Former ambassador visits AUBG

More than one hundred students, faculty and administration members attended a lecture held by Ivan Stancioff, former Bulgarian ambassador at large and Bulgarian minister of foreign affairs among other titles, on February 9 in the New Academic Building Auditorium. The event was part of the Ambassador Elena Poptodorova Distinguished Lecture Series.

Stancioff, apart from being Bulgarian ambassador to the UK and Ireland, Bulgarian minister of foreign affairs and a businessman, has also been a member of the Board of Trustees of AUBG. Stancioff said he felt wonderful to be back at AUBG, to see all the smiling faces and recognize some faculty members. In order to tell the listeners what the challenge of representing a small state is, and what it takes to be a diplomat, Stancioff spoke about his life experiences, what it felt like being away for 47 years, and how it feels to be back home again.

“When I came back [to Bulgaria] in 1990, after the wall came down, I felt that the country would be back to normality in 15 years. I was deluded. Normality was the beautiful country with generous people. I came back to a country where nobody smiled,” Stancioff said.

Stancioff said that the new generation’s job is to change the image of Bulgaria, and it is on them to revive the spirit of their own countries. He suggested they go study abroad and return to their home countries and work there. “Sometimes you need to make a sacrifice,” Stancioff added.

Representing a state abroad means being responsible for its citizens in that country, Stancioff said. “I, as a diplomat, represent a republic. The diplomat serving his country must be able to take a personal moral position,” he added. Since Bulgaria is now in Europe, it is a good idea to help the neighbors go to Europe too, Stancioff said.

Stancioff said he inherited the skills of being a diplomat as there have been three generations of diplomats in his family. He added that bringing Bulgarians in foreign countries together and keeping the spirit going is also important. Ivan Stancioff is very optimistic about the political developments in Bulgaria.

The Stancioff family turned their grandfather’s house in Varna into the Karin Dom foundation, a home for kids with special needs. Karin Dom was created in memory of Stancioff‘ s handicapped cousin. “We do physiotherapy, music therapy, painting therapy, teach the kids to speak,” Stancioff said. He invited all volunteers to visit the home.

“The speech Stancioff gave was great. I met him when he was minister of foreign affairs. He is a wonderful person who has done a lot for Bulgaria. He is a person who can be very much of help for the students,” Vladimir Levchev, professor of Writing and Literature, said.

Besides giving a speech, he former Bulgarian ambassador awarded Irena Palamani, AUBG junior, for the victory in a short essay contest organized at AUBG on the topic “tell us what it takes to be a diplomat.” Stancioff chose the winner himself, out of 40 students who had applied. In Palamani’s opinion, “in order to be a diplomat one should consider not only the importance of the word itself, but the importance of every letter,which translate as D for decisive, I for intelligent, P for patriot, L for loyal, O for orator, M for moderator, A for amicable and T for tactician.”