Bulgaria’s Parliament declared the Holodomor in Ukraine a Genocide - Two Parties Voted "Against"

Politics | February 1, 2023, Wednesday // 17:40
Bulgaria: Bulgaria’s Parliament declared the Holodomor in Ukraine a Genocide - Two Parties Voted "Against" @holodomormuseum.org.ua

With 134 votes "in favor", 26 "against" and no "abstentions", the National Assembly in a joint project proposed by the Foreign Policy Committee declared the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-1933 a genocide and categorically condemned its perpetrators.

The decision also declares every last Saturday of November as a Day of Honor and Remembrance for the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine.

The National Assembly designates any denial, justification and belittling of this genocide, as an act of insulting the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holodomor, it is written in the document.

Initially, two draft resolutions were submitted on the subject - to the PG of "Democratic Bulgaria" (DB) on declaring an act of genocide of the Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-1933 and the other republics of the former Soviet Union and on the GERB-SDS on declaring the Holodomor Famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933 for genocide. In the end, the committee on foreign policy united around a common project, explained its chairman Ekaterina Zaharieva.

The Great Famine in 1932-1933 - Holodomor, covered the main grain regions of the former USSR - Ukraine, the North Caucasus, the Lower and Middle Volga, Kazakhstan, Western Siberia and the Southern Urals. Seven to eight million people died of starvation during this period, three and a half million of them in Ukraine, two million in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and two to two and a half million in Russia.

The reasons marked the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor and emphasized that it was one of the worst mass crimes against humanity "perpetrated by the inhumane Soviet communist regime, during which more than eight million lives were destroyed, among them many children and dozens thousands of Ukrainian and Moldavian Bulgarians".

I believe that this decision is important for the Bulgarian citizens to assess what happened,” said the chairperson of the committee on foreign policy Ekaterina Zaharieva (GERB-SDS).

Kostadin Kostadinov ("Vazrazhdane") pointed out that, when talking about genocide, it should be proved. It is indisputable that millions of people are being starved in the USSR, he noted. The goal was not to kill an ethnic group, but the kulak class, i.e. this is not genocide, but class extermination entirely in the spirit of Marxist ideology, explained Kostadinov. His parliamentary group was against the adoption of such a project.

The famine of 1932-33 bears the marks of ethnic cleansing, opposed Krasimir Valchev from GERB-SDS. It also coincides with the growth processes of the Ukrainian national movement, with the destruction of the Ukrainian elite, he added. This is one of the characteristics of ethnic annihilation, the deputy stressed.

Tsoncho Ganev from "Vazrazhdane" accused "Democratic Bulgaria" of hypocrisy because they did not dare to open a word about the Armenian genocide and most likely deny it.

It is enough that today we are faced with a great opportunity to obtain a broad consensus on topics on which we can be above petty political talk, pointed out Stoyan Mihalev, among the contributors to the DB project. We are not a court, but a public forum and as such we have the right to give an assessment, pointed out his colleague Atanas Slavov. During his speech, the meeting was briefly interrupted due to remarks between deputies in the hall.

We started this National Assembly by giving arms to Ukraine and we are ending with the Holodomor, were these the national priorities, was this what the National Assembly should have looked at, asked Borislav Gutsanov from the Bulgarian Socialist Party. And asked for the document to be withdrawn. Why are we interpreting history in a way that brings nothing to our country, asked Gutsanov. And announced that BSP is also against the proposed declaration.

When we talk about the priorities of the National Assembly, I ask if the changes in the Electoral Code were really one of the main ones for the Bulgarian society, turned to the socialist Miroslav Ivanov from "We Continue the Change". We must have the courage to point out such acts of genocide so that they do not happen in the future, he believes.

The deputy also asked why BSP left the hall today when declarations were being read on the occasion of February 1 - Day of remembrance and respect for the victims of the communist regime. I believe that BSP is not the successor of the Communist Party, he added.

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Tags: Holodomor, Ukraine, genocide, BSP, Vazrazhdane

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