communists. I do not believe that today Bulgarian people will yield to a provocation, aimed at returning us to the dark times and to making us respect people, who for some reason were instrumental in one of the most obscurant regimes in human history. And here I place an absolute equal sign among all totalitarian dictatorships, which tried to repress the free spirit and everybody’s chance to live based on his opportunities and capabilities.
I would be very happy, of course, if on one hand this march of hatred and of showing a non-typical side of Bulgaria, would be cancelled. Especially in such an important moment of our history, when it could compromise its reputation and image abroad and detract us from the European road, on which we have embarked.
I am calling on all parties and representatives, to refrain from speculation on this topic and from trying to use in any way this occasion for deriving dubious short-term benefits and dividends and for this event to become and provide an opportunity, while trying to criticize one totalitarian person or regime, to vindicate another one. Because as I said earlier, all of them had a cost in human lives. All of them placed this country in a disgraceful situation, from which it was always able to emerge, however, and to demonstrate that this was not part of its nature. I hope that on Saturday we will not witness an event of this kind, which would damage its reputation.