“The decisive actions of the Bulgarian leaders and of the nation during the 1885 Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia proved that when Bulgarians unite over a just and worthy cause they are able to forge their national fate themselves, instead of being onlookers of history while the powerful of the day decide for them”, an address of President Rosen Plevneliev on the occasion of Unification Day reads. On 6 September 1885 the Ottoman rule in Southern Bulgaria was abolished. “I believe that the decades that have passed since those glorious events have tempered our character, made us wiser and stronger in upholding our national interests”, the president also said.