Kudrinka Kudrinova
Journalist
Prof. Alexander Yankov in his latest interview: "I don't see world leaders"
Prof. A. Yankov at his home office in August 2014.
PHOTO: Kiril
Konstantinov
PREHISTORY
It so happened that I was the last one who interviewed the great lawyer, diplomat, and humanist Prof. Alexander Yankov. I was a guest at his home in August 2014, where the then 90-year-old professor welcomed me with a smile and a warm welcome, with kind words about the weekly socio-political magazine "Tema", where I worked at that time and from where I had come to interview him.
It was an unforgettable meeting with an exceptional person of world renown, but also with a very warm person in communication. For me, the conversation remained memorable not only from a professional point of view, but also on a purely personal level – the professor remembered with great respect my mother Hrisanka Kudrinova, by then deceased, whom he knew from her work at the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC). My mother was only one of the secretaries there until the early 1980s.I remember the enormous respect by which she spoke at home about the professors and academicians whose meetings at the Supreme Administrative Court she had recorded. Of course, she also emphasized the impressive intellect and authority of Prof. Yankov, as well as his attention and respect for all the people he worked with, including the secretaries, without making any difference in his attitude towards them and towards his colleagues – the academic luminaries. But I really did not expect that Prof. Yankov would remember them so many decades later. As soon as I introduced myself at that interview, he immediately made a connection by my surname and asked me whether I had a relative who had worked at the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC) at the time. And as soon as we rediscovered the eternal truth of how small the world is, the atmosphere of the conversation seemed to shine with additional light. My father's name spontaneously rose in it - Velichko Kudrinov. He, like Professor Yankov, was a Remsist and an anti-fascist before the 9-th, September 1944, only in Plovdiv and Sofia, and the young Sasho was inciting the rebellious spirit in Burgas. They have also six years age difference - my father is the older one. They did not know each other. September, the 9-th put both of them behind the bars, and then gave them the impetus to complete their education and focus on future development. My father devoted himself to foreign trade, but he has a law degree from the University of Sofia. He was always interested in legal topics, especially in international law, which he had to know professionally. I remember that it was from him (when he was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade in the mid-60s) that I first heard the name of Alexander Yankov - he was commenting with my mother on an article by the then young, but already authoritative international lawyer that had made an impression on him. I don't remember any details, I was still a child, but I remember the name well, which periodically over the years became the occasion for respectful conversations at home...
Well, life is such a cunning guide that my family trajectories turned out to intersect with the paths of Prof. Yankov in another direction – the hunting theme. It is also in the books that my husband Lyubomir Nikolov has been writing for years. Without being a hunter himself, Prof. Yankov actually has a relationship to this aspect. He was a friend with famous artists-hunters, and on his own initiative he told me in the interview a colorful incident with precisely such a context...
I must make another important clarification here about the background of that interview I took with Prof. Alexander Yankov in 2014. I explained then to the professor himself and to his family that I was coming to interview him for the magazine "Theme" on the occasion of his 90-th birthday, which had been celebrated about two months earlier. Yes, this was the formal occasion with which the interview was included in our editorial schedule. But in fact, the first people who spoke to me about Prof. Yankov's anniversary that year were the exceptional Bulgarian graduates that we have in... Vietnam.
In May of the same 2014 year, I was on my fourth exciting trip to Vietnam, organized with the assistance of the embassy of that country in our country and the very active organizations of our alumni there – and we have a total of about 30,000 “Bulgarian Vietnamese”. I visited incredible places, including Dien Bien Phu, at the celebration of the 60-th anniversary of the battle that took place there, which ended in 1954 with a great Vietnamese victory over French colonialism. In addition, I got to know the amazing province of Ninh Binh, and in Hanoi I conducted a series of interviews with Vietnamese scientists and experts on the occasion of the maritime disputes with China that had heated up again at the same time. So, it was during that trip that I repeatedly heard my Vietnamese hosts speak with reverent respect for the outstanding Bulgarian Professor Alexander Yankov, one of the main authors of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. And when I returned to Bulgaria, the Vietnamese embassy also delicately reminded me that this exceptional person is also our, Bulgarian, national treasure, so it is not good to forget the professor's 90-th anniversary...
"Tema" did not forget him. But there were no other Bulgarian media to interview him at that time... I write this with deep pain. Bulgaria continues to be a huge debtor to the memory of Prof. Alexander Yankov!!!
Congratulations to his family, loved ones, and followers who are making efforts to keep his memory alive, including through the preparation of a book collection.
When we spoke with him in the hot August of 2014, Prof. Yankov already had some health problems, natural for his venerable age. But nevertheless, his brilliant intellect and sincere humanity shone through in every word he said, in his entire being.
I offer here that interview as I have preserved it in my archives since 2014, including my introduction in which I introduce the professor. The photos are made by my colleague from "Tema" - photojournalist Kiril Konstantinov, and by Prof. Yankov's son-in-law - Prof. Nikolay Lazarov.
The magazine "Theme" stopped publishing a year later, in the summer of 2015. The publication's website is blocked. I hope that in the libraries, where there are probably current issues of "Theme" stored, the issue with the interview with Prof. Yankov can also be found.
It is still available online. When the professor died at the age of 95 – on October 17, 2019, I published my interview with him for “Tema” and in the digital publication “Barricade”, where I worked at that time. The publication in his memory there is from October 20, 2019 and can be seen at the following link:
https://baricada.org/2019/10/20/alexander-yankov-interviu/
In today's technological times, it is important to know this link in order to share...
His last interview
August 2014
Prof. A. Yankov at his home office in conversation with the author of the interview.
PHOTO: Kiril Konstantinov
Every world power could be proud of personalities of the scale of the Corresponding Member Prof. Alexander Yankov. And within the framework of a small and increasingly impoverished Bulgaria, his stature as one of the most prominent and valued aces in the International law in the world stands out particularly impressively. And perhaps that is precisely why, confirming the old rule that every truly great professional is both very modest and very human, the professor welcomes me smiling, welcoming and slightly embarrassed in his small, home office, crammed with books, folders and photographs. He immediately declares that he does not know what he could interest our readers so much in. It is not courtesy. He is truly embarrassed, and the conversation only begins with the suggestive "passes" of his son-in-law - Prof. Nikolay Lazarov, a prominent Bulgarian television and film cameraman. They both have just returned from an exciting trip to Vietnam, where Prof. Yankov took part in an important conference on the territorial disputes over a number of islands in the South China (East) Sea. Despite the professor's venerable age - in June this year he turned 90 - the long journey and the mid-summer visit to the hot tropical metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) did not weigh him down. On the contrary, they charged him with strong positive emotions, because he met there his former Vietnamese graduate, who had risen quite high in the hierarchy of his country, but to this day still reverences his Bulgarian Teacher.
Until a few months ago, Prof. Yankov was the president of the oldest professional organization of lawyers in the world – the World Association of International Law, founded in 1873. Born on June 22, 1924 in Burgas, Alexander Yankov was also a participant in the anti-fascist resistance in Bulgaria as a Remsist, for which he was also in prison before September 9, 1944.
He graduated from the Sofia University in 1951. He specialized at the Academy of International Law in The Hague in 1961. Since 1973 he has been a professor at the Department of International Law and International Relations at the Faculty of Law of the Sofia University, which he headed from 1980 to 1989. In 1981 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and in 1988-1989 he headed the Section of International Law and International Relations at the Institute of State and Law at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. From 1988 to 1991 he was a Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 1989-1990 he was Chairman of the Committee for Science and Higher Education and Deputy Chairman of the National Council for Education, Science and Culture. In 1972-1976 he was the Ambassador of Bulgaria to Great Britain, and in the period 1976-1980 is the permanent representative of our country to the UN. Member of the UN International Law Commission in Geneva in 1977-1996 and its chairman in 1984. Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague since 1971, and from 1996 to 2012 - of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg. He is a member of the national associations of international law in the USA, Great Britain, France, Belgium, etc. Prof. Yankov is also one of the main authors of the most important document regulating relations in the World Ocean - the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. And this is only the most reduced list of his "assets".
But the conversation with my energetic interlocutor does not start from his merits, but from his deeply moving "Vietnamese connection." He also wants to show me on his computer monitor footage of today's Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, whose urban, economic, and social progress has made a strong impression on him.
– Prof. Yankov, what connects you to Vietnam, from where you returned very recently?
– Immediately after the end of the war between the United States and Vietnam, a group of young Vietnamese arrived in our country for training, and I was assigned to deal with the students and postgraduate students from abroad. I was particularly moved by my acquaintance with one of those poor young men. He was first sent to study maritime law in Moscow. There, a Soviet colleague of mine, older than me, recommended that he continue his studies with “a young professor from Bulgaria who is the best in maritime law” – that is, with me. Without my knowing anything. And the boy took the necessary steps with the Vietnamese authorities, and then one day he really showed up here. He was approved for postgraduate studies – or doctoral studies in today's terms. My wife and I saw that the young man was very purposeful, very hardworking. We accepted him as our son. When it came time to defend his dissertation, he presented it in 85 pages, written by hand. They only had one typewriter, a very old one. That's why he couldn't type his work and wrote it by hand, in Bulgarian letters, very beautifully! I'll never forget it! He defended his dissertation very well. He then sent me a heartfelt letter and a large painting of himself, which, alas, was later lost while we were moving from one place to another. I wrote to the USA and recommended him for further studies. He was accepted to Canada, where he continued his scientific development. When he returned to his homeland, we kept in touch for a while. I found out that he had first started teaching at their university, then went to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry. And then I lost track of him. Now, when I visited Vietnam for the third time, I asked my hosts to find out what had happened to him, where he was. And they found him! He appeared at the conference in Ho Chi Minh City, in which I participated, and stayed with us throughout our stay in the country. He just kept repeating: "Teacher, teacher!" It made me cry... He himself is very respected there. He is younger than me, but he is already retired. He was the vice-rector of the Diplomatic Institute at their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His name is Pham Van Chi. He gathered his whole family, with the little children – probably grandchildren, to take a picture of them with me and my son-in-law Nikolai, who accompanied me. An incredible emotion!
– If this is your third visit to Vietnam, when was the first?
– Immediately after the war with the Americans, somewhere in the mid-70s. Back then, the destruction and traces of the battles were still visible. The remains of hit ships could be seen on the rivers. People lived hard, poor. In many places there was no electricity, they used candles. Now it is completely different. Vietnam has made a huge leap in its development. It is already ahead of us. I noticed it on my second visit - that was last year. And now, during my participation in the conference in Ho Chi Minh City, my impression has been reinforced. This is a dynamic, prosperous country. Allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate the Vietnamese people on their national holiday, September 2 - the 69-th anniversary of the proclamation of independent Vietnam in 1945.
– What was the conference in Ho Chi Minh City like?
– It was organized by Vietnam and concerned a topic that is very important for them – the territorial disputes over a number of islands with the large northern neighbor China. I expressed in my speech and in the discussions my principled position that solutions to this problem should be sought within the framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as in the form of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). The Vietnamese side also shares this approach. A total of 18 subtopics concerning the issue were discussed at the conference.
– You mentioned that Vietnam has overtaken us. How do you explain it? With mentality, with geopolitics? What prevents Bulgaria from moving forward?
– A difficult question. It wasn’t always like this. If we look at the history, we will see that Bulgaria has lost three wars, but from all three it has emerged stronger than before and has found itself in a better position than those who defeated it. But then we seemed to become too rich – and here we are, going backwards…
Professor Аlexander Yankov with his Vietnamese former PhD student Pham Van Chi in Ho Chi Minh City.
PHOTO:
Prof. Nikolay
Lazarov
– What lesson haven't we learned for this to happen?
– Everything in life is a lesson. As long as you are ready to learn. For me, for example, the prison became a big school. They put me behind the bars when I was 17, and I got out after a year and a half. But I studied inside the whole time. Mainly French and Russian. English was not yet popular at that time. I also studied Turkish together with 4-5 boys. Another prisoner, a Turk from Northern Bulgaria, taught us it and he boasted: “I am the teacher of the teachers!”
– The prison was because of your activities as an anti-fascist and a Remsist, right?
– Yes, we were idealists. Because of my political activity, I was unable to graduate from the Burgas High School, even though I was a full honors student. For a year, I led the organization of the The Workers Youth League (WYL) in the city. There was a balcony there, from which the great leaders spoke.There was always a representative of the youth among them. That was me. As soon as it was heard in the city that “Sasho will speak tonight,” everyone would gather…
– So you were a good speaker. Where did September 9, 1944 find you?
– In the Varna prison. While we were being sued, we were in the Burgas prison, then we stayed for a while in the Shumen prison and finally – in the Varna prison. The walls there were very thick. They say that Vasil Levski was also imprisoned behind them. I learned so many important things then! Even the richest high school could not have given them to me.
– Where did you go next?
–I went to study at the Sofia University. At first, there was no free space for International law, which I wanted to study, and they enrolled me for diplomacy. But then one of my colleagues transferred elsewhere, a space became available, and so a chance opened up for me. Since then, I have been on the path of International law. I think that a person should choose and follow a certain direction in their development. To have something that they love to the end. Here I am, 90 years old – still thinking about my things. Look at how many folders I have accumulated. And these are just some of my materials.
– When did you first perform internationally?
– As a student, I continued my active social activities and because I knew languages, I was sent for three years as a Bulgarian representative to the International Students’ Union in Prague. From that post, I visited many different countries, including outside Europe. Then I returned, they had reserved a place for me at the Sofia University – and I graduated. To this day, I am grateful to my professor Kutikov for what he taught me. His portrait still hangs in my office at the Sofia University.
– Is there any interest in international law among today's students?
– I feel a certain underestimation, which is perhaps also influenced by the overall state of the world today. International law is already too easily violated. And specialties in this field are necessary for society. Not just for today or tomorrow. The more the obligations to adhere to legality and rules decrease, the worse it gets. I see young colleagues who prefer to follow material interest rather than principles. They chase it from one city to another. They haven't devoted themselves to the university. It wasn't like that before. As soon as the lectures were over, we would go to the Sofia University library. But today the question is not where the university is, but where the money is... And it's not known who the teacher is.
– How do you view the increasing violations of international law around the world?
– There is no excuse for this.
– Many famous people have passed through your life. Tell us about some of them.
– There are so many! It's hard even to list them. And what am I going to brag about with such acquaintances? I'm embarrassed.
– It is still interesting for the readers to learn how you remember, for example, Margaret Thatcher.
– Oh, I learned a lot from her too. Do you know when we met? After the presentation of my credentials as an ambassador in London. It was the turn of all newly appointed ambassadors to gather, communicate and establish contacts with British statesmen after the ceremony. My other colleagues were then jostling and trying to get one next to the Minister of Justice, the other next to the Minister of War. And I fell for a teacher who had just become Minister of Education. I will show her to you now. (He stops and shows an album with a photo of him in his youth and next to him – the young Margaret Thatcher.) We chatted, we established a very good contact. Then it became clear that she was no ordinary teacher and my colleagues were already very jealous of me. Whenever we gave receptions at the embassy, she would come. And once, when she had just returned from a visit to our country, Thatcher asked me: “Mr. Ambassador, what is the most valuable thing in Bulgaria?” I stand before her like a geography student, wondering. Then she continued: “I saw churches in your villages, but I also saw that the schools were bigger. That’s how I understood that your religion is education.” Then she added: “Next to every school you have another important institution… What was it called…” I suggested: “A community center?”(translated into Bulgarian as "chitalishte") She nodded: “Yes, yes, a chichilishte!”
Prof. A. Yankov shows a photo album with his photos as a Bulgaria's Perma-nent Represen-tative to the UN and with Margaret Thatcher
PHOTO:
Prof. Nikolay
Lazarov
– You were also close to Henry Kissinger…
– He was from the right, and I was from the left. It was the same with Thatcher. But that didn’t stop us from communicating and learning from each other. At the UN, while we were preparing the Convention on the Law of the Sea, Kissinger came to talk to me very often. He asked me about everything, we talked frankly. His attitude towards me was very good. I can’t say that it was the same with other colleagues.
– What do you think about today's world leaders?
– Are there any leaders? I haven't seen any.
– In your opinion, was the previous bipolar model in the world safer than today's?
– For us – definitely.
–Your close friends were Emilian Stanev and Yordan Radichkov…
– Oh, yes, every week we gathered at a table in the cafe of the Writers' Union. We have been together with our families many times and at Emilian's villa. Again, as a family, they both visited me in London and New York.
– They were hunters. And you?
– No, I am not. But do you know the most interesting thing? Emilian loved guns very much, but he never gave guns to anyone. However, on one of my anniversary, without my knowing, he made an agreement and prepared a surprise for me – he gave me a gun with an inscription, with my name! And then the following happened. We were going abroad. I had put the gun in the wardrobe. But when we returned – we were living elsewhere at the time – the gun was gone! Some time passed and a former student of mine, who worked there, called me to the investigation. They found the stolen gun and from the inscription they realized that it was mine. Yes, but I didn’t have any documents for it! In the end, they registered it in the name of a relative of mine, who is a hunter. He is keeping it now.
– Could you tell us about your family?
– My wife and I had two children. But our son Plamen passed away 9 years ago. He left us a granddaughter, Eliza, who works in Germany. Our daughter Svetla has given us two more granddaughters, who have 13 years age difference. The older one, Irina, is a very successful psychotherapist. Her son and our great-grandson, 17-year-old Martin, studies at the Art High School. The younger granddaughter, Yana, graduated from the Sorbonne 6 months ago and is now an intern as a lawyer.
And I, besides continuing watching actively everything that happens in my professional field, also read the magazine "Tema" with great interest. Svetla buys it for me regularly. There is nothing else left to read besides "Tema".