Regarding concerns of migratory pressure from Turkey towards the EU, PM Boyko Borissov stated that there is “zero migration” along Bulgaria’s border.

We are preparing a big meeting in Bulgaria for resolving the crisis. Besides the refugee crisis in Turkey, in Syria there is a humanitarian crisis. Close to 1 million people there do not have food or water. That is what is pushing them to migrate. Within the frameworks of NATO we have decided to support Turkey. Bulgaria was one of the most insistent countries,” commented the Bulgarian Prime Minister before his meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Erdoğan in Ankara today.

I am not a mediator, I am an interested party. We love our neighbour, Greece, and we want to help them any way we can. I cannot speak for the European Commission but everything possible must be done by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, Turkey must be supplied with resources so it can go back to taking care of the refugees, Boyko Borissov said.

Milena Nikolova from the International Organization for Migration commented, for the Bulgarian National Radio, that “it is not Erdogan’s intention to send forth migrants towards Bulgaria, his intention is to send them towards Greece. As we can see Greece is on its last legs and cannot cope without help from the EU.” In her words Bulgaria will have no problem taking in, accommodating and meeting the initial needs of 10,000 migrants.

Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security and Minister of Defence Krasimir Karakachanov was adamant that “there are no provocations and there is no need, for the time being, to take any mobilization measures for dispatching army personnel to the border”.

He added, in an interview for the BNR’s Horizont channel, that there was mounting tension close to Svilengrad on the Turkey-Greece border. There are over 5,000 illegal immigrants around Edirne. We stand ready and we shall react if such a group of migrants changes direction and heads towards Bulgaria.

Karakachanov has instructed the armed forces no to permit the Bulgarian border to be crossed.

Bulgarian soldiers do not go on missions, or perform their duty with a cudgel or a sunflower, they will go armed. They will use weapons if weapons are used against them. There are plenty of deterrents and ways to prevent entry into our territory, Karakachanov said.

Editor: Ivo Ivanov