Представата за Европа в модерна България – от Османската империя до Европейския съюз
Perceptions of Europe in modern Bulgaria – from the Ottoman Empire to the European Union

Summary/Abstract: The article demonstrates the construction of the notion of Europe during the modernization of Bulgarian society during the historical period from the Bulgarian Renaissance (1762) until the end of 20th century. The perception of Europe in Bulgaria depends mostly on the almost five century long Ottoman rule of Bulgarian lands which detached Bulgaria from the European civilization. Therefore, for the Bulgarians Europe represents the foreign, more developed part of the world, towards which they strive. Bulgaria only begins to rees¬tablish its place in Europe with the restoration of the Bulgarian state following its Liberation (1878), achieved thanks to the Russian Turkish war of 1877–1878. The new Bulgarian state is based on a European template, but in the first decades following its independence, it faces European contradictions. The idea of Europe as a unitary whole is put in doubt as Bulgaria is the battleground where the interests of the Russian liberator and the Western European countries collide. The participation of Bulgaria in the two world wars on the side of the Central Powers and the Tripartite Pact leads to defeats and further detachment from Western Europe. Following World War II, Bulgaria falls into the Soviet sphere of influence, and Europe (understood as Western Europe) is associated with the image of the enemy for nearly half a century. This only changes with the end of the Cold War, when the conception of Europe is equated with the de¬sired membership in the European Union, achieved on 1 January 2007.

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