President Rumen Radev will participate in a large-scale commemoration of the 122nd anniversary of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in the historic area of Petrova Niva. The event is organized under the official patronage of the head of state, which emphasizes its national significance.
The ceremony will start with a memorial service at the St. Petka Ossuary, where a funeral prayer will be held in memory of the fallen Preobrazhentsi. Subsequently, a solemn ceremony will be held in front of the memorial complex, during which the president will review the parade of representative companies from the National Guard Unit.
The program includes a scientific conference dedicated to the "Church-National Struggles of Bulgarians in Thrace", which will mark 155 years since the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate. An additional initiative will be the tourist hike "Along the Path of the Preobrazhentsi", which will allow participants to touch the historical heritage.
The historical context of the uprising reveals the dramatic struggle of the Bulgarian population in Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace against Ottoman rule. Starting on August 2, 1903, the uprising was organized by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) with the aim of liberating territories left outside the borders of newly liberated Bulgaria according to the Berlin Treaty of July 13, 1878.
The scale of the armed resistance is impressive - about 25,000 insurgents faced a 350,000-strong Turkish army in nearly 240 battles. The consequences were devastating: 205 villages were destroyed, over 70,000 people were left homeless, and more than 5,000 died. Around 30,000 people were forced to leave their native places, with the majority finding refuge in Bulgaria.