Bulgaria deploys troops to border with Turkey

Bulgaria’s defence minister, Georgi Panayotov, announced that since Monday, soldiers have been sent to the Turkish-Bulgarian border “to support the border police”.

In an interview with bTV broadcast, Panayotov stated that 350 soldiers have been dispatched to the border.

According to the ministry of interior, more than 6,500 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, crossed the Bulgarian border from January to September. The ministry stated that there has been a three-fold increase in the migrant influx compared to the same period in the year 2020.

The 259-kilometer border is also barbed-wired, which has nonetheless not stopped the refugee influx.

In August, the Bulgarian parliament decided to send between 400 and 700 soldiers to its border with Greece and Turkey.

Bulgaria, a member of the EU, has never accepted large numbers of refugees. Most refugees leave the country without waiting for a response to their asylum request.