A view on NATO from Bulgaria

The World Civilizations Initiative Research Center organized an international conference on Global Security and NATO on June 26-27, 2026, in Istanbul, Türkiye, ahead of the NATO summit scheduled for 7 and 8th of July in Ankara. One of the speakers was Angel Georgiev Member of Parliament for the Revival Party in Bulgaria. Below we present Georgiev’s speech.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Whenever we turn on the television or open a newspaper—particularly in Bulgaria—we encounter a single dominant narrative. According to this narrative, NATO is unquestionably good, and there is no viable future outside either NATO or the European Union.

However, scholars and independent analysts have demonstrated that there is indeed life beyond both NATO and the European Union. That is precisely what we have been discussing here today.

Allow me to share a few examples from my own country, Bulgaria.

At present, Bulgaria hosts four NATO military bases. We regard these bases as a form of foreign military presence because the Bulgarian state exercises no real control over them.

My political party proposed holding a national referendum calling for the removal of these bases. Unfortunately, we remain the only political party in Bulgaria advocating such a position. Other parties either refuse to discuss the issue or openly support NATO’s continued military presence.

Government propaganda frequently claims that Bulgaria also hosted foreign military bases during the period when it belonged to the Soviet bloc. In reality, this is historically inaccurate. The current situation represents a fundamentally different form of foreign military presence.

For this reason, our party sought to organize a referendum. We collected approximately 600,000 signatures in support of the initiative.

According to Bulgarian law, once more than 400,000 valid signatures are collected, Parliament is obliged to call a national referendum.

Nevertheless, both the government and Parliament ignored this legal requirement and prevented the referendum from taking place.

I mention this as an illustration of what I consider the contradiction between the democratic values officially promoted by both the European Union and NATO and the political realities we experience in practice.

Allow me to offer another example.

Bulgaria signed contracts in 2019 and 2022 to purchase F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States at a cost of approximately 2.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Although payment has been made in accordance with the contracts, only a limited number of aircraft have been delivered so far, while many others remain outstanding.

There are additional examples.

Despite being a member of both NATO and the European Union, Bulgaria has accepted significant restrictions on its missile capabilities. As part of the accession process, we were required to dismantle much of our missile force, and approximately half of those systems were destroyed.

Although NATO presents itself as a defensive alliance, the policies pursued by both NATO and the European Union increasingly appear to be confrontational rather than defensive.

For example, Sofia’s national airport has hosted American aerial refueling aircraft that have supported military operations related to Iran.

My party believes these aircraft should leave Bulgarian territory as soon as possible. None of the other political parties in Bulgaria has been willing to adopt such a position.

From our perspective, the conflict involving Iran is not our war.

Iran is our friend.

Russia is our friend.

China is our friend.

We believe Bulgaria should serve as a bridge between East and West rather than becoming a frontline state in geopolitical confrontation.

This is particularly true regarding Russia.

Our two nations share deep historical ties, linguistic similarities, cultural connections, and the Orthodox Christian tradition. We have much in common.

At the same time, our objective is not friendship with Russia alone—we seek constructive and peaceful relations with every nation.

This is precisely what distinguishes our political movement from the other parties in Bulgaria.

Many politicians simply repeat what they have been told is politically correct.

We believe politics should instead be guided by truth and by the courage to rethink outdated assumptions.

For twenty years, Bulgaria has been a member of NATO.

Throughout these two decades, the Bulgarian public has repeatedly been told that NATO membership constitutes the sole guarantee of our national security.

The dominant public narrative continues to promote confrontation and anti-Russian rhetoric.

Yet despite all these promises, NATO has not provided Bulgaria with the level of military capability or strategic security that its supporters continually claim.

Regarding Türkiye, one could say that although it maintains a certain degree of strategic autonomy, it still remains closely connected to NATO.

Many other countries, however, have become almost entirely dependent upon the Alliance.

In our opinion, NATO no longer possesses the strategic relevance it once claimed.

It belongs to a previous international order.

The world has changed.

We are now living in an increasingly multipolar international system, one that requires new approaches, new partnerships, and new forms of international cooperation.

For that reason, we believe that sovereign nations should seriously reconsider their membership in NATO and pursue security policies that are fully consistent with their own national interests.

Thank you very much.