Bulgaria Tightens Border Control In Fear Of Migrant Wave From Turkey

The Bulgaria-Turkey border is the center of a dispute between nations concerning the impending influx of migrants. (Wikimedia Commons)

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov announced that police forces have been sent to the country’s border with Turkey to deal with a potential inflow of migrants on February 28.

“We have information about the gathering of migrants in Edirne,” said Borissov, referring to a Turkish city 30 kilometers away from the Bulgaria-Turkey border. He added that it was “worrying” that Turkish border guards had left the area and that the government would not permit large migrant inflows as it is taking measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to Bulgaria.

Border police prevented two groups of around 30 people from crossing the border early on Friday, according to Bulgarian Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov. Interior Minister Mladen Marinov assured that those were “isolated cases,” and “for the moment there are no attempts to cross into [Bulgaria].”

Speaking at a briefing at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint, Border Police chief Commissioner Svetlan Kichikov also said that there was no immediate threat now, “and we hope that there will be none.” The military had not yet been deployed, but would be if necessary, Kichikov said.

In response to a request from Minister Marinov, Minister Karakachanov had 300 army personnel on standby, with 50 from the joint special operations command, to help guard the border if necessary. He added that the country is ready to deploy up to 1,000 troops and supporting military equipment to the border. 

The Bulgarian government’s actions came as Ankara suddenly announced that Turkey, home to almost four million Syrian refugees, would no longer block Syrian refugees from reaching Europe after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike by Syrian government forces in Idlib. Turkish officials had ordered the police, coast guard, and border guards to stand down overnight on Thursday, but policy changes have not been officially confirmed.

Turkey has threatened multiple times to reopen the migrant route from the Middle East, through which a million people reached Greece and Italy in 2015, where many still live in displacement camps. The European Union struck a deal with Turkey to control the number of refugees in 2016, and Turkey may have decided to reverse the deal to force the EU and NATO to support its military operation in Idlib.

Some of the Syrians residing in Turkey have begun to take action, believing that the window to leave Turkey would not be long. In Istanbul, some within the local Syrian community started to organize buses to take people to the borders, while others gathered at the bus station hoping to board buses to Edirne. Turkish news channels showed footage of crowds of people, including Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis, and Moroccans, walking through fields and on highways, some of whom said they had tried to cross the Kapikule border to enter Bulgaria but failed.

The EU is monitoring the situation in Bulgaria, an EU member state, “with concern,” and is ready to deploy its Frontex border guard agency if necessary, Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen said on February 29. “Our top priority at this stage is to ensure that Greece and Bulgaria have our full support,” she tweeted.

In a phone call with Turkish President Erdogan on February 28, Borissov praised Turkey’s efforts to look after the 3.7 million Syrian refugees within its territory and urged Erdogan to maintain the 2016 deal between Ankara and the EU. Borissov will meet with Erdogan on March 2 to discuss the situation.