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The Atlantic Club of Bulgaria is a non-governmental, non-partisan organization dedicated to fostering the common values of the Euro-Atlantic community.
The Atlantic Club of Bulgaria was created in 1990 around the pro-NATO lobby in the first post-Cold War Bulgarian Parliament. [1] It was born when its founder, Solomon Passy, also the owner of a Trabant automobile, welcomed Manfred Wörner and gave him a tour of Sofia in a Trabant. [2]
Officially established on 4 April 1991, the Atlantic Club has grown to include members from all walks of life: government, academia, military, business and media. The Atlantic Club was the first Atlantic NGO outside NATO, founded on Warsaw Pact territory, and the first non-NATO member (since 1992) of the Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA). [3] [4]
The Club raised the funds, and jointly with the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, organized the resumption of Bulgaria's Antarctic activities in 1993, [2] the upgrading of the Bulgarian refuge on Livingston Island and its redesignation as St. Kliment Ohridski Base, as well as the construction of a new main building of the base started during the 1995/96 season.
The Atlantic Club initiated a national committee that organized the visit of Pope John Paul II to Bulgaria in 2002, [2] and also co-hosted the mass rally for U.S. President Bill Clinton who visited Sofia in 1999, and another one for US Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2003.
In 2004, Bulgaria joined NATO. [2]
After attending the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Oslo in 2012, Solomon Passy suggested that the EU should nominate Bulgaria for the Nobel Peace Prize next year. In 2013, the Club underlined the 70th anniversary of the rescue of nearly 50,000 Jews from being sent to concentration camps in Nazi Germany when the government of Tsar Boris III planned deportation of the Jewish population but it was prevented by the Holy Synod, the Bulgarian Orthodox church and civil protests.
In September 2015, the ACB sent a delegation to the Fiji after the Asian country had established diplomatic ties with Bulgaria in March 2015. [5]
In 2018, the ACB disputed the MIG-29 contracts signed between the Bulgarian government and the Russian Federation. [6]
The Atlantic Club of Bulgaria works to promote Bulgaria's integration with and role in the Atlantic Alliance, and all Euro-Atlantic political, security, economic and other structures. Within Bulgaria, the Atlantic Club serves the broader purpose of supporting democracy, human rights, free market economy and rule of law.
The Club's activities focus primarily on raising public awareness about security and international affairs. The list of guest speakers includes the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Lech Wałęsa, Shimon Peres, Mikhail Gorbachev and the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. A number of heads of states and governments have addressed the Club.
In its think-tank capacity, the Atlantic Club sponsors round tables, seminars and conferences on a wide variety of topics, and is a leading partner in the Security Sector Reform Coalition formed by Bulgarian NGOs to develop strategic reports on key policy issues in the field of foreign and security policy, and defense reform and modernization.
The Club assists in the establishment of Atlantic associations in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and more recently in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other Asian, African and South American countries.
The Atlantic Club is a co-founder of the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute and the Economic Policy Institute, Sofia.
The Club's international board of directors includes prominent individuals from Bulgaria, Europe and North America working for Atlanticism or humanism in general. The organization has regional chapters in Burgas, Dospat and Sarnitsa, Gabrovo, Haskovo, Plovdiv, Ruse, Varna and Yambol, and is associated with the NATO Information Center in Sofia, the Bulgarian Euro-Atlantic Youth Club, and the Manfred Wörner Foundation.
The Founding President (1991–2001 and 2009-) and Honorary President of the Club (2001–2009) is Dr. Solomon Passy. Dr. Lyubomir Ivanov was the Chairman and CEO of the Atlantic Club in 2001-2009.
Solomon Isaac Passy is a Bulgarian scientist, politician, and innovator, founder and President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, Foreign Minister in the Government of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (2001-2005), Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2004. He represented Bulgaria at UN Security Council and was its Chairman, and was nominated by Bulgaria for Secretary General of NATO (2009).
The Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA) is an umbrella organization which draws together political leaders, academics, military officials, and diplomats to support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The ATA is an independent organization that is separate from NATO.
The Atlantic Club Ridge is a ridge rising to 161 m on Hurd Peninsula in Eastern Livingston Island, Antarctica. To the west the ridge surmounts the South Bay coast north of Johnsons Dock, to the south it is bounded by the lower course of the two km long Contell Glacier, to the east by the foot of the Balkan Snowfield sloping up towards Krum Rock and to the northwest by Sea Lion Tarn. The ridge is snow-free in the summer months.
Hesperides Hill is a ridge linked by a saddle of elevation 52 m with the northern slopes of Atlantic Club Ridge on Hurd Peninsula, eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The hill surmounts the South Bay coast north of Johnsons Dock to the southwest, and Bulgarian Beach to the northeast and is bounded to the southwest by Sea Lion Glacier. The ridge extends 420 m in south-southeast to north-northwest direction and is 250 m wide and narrowing towards north-northwest. Hesperides Hill has two heights, 94 and 63 m, the latter surmounting Hespérides Point. The hill is snow-free in summer months and is named from the adjacent Hespérides Point.
Passy Peak is a peak of elevation 510 m in Vidin Heights on Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Surmounting Panega Glacier to the southeast, Rose Valley Glacier to the northeast, and Saedinenie Snowfield to the northwest. The peak is named after Solomon Passy in appreciation of his role in organizing the Bulgarian Antarctic campaigns and the upgrade of St. Kliment Ohridski base in 1993–96.
Sea Lion Glacier is the site of an isolated 350 metres (1,150 ft) long glacier on Hurd Peninsula, eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is located southwest of Hesperides Hill and northwest of Atlantic Club Ridge, separated from the latter by Sea Lion Tarn, and terminating on the South Bay coast.
Sea Lion Tarn is a freshwater tarn with an area of 0.3 ha located between Sea Lion Glacier and the north-western slopes of Atlantic Club Ridge on Hurd Peninsula in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The lake drains westward through a 100 m creek into South Bay.
Varna Peninsula is a roughly rectangular predominantly ice-covered peninsula forming the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is bounded by Hero Bay to the northwest, by Moon Bay to the southeast, and by McFarlane Strait to the northeast.
Wörner Gap is a flat saddle extending 3 km in the south-north direction between Friesland Ridge and Bowles Ridge in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Its elevation decreases from 585 m in the south to 541 m in the middle, and 525 m in the north. The gap separates the glacial catchments of Perunika Glacier to the west and Huron Glacier to the east, and is linked to the east to Kuzman Knoll, a conspicuous landmark in the area. The gap is visited by field parties from St. Kliment Ohridski Base and Juan Carlos I Base and is subject to Spanish and Bulgarian glaciological studies.
Camp Academia is a geographical locality in eastern Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, named for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in appreciation of Academy’s contribution to the Antarctic exploration. The site was first occupied in the 2004/05 austral summer, and has been designated since 2004 as the summer post office Tangra 1091, the southernmost branch of the Bulgarian Posts Plc.
The Antarctic Place-names Commission was established by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute in 1994, and since 2001 has been a body affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria.
The Tangra 2004/05 Expedition was commissioned by the Antarctic Place-names Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, managed by the Manfred Wörner Foundation, and supported by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgarian Posts, Uruguayan Antarctic Institute, Peregrine Shipping (Australia), and Petrol Ltd, TNT, Mtel, Bulstrad, Polytours, B. Bekyarov and B. Chernev (Bulgaria).
Desolation Island is one of the minor islands in the South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctica situated at the entrance to Hero Bay, Livingston Island. The island is V-shaped with its northern coast indented by Kozma Cove. Surface area 3.12 square kilometres (1.20 sq mi).
The Manfred Wörner Foundation is a Bulgarian not-for-profit non-governmental organization established on 20 October 1994, and registered in 1996. It is named in honour of Manfred Wörner, former Secretary-General of NATO.
Lyubomir Ivanov is a Bulgarian scientist, non-governmental activist, and Antarctic explorer. He is a graduate of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia with M.S. degree in mathematics in 1977, earned his PhD from Sofia University in 1980 under the direction of Dimiter Skordev, with a dissertation entitled Iterative Operative Spaces, and was the 1987 winner of Acad. Nikola Obreshkov Prize, the highest Bulgarian award in mathematics.
Byers Peninsula is a mainly ice-free peninsula forming the west end of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It occupies 60 km2 (23 sq mi), borders Ivanov Beach to the northeast and is separated from Rotch Dome on the east by the ridge of Urvich Wall. The peninsula features more than 60 meltwater streams and as many lakes, notably Midge Lake, Limnopolar Lake and Basalt Lake. Byers Peninsula has a regime of special environmental protection under the Antarctic Treaty System and requires a permit to enter.
Contell Glacier is 1.2 nmi long and 0.4 nautical miles wide glacier on Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica bounded by Atlantic Club Ridge to the northwest, Krum Rock to the north, Balkan Snowfield to the northeast, and Charrúa Ridge and Charrúa Gap to the south. It is crescent-shaped, running northwestwards in its upper course, then between Charrúa Ridge and Krum Rock turning west-southwestwards to flow into South Bay north of Johnsons Dock.
Raquelia Rocks is a group of three adjacent rocks in eastern South Bay, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica formed by an offshoot of Atlantic Club Ridge halfway along the Zodiac boat route linking the Spanish Antarctic Base and the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on the island. The area was visited by early 19th century sealers operating from nearby Johnsons Dock.
Zverino Island is the largest and westernmost island in the Meade group lying in the north entrance to McFarlane Strait in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is extending 1.2 km (0.75 mi) by 700 m (2,300 ft), with surface area of 48 hectares, and is snow-free in summer.
Zhelyava Hill is the ice-covered hill of elevation 237 m in the north part of Vidin Heights on Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is overlooking Williams Point to the north, Rose Valley Glacier to the southeast and Saedinenie Snowfield to the southwest.
