Today, March 3rd 2009, Bulgaria celebrates it’s National holiday – the day of Freedom from Ottoman slavery.

This year marks the 131st anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty between Russia and Turkey in San Stephano. This treaty marks the end of the war between the two countries.

The treaty was signed on March 3rd 1878 in the village San Stephano, nowadays -Yeşilköy, suburb of Istanbul. The document was defined beforehand and was approved by the other Great powers of Europe.

According to it’s clauses, the newly freed Bulgaria is an autonomous, tributary (paying a debt), feudatory principality with it’s own national government and army. The total area of the country is over 170 000 square km.

The Russian proxies were the count N. P. Ignatiev and A. I. Nelidov, and the Turkish proxies – Safet pasha and Sadulakh bey.

The borders of the principality included Northern Bulgaria (without Northern Dobrudja), Thrace (without the regions near Giumiurdjina and Odirn) and Macedonia (without the Solun region and the Chalkidiki peninsula).