Bulgaria–Serbia relations

Bilateral relations
Bulgarian-Serbian relations
Map indicating locations of Bulgaria and Serbia

Bulgaria
Serbia

Bulgaria has an embassy in Belgrade. Serbia has an embassy in Sofia. Bulgaria is a European Union member state and Serbia is a European Union candidate.

Both countries are full members of the Southeast European Cooperation Process, of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, of the Central European Initiative, of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative and of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. The countries share 318 km of common borderline.

Bulgaria recognized Kosovo as an independent self-proclaimed country in 2008, which strained relations between the two nations, the two countries enjoy good cooperation in the area of culture, as seen in the examples of co-production of Serbian movies.[1]

History

A meeting of Radev with Vučić.

Bulgarian revolutionary Georgi Sava Rakovski was provided shelter in Belgrade, revolutionary publications were printed in the city and Rakovski's armed group joined clashes against Ottomans in Belgrade in 1862.[2] In 1867, a Bulgarian society, active in Bucharest approached the Serbian state with a draft-agreement. The Bulgarian side proposed the founding of a common Serbo-Bulgarian (Bulgaro-Serbian) dual state called South Slav Tsardom, headed by the Serbian Prince. Serbian Prime minister Ilija Garašanin accepted the Bulgarian proposal in a letter from June 1867, but he diplomatically refused to sign the document, fearing how representative this organisation had been.[3] The establishment of this common state concerned other Bulgarian organisations, which perceived it as an implementation of Garašanin's plan called Načertanije.[4][5]

Despite the cultural similarities, the two countries were enemies during the Second Balkan War and World War I, due to disputes over territory and spheres of influence, such as North Macedonia.

In 2018, Serbia and Bulgaria celebrated 140 years of modern diplomatic relations.[6][7]

Serbian Presidents Aleksandar Vučić and Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov concluded that the opening of the Balkan Pipeline through Bulgaria and Serbia in 2021 was a "remarkable success of the two fraternal states".[8]

Resident diplomatic missions

  • Bulgaria has an embassy in Belgrade.
  • Serbia has an embassy in Sofia.

See also

References

  1. ^ FoNet, Piše (26 June 2019). "Filmski centar: Bugari finansiraju dva filma iz Srbije sa 200.000 evra". Dnevni list Danas (in Serbian). Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  2. ^ Dejan Djokić (2023). A Concise History of Serbia. Cambridge University Press. p. 284. ISBN 978-1-107-02838-8.
  3. ^ Papadrianos, Ioannis: "The First Balkan Alliance (1860–1868) and the Bulgarians", Balkan Studies, 42 (2001): pp. 15–20.
  4. ^ Crampton 1987, p. 16: "...a Balkan alliance, which alarmed both Bulgarians and Turks with its implications of Serbian expansionism as expounded two decades previously, in Garasanin's Nacertanie, the Serbian equivalent of Greek Megali Idea."
  5. ^ SANU 1993, p. 172: "The result of Nacertumje's implementation was the establishment of the first Balkan alliance (1866–1868)..."
  6. ^ Jovanović, Radomir (20 April 2018). "Srpsko-bugarski diplomatski odnosi: u osvit prvih 140 godina". CMJP (in Serbian). Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  7. ^ К, А. "Сто четрдесет година дипломатских односа Бугарске и Србије". Politika Online. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Балкански ток изузетан успех две братске државе". Politika Online. Retrieved 2 January 2021.

Sources and further reading

  • Antić, Dejan D. "A view of Serbian-Bulgarian relations at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century." Godišnjak Pedagoškog fakulteta u Vranju 7 (2016): 55–67.
  • Crampton, R. J. (1987). A Short History of Modern Bulgaria. CUP Archive. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-521-27323-7.
  • Hering, Gunnar. "Serbian-Bulgarian relations on the eve of and during the Balkan Wars.} Balkan Studies (1962) 4#2 pp 297-326.
  • Nikolov, Alexandar (2011). "Stephen Nemanja and the Foundation of the Second Bulgarian Empire: 1183-1190". Стефан Немања и Топлица: Тематски зборник. Ниш: Центар за црквене студије. pp. 59–69.
  • Radojević, Mira; Mićić, Srđan B. (2015). "Serbian Orthodox Church cooperation and frictions with Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Bulgarian Exarchate during interwar period". Studia academica šumenesia. 2: 126‒143.
  • Rossos, Andrew. "Serbian-Bulgarian Relations, 1903-1914." Canadian Slavonic Papers 23.4 (1981) pp 347–378. and 394-408 .
  • Agatonović, Rad. (1899). "Односи између Србије и Блгарске" (in Serbian). Kingdom of Serbia. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014.
  • SANU (1993). Balcanica. Srpska Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti, Balkanološki Institut.

External links

  • Bulgarian embassy in Belgrade
  • Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Bulgaria
  • Serbian embassy in Sofia
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