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Bulgarian Ambassador to Cyprus Vesselin Valchev

BULGARIA IS mostly known in Cyprus for its mobile workforce, snowy mountains, beautiful women and problems with corruption, as highlighted when it joined the EU in 2007.

However, ties between the two countries go deeper and further back than EU membership. Two hundred years ago, Bulgarian rebels fighting the Ottomans were captured and brought to Nicosia. During their imprisonment, they developed strong friendships with the locals while one captive even wrote an informative diary on Nicosia life in the 1800s.

Bulgaria was one of the first countries to recognise Cypriot independence in 1960, leading to this year’s celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In the last five decades, up to 5,000 Cypriot students have gone to Bulgaria on scholarships awarded by the Bulgarian government. Labour Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous and government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou are two of the more high-profile Bulgarian-speaking graduates. And there are currently around 800 Cypriot students in Bulgaria.

In 1974, Bulgaria opened its labour market to around 5,000 Cypriots, mostly refugees, looking for work after the Turkish invasion. They worked for a number of years, mainly in the construction sector.

“Now in the capital Sofia, there is a residential area built by the Cypriots, which people still refer to as the ‘Cypriot houses’. Even the bus stop there is known as the ‘Cypriot houses’ bus stop,” said Bulgarian Ambassador to Cyprus Vesselin Valchev.

“When I speak to older generations of Cypriots, they remember they were given this chance, and consider Bulgaria a second homeland. Some of them even married Bulgarian men or women,” he added.

But now it is the turn of many Bulgarians to enjoy Cypriot hospitality, Valchev said. Following EU accession, perhaps with history in mind, Cyprus fully opened its doors to Bulgarian workers.

Exact figures are hard to come by as many Bulgarians are in Cyprus for seasonal work though a considerable amount have also settled on the island. Around 10,000 are registered with the departments of migration and social insurance but the real figures could be double that. An estimated 1-3,000 Bulgarians are also believed to be living in the north. The Bulgarian community is even served by a weekly newspaper, with an estimated circulation of 2-3,000.

Relations are not all one way, Cyprus is one of the biggest investors in Bulgaria, with Cypriot investment reaching €1.7 billion to date. “There are many Cypriot companies operating in Bulgaria and operating well,” Valchev said.

The companies deal mainly in food production, real estate, construction, agriculture and tourism. There is more than one local car salesman offering Bulgarian land free with every car purchase worth over €10,000.

The ambassador believes one promising field is joint ventures by Cypriot and Bulgarian companies in third countries, which could take advantage of Cyprus’ strong historic and geographical links to the Middle East and Mediterranean.

While Bulgaria has kept its finances in order during the global crisis, its economy has still felt the pinch. “There is no remote island in the sea of troubles,” said Valchev, adding that Bulgaria’s traditional markets and purchasing power had both shrunk.

However, its location makes it of huge strategic importance to the EU, which is keen on diversifying energy supplies. “Geographically, we are in the middle of the Balkan region… this is a good opportunity to become the energy hub of the Balkan peninsular,” said Valchev.

Apart from massive infrastructure projects to build highways and a second nuclear plant, important oil and gas pipe lines are also envisaged to pass through Bulgaria, including the South Stream and Nabucco pipelines.

On the EU front, Bulgaria will apply to join the Schengen Area and eurozone in the coming months and hopes Cyprus will give its support. Bulgaria remains under an EU supervisory mechanism since accession, with the main concerns being reform of the juridical system and combating organised crime. “This is a process, you can’t expect miracles. It’s not a fairy tale,” he said.

Valchev said Bulgaria is now home to a “completely new” generation, brought up after the fall of communism, which shares none of the social or personal experiences of their parents. “They have a new model for success, completely different from that of their parents. They want to become rich and wealthy from early on.”

Cyprus is no stranger to new attitudes. Valchev highlighted that the generation brought up after 1974 has no memory of living door to door with Turkish Cypriots. Their attitudes to solving the Cyprus problem will be of great relevance when they become a deciding factor in a solution.

“Don’t forget though, the sentence ‘the new generation is worth nothing’ was found written on a rock several hundred years before Christ, so there has always been a conflict between generations,” he said.

Speaking of the past, the ambassador referred to a book written at the beginning of the 19th century by Tancho Shabanov called ‘Description of My Life’.

The rebel Shabanov was captured in Bulgaria by the Ottomans and imprisoned in Nicosia along with other Bulgarian prisoners. According to Shabanov’s account of Nicosia life, prisoners were locked up only at night while during the day they could walk freely within the old city walls. The prisoners were greeted very hospitably by the average Cypriot, who immediately gave them bread, water and even some pocket money, he wrote. They would sit with the locals and learn some of the traditional crafts.

“He made a lot of friends here. When his period of imprisonment was over, he was taken to Larnaca to board a ship home, and many of the friends made travelled to Larnaca to see him off. Can you imagine they went all this way to say goodbye,” said Valchev.