WORLD : Turkey to Close Bulgaria Border to Check Influx of Ethnic Turks
Turkey announced today it will close its border with Bulgaria to curb an influx of ethnic Turks and pressure Sofia to negotiate an agreement over their future.
About 310,000 ethnic Turks, saying they faced a Bulgarian campaign of religious and cultural assimilation, have fled to Turkey in an unchecked flow since Turkey waived visa obligations for them in June.
It was Ankara’s first direct retaliation over Bulgaria’s refusal to negotiate the future of the 1.5-million-member minority.
Deputy Premier and State Minister Ali Bozer said Turkey will close the frontier at 2 a.m. Tuesday. He insisted Ankara remains ready to accept all ethnic Turks once a comprehensive agreement is reached with Bulgaria.
Bulgaria has rejected Turkey’s call for an accord to compensate refugees for property left behind and to protect the rights of ethnic Turks who want to remain.
“We had to draw the line at some point . . . to bring some sense and order to the haphazard way Bulgaria heaps people on the border,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said.
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