Interior Ministers Ivan Demerdzhiev of Bulgaria and Suleyman Soylu of Turkiye discussed the migrant pressure during a meeting in Istanbul, the Interior Ministry in Sofia reported on Sunday. The meeting was a follow-up to December 9 talks between Presidents Rumen Radev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also held in Istanbul.
Demerdzhiev thanked Turkiye for the assistance in dealing with the enormous migrant pressure. He said: "The good relations between our two countries in this respect are seen and appreciated by the European Union as Bulgaria protects the bloc's external border." Demerdzhiev expressed his confidence that Brussels will support Ankara as well as Sofia in this effort.
He and his host discussed in much detail concrete urgent measures which should be implemented at the Kapitan Andreevo and Lessovo border crossings to speed up the handling of increased cross-border traffic. Soylu assured Demerdzhiev that technological improvements will be made at the two border crossings shortly and their capacities will be increased.
The two interior ministers went on to consider a project to build a bridge over the Rezovska River, which runs along the two countries' common border and empties into the Black Sea. They also looked at bilateral cooperation in training border protection officers, joint actions in fighting migration, and sharing of information on natural disasters, technological accidents and border security.
Soylu again expressed condolences on the recent killing of a Bulgarian border police officer who was patrolling for migrants. He said the conscientious investigation of the tragic incident continues; all facts and circumstances are to be clarified.
/VE/
news.modal.text
Nothing available