Ladies and gentlemen, comrades,

The delegation appointed by the Bulgarian government and authorized by the Presidium of the National Assembly to take part at the conference in Warsaw aimed at securing peace and guaranteeing stability in Europe has fulfilled its duties. It took an active part in the work of the Warsaw meeting between eight European countries and signed the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance.

The speech delivered by former Chairman of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers Vulko Chervenkov informed the Bulgarians that their country had become part of the military and political alliance of the socialist states - the so-called Warsaw Pact. Albania, Czechoslovakia, The German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the USSR also placed their signatures under this pact. The Warsaw Pact was established, in order to oppose NATO within a period of 20 years. Later the pact was resumed several times and lasted until the fall of communism and the totalitarian systems in the member countries.

The military organization of the Warsaw Pact did not play in independent role, as it was subordinate to the Soviet Armed Forces in case of a war. Practically, the pact was an instrument for Soviet military and political control aimed at legitimizing the presence of Soviet troops in Eastern Europe.

The Warsaw Pact actually did not guarantee the previously promised non-interference in the interior affairs and the state sovereignty of its member states. Its forces were used twice to crush the riots against the totalitarian system. The military forces of the Warsaw Pact interfered in the protests in Hungary and Poland in 1956 and later intervened during the so-called Prague Spring in 1968 to put an end of the democratic reforms planned by the government of Alexander Dubcek. Romania and Albania stepped out of the Warsaw Pact after the invasion of the USSR and its allies in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Czech and the Slovak citizens viewed the end of the Warsaw Pact as liberation. The official end of the pact was announced in July 1991 in Prague during a meeting of the new democratic leaders headed by Czech President Vaclav Havel.

The speech of former Bulgarian MP Solomon Passy sounded extremely impressive. It was delivered at the Grand National Assembly on occasion of the official dissolving of the Warsaw Pact. Let us listen to his speech kept in the Golden Archives of the Bulgarian National Radio. It was the year 1991-the end of the Warsaw Pact:

“We are witnessing the political decease and the ideological decay of one of the most aggressive military and political conspiracies since the WW2. We are witnessing the decline of the Warsaw Pact. I would not like to comment the purposes of this alliance, but what it achieved can be outlined in three main directions, namely: a systematic export of communism and revolutions, a military terror over its own members and protection and instigation of global terrorism. The strategic target of this alliance was our planet. Its supreme goal regarded a total victory of global communism and a triumph of the Soviet imperialism. Some people made these evaluations yesterday. These evaluations are a prelude to the morality which is likely to prevail tomorrow. The state which dominated over this alliance is about to face fateful period. Now it is falling apart under the pressure of the centrifugal forces suppressed by its centennial imperial ambition. Now this empire is struggling to keep its states and the security of its satellites is to become a small worry for them. The evident direction of the political processes shows that it was high time Bulgaria worried about its own defense and searched for more reliable allies and less enemies.”

Written by: Ioan Kolev

English version: Kostadin Atanasov