September 22 marks 108 years since the proclamation of Bulgaria’s independence.
On September 22, 1908, by force of a manifesto by Prince Ferdinand, Bulgaria renounced all claims by the Ottoman Empire over Southern Bulgaria as a vassal state, known prior to the country’s reunification as Eastern Rumelia. Bulgarians also rejected all financial commitments to the empire and to the West European nations under the Berlin Treaty concluded thirty years earlier. The declaration of independence provoked the Ottoman Empire to mobilize its army in Thrace; the war was only avoided in the spring of 1909 thanks to the diplomatic moves by the government of Alexander Malinov and the mediation of Russia. Anniversary celebrations will take place across Bulgaria but the main events be in Veliko Turnovo, where the independence manifesto was read out publicly.