Bulgaria deploys troops to border against refugees

The EU border state Bulgaria treats refugees as a military threat. The Bulgarian government announced on July 26 that 400 to 700 soldiers would be stationed at its external borders with Turkey and Greece. The troops are being deployed because of the possible arrival of refugees from Afghanistan. Defense Minister Georgi Panayotov made it clear that this was not a humanitarian deployment, stating, “The pressure on the Bulgarian border is increasing, so the government has to act, and it is.” The soldiers would help the police and gendarmerie in setting up barriers and surveillance, and “it is a mission to protect the country,” he added. Bulgarian security forces are notorious for their alliance with far-right militias in cracking down on refugees. Time and again, there are serious attacks, torture and mistreatment of refugees. This policy is apparently tacitly tolerated by the EU as a means of deterrence.  

A special meeting of EU interior ministers is to be held on August 31 to discuss the possible arrival of refugees from Afghanistan. Turkey has already announced that it will send Afghan refugees on. Apparently, the EU is meant to be coerced into making new concessions to the AKP/MHP regime. The closure of the borders of Greece and Bulgaria is only part of the inhumane border policy of the EU. For example, EU accession aid was used, among other things, to partially finance the construction of a wall on the Turkish-Iranian border between northern and eastern Kurdistan and to force refugees onto life-threatening routes into the high mountains.