Rumen Radev has proven that he is rarely historically illiterate. This commented Bulgarian historian Alexander Stoyanov on the occasion of Prime Minister Radev's statement that “the time of the Crusades is over“.
“The war (in Ukraine) has long gone beyond the trenches and spread to the economy, energy, sports, culture, and now it is starting to encompass religion. I think the time of the Crusades is over“, said Radev about the prepared new package of sanctions against Russia, which Sofia may veto. Bulgaria does not support the imposition of symbolic sanctions against the Russian Patriarch Kirill, as such measures would not contribute to achieving the main goal of the sanctions policy against Russia, Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova said earlier.
Here is what Alexander Stoyanov said:
In addition to the fact that Bulgaria would stop Europe's crusade against Russia, it turns out that we were indebted to the Russian Orthodox Church specifically for our liberation. I do not know if Prime Minister Radev knows that in fact when Bulgaria was freed from Ottoman rule, there was not even a patriarch in Russia. Because he was removed from the time of Peter the Great.
The decisions about the liberation of Bulgaria are made by the Russian emperor, not by the Russian Orthodox Church.
I do not know if Radev knows that there have never been any crusades against the Orthodox, because there could be no crusade directed against Christians. He must be thinking about Constantinople in 1204, how the Latins took it and how this campaign was against Byzantium. But this campaign was never against Byzantium.
We should not expect too much from our prime minister's historical knowledge. Or perhaps we should expect that the leaders of our country know history and can handle it. Unfortunately, their own political followers do not know how to handle history, do not understand it, do not know it and therefore cannot demand (from the politicians to know it).
Therefore, dear Bulgarians, it is not a bad idea to start reading more books and to be interested in the past. Because at the moment we are exposing ourselves to Europe an awful lot with the statements of our prime minister. His statements, in addition to being historical, are also politically ridiculous. How long will we tolerate it? This is a very interesting question, the answer to which I find quite sad. In our society I see complete apathy. At this stage, nothing can be expected from Bulgaria in Europe, which is sad and unfortunate.