Bulgaria Hands Over Armenia National Hero Documents

Diplomacy | September 11, 2009, Friday

Armenia's national hero General Andranik(r) together with the Yezidi-Kurd Cenghir Agha. General Andranik and Cengir Agha struggled together in 1918-1920 particular in the Battle of Bash-Aparan which was a battle against the Turkish army on May 21, 1918. P

The Bulgarian Ambassador to Armenia, Todor Staykov, has officially handed a large number of documents on two of Armenia's national heroes back to the country's national archive.

On Thursday Staykov handed the documents regarding General Andranik Ozanyan and Garegin Njdeh, that had previously been kept in Veliko Tarnovo's military and historical archives, back to the Armenian history museum and national archive.

"Such documents are part of the history of a nation and we handed over their copies in compliance with the law. I would also like to thank the Armenian Ministry of Culture for its assistance," Ambassador Staykov said, cited by asbarez.com.

Armenia's Ambassador to Bulgaria Sergei Manaseryan thanked the Bulgarian government for the research that it has carried out.

"2010 will be announced as the ‘Year of Armenia and Bulgaria.' We are planning to exhibit Matenadaran documents referring to Bulgarians," said Manaseryan.

National archives director Amatuni Virabyan said that Armenia was also interested in obtaining documents on World War I and the Armenian Genocide that are kept in the Bulgarian archives.

General Andranik is worshiped by his Armenian countrymen for his heroic fighting in their defense against the Turks.

Garegin Njdeh was an Armenian statesman, fedayee, political thinker, and as a member of the A.R.F. Dashnaktsutyun party, was involved in revolutionary activities in Armenia, Bulgaria and Russia.