The Day of the Bulgarian Municipality and Local Self-Government was celebrated today in front of the memorial plaque of the first mayor of Razgrad, Georgi Popov.
“The idea of building local self-government in our country appears in the concepts of state structure of the builders of modern Bulgaria, according to the apt expression of Simeon Radev, even during the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation. According to these projects, the Bulgarian territories were conditionally divided into 8 sanjaks and 35 districts, later transformed into provinces, and the Provisional Russian Government proceeded to their practical implementation immediately after the end of hostilities”, said Viktor Kostadinov, curator of the “New History” Department of the Regional History Museum, in his speech during the ceremony.
And more: “Of course, Razgrad is no exception to this rule, initially entrusted to the care of the Russian military commander Vladimir Vasilievich. Only six days after the liberation of our city, he, in his capacity as the city’s military commandant, convened the local citizens to elect individuals to whom the responsibility of governing the city would be assigned. The elected City Council consists of 8 people, the chairmanship of which is entrusted to the Razgrad merchant Georgi Popov. The choice of this person with a cosmopolitan outlook and exceptional merits for our city is not at all accidental.”
Viktor Kostadinov supported his words with facts from the biography of the first mayor of Razgrad. Born in 1833 in the family of priest Atanas pop Dimiev, Georgi Popov studied first with priest Nikola Ikonomov, and then in Shumen with Sava Dobroplodni. As a volunteer in the Russian army during the Crimean War, he participated in the siege of Silistra under the command of Russian General Ushakov. After the end of the war, he returned to Razgrad, where he devoted himself to commercial activities, at the same time introducing a European spirit and order into local trade. Georgi Popov also took an active part in the establishment of a municipal committee for the construction of the Orthodox church in Razgrad, named after St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The active civic position he demonstrated in defense of the Bulgarian national interest became the reason for Georgi Popov to take over the leadership of the Razgrad City Municipality immediately after the Liberation, at which he remained for 1 year. He was a member of the National Assembly in the Constituent Assembly, as well as in the First Supreme Soviet, which laid the legislative foundations of the newly liberated Principality of Bulgaria.
As a sign of respect and gratitude for what Georgi Popov did, in front of the memorial plaque of the house where he lived, wreaths and flowers were laid by Mayor Dobrin Dobrev, Chairperson of the Municipal Council Galina Georgieva, Deputy Mayors Polina Ivanova, Habibe Rasim and Secretary of Razgrad Municipality Neli Dobreva, municipal councilors, Director of the Regional History Museum Tanya Todorova, citizens. A wreath was also laid on behalf of MP Dzhipo Dzhipov.
