“The relations between Turkey and Bulgaria are at their best level in the past several years. Both sides have the necessary will to improve relations on all fields. There are only a few issues that remain unsolved. Among these is the property of Bulgarians in Turkey,” Raykov remarked.
Raykov’s comments came in response to the Turkish reaction to a Bulgarian cabinet minister, Bijidar Dimitrov, who called on Turkey to pay billions of dollars to Bulgarian people who left Turkey after 1913. Dimitrov said on Sunday that Turkey should reimburse Bulgaria for the property Bulgarian refugees left behind and suggested there would be consequences in Turkey’s bid to join the EU if it refuses to pay.
Raykov said Bulgaria fully supports Turkey’s reform process as part of its bid to join the EU. In the meantime, the leader of Bulgaria’s ultra-nationalist party Ataka (Attack), Volen Siderov, said news broadcasts in Turkish on Bulgarian state TV would be abolished regardless of whether or not his country holds a referendum to that end. Speaking during a live TV program on Wednesday, Siderov said: “The news broadcasts in the Turkish language have given me insomnia for the past 10 years. The transmissions will be abolished whether or not Bulgaria holds a referendum. There is no other choice.”
The proposal for a referendum was an election promise from Ataka and was publicly endorsed by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov on Dec. 15 when he said his ruling GERB party was ready to support Ataka’s campaign for a referendum on the Turkish news bulletins. The special bulletins in Turkish are 10 minutes long and have been broadcast five days a week at 5 p.m. since 2000. Ataka leader Siderov insisted that Bulgarian was the official language of Bulgaria and that there was no place for news in Turkish on the public broadcasting system.
