On February 8th, H. E. Mr. Ali Reza Irvash, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Bulgaria,

hosted a reception in the "Sofia" hall of the Hotel Marinela to commemorate the national holiday of the country. It was attended by numerous guests, including officials, ambassadors, diplomats, journalists, cultural figures, and friends.

After the national anthems of Iran and Bulgaria were played, H. E. Mr. Ali Reza Irvash delivered his welcoming speech:

Ladies and gentlemen,

Distinguished guests,

On behalf of the members of the Iranian embassy and my own, I welcome you to the celebration of the 45 th anniversary of Iran national day.

Tonight we are very glad to gather with our friends celebrating this occasion.

45 years ago as a result of the uprising of the people of Iran, Pahlavi’s reign came to an end. Very soon, through a referendum, the majority of people voted for the Islamic Republic of Iran. With this change, a new era in the history of my country began.

In these 45 years, Iranians have experienced many ups and downs. But, definitely successes have been more than failures. Of course for being independent, its cost should be paid. Obstacles, pressures, sanctions and threats couldn’t stop my country. Undoubtedly during these 45 years, Iran has attained remarkable achievements in various fields like high technologies, namely Nano-technology, Nano-medicine, oil and gas industries, education, nuclear energy, military industries, road and dam construction. A long list of progress that I am not going to mention tonight.

Just one month of the year 2024 has passed, so I take this opportunity to wish you all a peaceful year along with health and prosperity.

I hope with a collective attempt and sincere collaboration on an international level, we could see  and enjoy peace and; calmness around the world.

I hope this year would be the year of respecting human rights, international rules and law, ending conflicts and blood shedding around the world.

I hope we would see a high competition in understanding and loving each other, instead of arm racing and adding fuel to the fires of disputes.

Fortunately the process for joining the Republic of Bulgaria to the Schengen zone is resulting positively and from 31st of March, Bulgaria will join the Schengen zone through air and sea and hopefully it will be completed through land very soon.

So let me congratulate the people and the government of Bulgaria for this valuable achievement.

Two years ago Iran and Bulgaria celebrated the 125th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Many people from the two sides worked hard to collect the documents and arrange the event. If I could I would invite all of them here and pay gratitude to them for their precious work.

Fortunately tonight we have Dr. Orbetsov among us, who has a great share in this work.

His research is collected in the first edition of his book “Bulgarian-Iranian relations from the Liberation to the end of the 1950s”, which we are presenting tonight. He is a very well-known Bulgarian diplomat and a scholar with a very good Knowledge about the relations of our two countries. I would like to invite him to join us!

Now let me invite Dr. Fioozy and professor Panov to join us. These two eminent lecturers have а great role in educating many Persian speakers in Bulgaria, Also in addition with a couple of other researchers have done a great job regarding deepening cultural relations between Iran and Bulgaria. They published a valuable Persian-Bulgarian dictionary. I ask them to join us and have a few words!

Now it is time to invite academic Sgurev. He did a comprehensive research on the mathematical aspect of Omar Khayyam. Omar Khayyam is a very famous Iranian scientist, born in 1048 and lived till 1131. Khayyam is also famous as an astronomer, philosopher and poet.

Academic Sgurev, himself a scientist, mathematician and poet, has done remarkable work writing a book about Omar Khayyam, focusing on his mathematical genius and his philosophic poems. What is more interesting to me is that Academic Sgurev wrote his own poems in the style of Omar Khayyam, "Rubaiyat" or "quatrains"! So I invite Academic Ezgurev to the podium. I wish Mr. Sgurev will recite one of his own poems for us.

The last appreciation is for deceased professor Fedotov for his great share in introducing Iranian culture and literature in Bulgaria. He spent his life bridging Bulgaria to oriental cultures and nations. I ask Mr. Fedotov’s wife, Mrs. Todorova, head of Union of the Bulgarian Journalists, to join us!

At the end: once again thank you dear guests for being here with us! I invite you to enjoy our Iranian cuisine!

For their contribution to the development of Bulgarian-Iranian relations, all the personalities mentioned above received certificates from the ambassador. Afterwards, the guests enjoyed traditional specialties from Iranian cuisine, as well as the beautiful exhibition of Iranian handicrafts.

Photos provided by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Republic of Bulgaria.