Constitution of Tarnowo

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The Tarnovo Constitution ( Bulgarian Търновска Конституция ) was the first constitution of 1878 became independent Bulgarian State (1878-1908 Principality of Bulgaria and 1908-1946 Kingdom of Bulgaria ). It was passed by the National Assembly on April 28, 1879 in Veliko Tarnovo . Belgium's constitution , which was quite new and modern at the time, served as a model . The Tarnovo Constitution was in force until 1947.

Prehistory and National Assembly

Members of the first parliament with the exarch Antim I in the middle.
The Constitution of Bulgaria

After the bloody April uprising of 1876 in Bulgaria broke the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 of which with a victory of Russia ended. During the war the Russians established 8 governor districts under the leadership of Governor General Knjaz Vladimir Cherkaski . With the subsequent Peace of San Stefano , large areas were assigned to the new state of Bulgaria, which was initially to be under Russian administration for two years. Knyaz Cherkaski died during the Peace of San Stefano. His successor as governor general was Alexander Dondukow-Korsakow .

The Berlin Congress revised the decisions of San Stefano. Bulgaria became an autonomous principality and only comprised 63,750 km² of the 172,000 km² provided for in the Treaty of San Stefano. Alexander von Battenberg was elected prince. Eastern Rumelia initially remained an Ottoman province. The two-year period of Russian administration has been reduced to nine months. According to Article 4 of the decision of the Congress, an assembly of dignitaries (notabiles) should meet in Tarnowo and deliberate on a constitution.

The principality began under the leadership of Dondukow-Korsakow with the establishment of the new state. In this context, the Bulgarian constitution should be drawn up by a national assembly. On February 10th, Jul. / February 22, 1879 greg. the National Assembly was opened in Veliko Tarnovo - the medieval capital of Bulgaria. The building in which the assembly met was built in 1876 by the Bulgarian architect Kolju Fitscheto as the official residence ( Konak ) of a Turkish administrator.

Of the 229 members of the assembly, 88 were directly elected by the people (1 deputy for every 10,000 inhabitants), 117 were representatives of courts, district and city councils, high church officials and dignitaries, 5 representatives of organizations and communities of the Bulgarians living in exile ( e.g. “Bulgarian Literary Community in Brăila ” or “Bulgarian Board of Directors in Odessa ”) and 19 were appointed by the Governor General. The minorities of Turks , Greeks and Jews, who were numerous at that time, also had their own representatives . The former exarch Anthim I was elected chairman of the National Assembly, making him the first Bulgarian parliamentary speaker. Petko Karawelow from the Liberals and Todor Ikonomow from the Conservative Party became vice-presidents .

The meeting was presented with a proposal prepared by the head of the Russian legal department in Bulgaria, Sergei Lukijanov , and approved by the Russian Foreign Ministry. Bulgaria should become a constitutional monarchy in the form of an autonomous principality. The members of parliament should be elected by the people or legitimized by their position in the state apparatus (representatives of courts, district and city councils, etc.) and appointed by the prince. The prince should have extensive powers. At the head of the state should be a State Council (Bulgarian Държавен Съвет) with control and advisory functions.

Initially, the meeting threatened to fail because some members insisted on resistance to the decisions of the Berlin Congress or even a declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire. It was only after the interference of Alexander Dondukow-Korsakov, who had a high reputation, that the assembly appointed a commission of 15 members, which from now on dealt with the Russian constitutional project.

When the commission announced its decision a little later to leave the project essentially unchanged, but to grant the prince greater powers and to introduce more stringent census voting rights, the assembly divided into a conservative and a liberal camp. In the subsequent decisions, the liberal camp, which was in the majority, was largely able to prevail.

The Constitution

Paragraph 1 in Russian and Bulgarian; Over the territory of the principality

The Tarnovo Constitution was April 16 jul. / April 28, 1879 greg. adopted. They essentially implemented the decisions of the Berlin Congress. The constitution was grouped into 22 paragraphs and 169 articles.

The constitution guaranteed the principles of inviolability, independence of power, the post office and home are inviolable, freedom of religion, press and assembly, with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the dominant religion (Article 38), human rights and the protection of private property . The censorship was forbidden, compulsory primary education was free; citizens were obliged to pay taxes and do military service. Punishments not provided for in the law, torture , titles of nobility and other public honors (excluding military orders) were prohibited .

In addition, the constitution made a distinction between the “ordinary” (Bulgarian Обикновено ) and the “ Grand National Assembly ” (Bulgarian Велико народно Събрание ) in the People's Representation ( Narodno Sabranie ). At the “Ordinary National Assembly” one member was elected for every 10,000 people. All men who were at least 21 years of age had the right to vote and stand for election. It made decisions about the state budget, bills, government bonds, etc. The "Great National Assembly", which was twice as large, elected the monarch or the regent, and approved constitutional and legislative changes.

From the form of government, Bulgaria became a constitutional hereditary monarchy with a representative body. Its head was the "prince" ( Knjaz ) and from 1908 the tsar . The day after the constitution was adopted, the “Great National Assembly” met on April 17, 1879 to elect a prince. The number of candidates was large, including Prince Dondukow-Korsakov but also General Skobelew , while England favored Prince Carol of Romania from the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen . Finally, Archbishop Kliment Turnowski presented three candidates to the electoral assembly: Prince Waldemar of Denmark , Prince Heinrich XXV von Reuss and Alexander Prince von Battenberg .

On the recommendation of Russia and with the approval of the great powers, the assembly elected the 22-year-old Lieutenant Alexander Prince von Battenberg as the first Bulgarian prince. On June 25th jul. / 7th July 1879 greg. he took his oath in Tarnowo before the "Grand National Assembly" and then confirmed the first government of Bulgaria with the conservative Prime Minister Todor Burmow .

On May 9, 1881, Alexander I von Battenberg declared the constitution invalid and began a two-year regime of powers . In 1883, however, he was forced to put the constitution back into force. This had serious domestic and foreign political consequences that damaged the prince's reputation. Another suspension of the constitution came in 1923 when the military staged a coup. After May 19, 1934, the country was ruled by exceptional government powers in a continuing violation of the Constitution.

The constitutional amendments of May 15, 1893 and July 11, 1911 weakened the rights of parliament and strengthened those of the monarch. On December 4, 1947 , the VI. Great National Assembly a new constitution; the Constitution of Tarnovo was replaced by the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bulgaria .

Literature and individual references

  1. ↑ Tarnowo and Veliko Tarnowo are used as synonyms in this article.
  2. ↑ also called High Russian Commissioner
  3. ↑ The centers of the governor districts were Swishtov , Russe , Tulcea , Gorna Orjachowiza , Tarnovo , Sofia , Plovdiv and Sliven
  4. ^ Bulgarian State Archives
  5. ↑ a b c d e Härtel / Schönfeld: Bulgaria , 1998, p. 127/128

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