“When I left the clean town of Sofia on March 6th 1662, I was walking east through a field of tulips until I reached the village of Lozena.”

This is the way Ottoman traveler of the seventeenth century Evliya Çelebi described in his "Book of Travels” (Seyâhatnâme) “the famous town of Sofia.” In folk tales, songs, proverbs, stories, poems, he described the customs, dances, beliefs, relations, traditions, cuisine, arts and crafts in the places he visited: Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Transylvania, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Crimea, the Caucasus, Iraq, Egypt and others. In every town and village he went to, the traveler explored and described houses, mosques, fountains, inns, town halls, churches, monasteries, synagogues, towers, roads and bridges. Therefore, Turkish Ambassador to Bulgaria Süleyman Gökçe, who hosted the presentation of the new edition of “Book of Travels,” translated by Bulgarian expert in Ottoman Studies Strashimir Dimitrov, called Evliya Celebi not only "traveler, but also a geographer, historian, writer, folklorist, and even a gourmet." Let us remind that UNESCO declared 2011 the year of Evliya Celebi.

The new edition of the book was presented by the Minister of Education prof. Todor Tanev. Radio Bulgaria asked the minister whether the travelogues of Evliya Celebi should find a place in the history books in Bulgarian schools.

"These texts should be in the textbooks because the information there is based on them. There is nothing better than the source. I think that time has come after 25 years of changes in Bulgaria, after a progress in Turkey itself, to turn to the establishment of some kind of community, not a state but a cultural community. Probably textbooks not only in Bulgaria, not only in Turkey but also in other Balkan countries should be reviewed. Division on the Balkans and the theft of identity is the worst theft. "

Here is what manager of the "East-West" publishing house Lyuben Kozarev says:

"I can tell you that I myself was surprised when I read the book, as it is a veritable encyclopedia of life, customs, history, customs, geography and what was happening in these lands then. The first journey of Evliya Celebi took place in 1631, and the last - in 1678, i.e. his travelogues covers almost half a century. This was an extremely interesting period and I cannot think of other sources from which we can draw information about life in these lands at that time. It is important to publish such books because they show us that there is more hard work in the study of our history to be done. "

Do we know the common Balkan history?

"I am sure we do not know it well. Once I was the engine of publishing of "History of the Balkan countries" by Edgar Hösch, a famous German historian. And I realized that we actually know very little about the history of the Balkan countries. I could even use a stronger word, we are ignorant about it. However, we should seek and publish books of people living in other countries who can show us another view. Because it shows details that we cannot see. In this sense, Evliya Celebi is a very good start. His writing is characterized by living language and very accurate description. He was a connoisseur of good food. He was a complete person and the work of such people is very important.”

English: Alexander Markov