First democratic President Zhelyu Zhelev dies at 79

published on 1/30/15 4:30 PM

Photo: BGNES

Former Bulgarian President (1990 – 1997) Zhelyu Zhelev has died at the age of 79.

Being one of the most prominent dissidents, Dr. Zhelev was the first president of this country, elected in a democratic manner. He was born in the village of Veselinovo, Shumen region and was a philosophy graduate of the Sofia University, later expelled from the communist party as an anti-Marxist.

In 1982 and despite the communist censorship Dr. Zhelev wrote his book The Fascism which gave hope to intelligent people and the Bulgarian society as a whole. After the democratic changes in 1989 he became the natural leader of the newly formed opposition – one of the founders of the Union of Democratic Forces and a chair of its coordination council. Zhelyu Zhelev was elected an MP at the Grand National Assembly and was elected president by the parliament in 1990. In the beginning of 1992 he was elected through direct polls and he took the presidential position till 1997. After the end of his mandate he established the Doctor Zhelyu Zhelev Foundation. He wrote numerous books and had prestigious state awards.

During his presidency and on his initiative Bulgaria entered actively Balkan politics. The recognition of Macedonia came to prove that this country had the ambition to play the leading part in the Balkans. Dr. Zhelev gave the idea for the establishment of the Bulgarian Political Club in 2001. The Constituent Assembly, under the slogan Let’s Europeanize the Balkans was attended by then Presidents Ion Iliescu, Süleyman Demirel, Emil Constantinescu, Kiro Gligorov - political leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey etc.

Dr. Zhelev was a frequent guest of Radio Bulgaria. His last interview was due to the 25th anniversary of 10 November 1989:

“Those, who start revolutions, are quickly replaced by others, who do not know the meaning of the word dissident,” Dr. Zhelev said. “The second wave of the UDF that came a year and a half later was full of such persons. They stepped out in the streets, when they felt the right wind direction, not earlier. Our revolution ate its dads here too”.

Dr. Zhelev stated firmly on the Bulgarian transition period:

“No matter the controversies of our transition process, it took us where we were supposed to be. Bulgaria became a democratic state with market-based economy. We integrated first in the Council of Europe – the oldest organization, established after WWII. Our transition process ended with the NATO and EU accession”.

Dr. Zhelev admitted that his political activities cost him precious time for writing, but that his foundation gave him the possibility to release the documents from Bulgaria’s latest history. “Real history is based on authentic documents and not on memoirs,” Dr. Zhelev was convinced.

Dr. Zhelev will be remembered as an honest, decent man who was never tempted by any possibilities for abuse. He will have his place in both Bulgarian history and the one of communist societies’ transformation across Eastern Europe.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

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First democratic President Zhelyu Zhelev dies at 79

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