On April 14, 2002, in Veliko Turnovo a scientific conference entitled “125 years of the adoption of the Turnovo Constitution” was held, which put the beginning of a series of national events in honour of this remarkable anniversary. In the conference participated eminent Bulgarian and Russian jurists. It was organised by the University of Veliko Turnovo, the Faculty of Law of St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club.

The official opening of the forum took place in the building where 125 years ago the Constituent Assembly, which adopted the first Bulgarian constitution, held its sessions. Salutatory addresses were made by the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Lyuben Kornezov, the Minister of Justice Anton Stankov and the Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of Russia Prof. Yakovlev. The Ambassador of Russia to Bulgaria H.E. Mr. Vladimir Titov read a message on behalf of the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Boris Grizlov. In his salutatory speech to the participants and the guests of the scientific conference, the Bulgarian minister Anton Stankov said that the classical constitutional principles promulgated in this hall 125 years ago laid the foundation of the modern Bulgarian constitutionalism. He stressed that the current Bulgarian Constitution of 1991 reaffirms several of the principles of the Turnovo Constitution.

Before the conference proper, the Chairman of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club Dimiter Tomov and the President of the Managing Committee of Bulgaria-Russia Forum Svetlana Sharenkova inaugurated a bas-relief of the Russian Emperor Alexander II in the conference room of the Constituent Assembly in the very place where till the beginning of the 20th c stood the image of the Russian Tsar Liberator.

25 prominent Russian jurists came to participate in the conference in Veliko Turnovo: Prof. Veniamin Yakovlev – Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, Prof. Sergey Vitsin – Vice Chairman of the RF Presidential Council on Reform of the Justice System, Prof. Mikhail Mityukov – Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Constitutional Court, the judges in the Supreme Court Prof. Stanislav Razumov, Alexander Fedin, Vladimir Davidov and Vladimir Homchik, Prof. Viktor Luchin – judge in the Constitutional Court, Prof. Taliya Habrieva – Director of the Institute of Legislative and Comparative Law with the Government of the Russian Federation, Prof. Anatolyi Kapustin – Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Peoples’ Friendship, Prof. Yuryi Leibo – Chair of Department at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Prof. Natalia Bogdanova from the Constitutional Law Department of the Moscow State University, Prof. Valentin Ershov – Rector of the Russian Juridical Academy, Prof. Alexander Smikalin – Chair of the Department of History of the State and Law in the Ural State Juridical Academy, Prof. Oleg Sadikov, Prof. Vil Kikot, etc.

The number of jurists from the Bulgarian side was also significant. In their scientific lectures they stressed the importance of the Turnovo Constitution for the early incorporation of Bulgaria in the family of European nations with parliamentary government and its influence on the present Bulgarian legislation. Special interest aroused the lecture of Prof. Dr. Dimiter Tokushev, Dean of the Faculty of Law of Sofia University, entitled “Political and economic ideas in the Turnovo Constitution”. Contributions were also made by his colleagues Prof. Doncho Hrusanov – “The silence of the administration as a sign of approval”, Prof. Nataliya Bogdanova – “The general and the particular in the constitutional history of the modern state”, Assoc. Prof. Snezhana Nacheva – “The constitutional civilization and the beginning of Bulgarian constitutionalism”, Dr. Georgi Bliznashki – “The Turnovo Constitution: Historical fate and modern projection”.

Another thematic cycle was formed by a group of scientific reports dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Bulgarian-Russian diplomatic relations like “Russia and Bulgaria after the Berlin Congress” by Nina Dyulgerova, “Nayden Gerov – a Bulgarian patriot and a Russian diplomat” by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hristo Glushkov, etc.

In the final part of the scientific conference Dimiter Tomov introduced to the participants the editions of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club and the decision of its management all reports from the conference to be published in a separate volume of the prestigious series “Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club Library”.