The councilors are still thinking about the monument to Petar Abadjiev

That the monument to Petar Abadjiev be removed from its current location in the center of Pazardzhik and moved to the Atlantic bridge. A place should be allocated there for monuments from the communist regime. This was requested for the third time by the municipal councilor from BZNS Dimitar Petkov. The topic will be discussed at today’s meeting of the local parliament.

It is shameful and cynical to have a monument to an assassin in the city center, Petkov believes. He also adds that one of the organizers and executors of the attack is Petar Abadjiev – born in Teteven, head of the military organization of the BKP in Sofia. After the bloody events, he fled to the Soviet Union. He was exposed and condemned by the Bulgarian state. After September 9, 1944, he returned to his homeland. Died in a car accident.

The monument was erected in 1974 in the garden opposite the old bus station. There are reports that Abadjiev was one of the organizers of the attack on the church “Sveta Nedelya” in Sofia, which took place on April 16, 1925, in which 134 people died, more than 500 were injured, some of them also died from their wounds. The victims are believed to be over 160. The temple was destroyed. The purpose of the attack financed by the Communist Party is to kill the military and political elite of Bulgaria, Petkov points out in his reasons.

However, there are also claims that the controversial monument is of Petar Stratiev, born in Eni Chiflik, Turkey, head of the military organization of the BKP for Pazardzhik, killed in 1944 during an action. There are no archival documents about his contribution to the development of the Pazardzhik region and Bulgaria. On the front of the monument is the inscription “Peter Abadjiev 1908-1944”, the pretext being that Abadjiev is Stratiev’s nickname.

The proposal will be considered for the third time in the last few years in the City Council. The previous two were rejected, and the second time the then mayor of the city, Todor Popov, emphasized from the rostrum that as long as he leads the municipality, he will not allow any monuments to be encroached on, regardless of what they are.

“It’s time to look forward and not put new dividing lines between people. It is time for some mistakes to be forgiven, others to be forgotten so that we can continue,” Popov said, and his words were met with universal approval even by the opposition.

Ginche Karaminova from the GERB group joined the discussion at that time. She said that she lived on the street where the monument was erected and which was then named after Petar Abadjiev, but was renamed after November 10, 1989. Karaminova stated that she knew the family of the man from the memorial, assuring that he had nothing to do with the assassin Petar Abadjiev.

The controversy surrounding the monument has been going on for years. It can be said that it is one of the most frequently reviled memorials in the city, along with that of Alexander Stamboliyski boulevard of the same name and of the victims of the communist regime on Tsar Osvoboditel boulevard.