“I express my concern before you as neither the new President of Moldova nor the Government visited Taraclia region,” Vice President of Bulgaria Iliana Iotova stated in an interview for the national radio station Radio Bulgaria, referring to the Bulgarian community in Taraclia district of the Republic of Moldova.

“Moldova is a sovereign country and we cannot become directly involved, but we can state our position. Until now we had appropriate relations with the Moldovan authorities at all the levels and hope that things will not change in the future,” said Iliana Iotova.

As to the State University in Taraclia, which is the only foreign higher education institution teaching in the Bulgarian language, Iliana Iotova said that the Romanian language gradually penetrates this university and several of the disciplines there are taught in Romanian already. The goal is to keep this university as it is the only higher education establishment teaching in Bulgarian abroad.

In terms of foreign policy, contacts with the authorities in Moldova are extremely important in order to preserve the administrative integrity of the Taraclia region, where a concentrated Bulgarian community lives. A possible separation would lead to a loss of opportunities to learn Bulgarian as a mother tongue, Vice President Iliana Iotova stated in the interview.

She mentioned also other causes that make the situation of the Bulgarian diaspora difficult. “There were years when Bulgarian was studied at leading European universities. Because of our carelessness as a country and as a nation, these positions were conceded”.

IPN reminds that the Taraclia State University is a joint project of the Republic of Moldova and Bulgaria where the Bulgarian side undertook to cover the study costs in accordance with the internal regulations of this country.