Minister of Interior: Migrant pressure at Bulgaria’s border with Turkey increased, but no grounds for concern

Migrant pressure at Bulgaria’s land border with Turkey is increased, we expect it to grow and we are ready to counteract. So far, there are no grounds for concern, said Bulgaria’s caretaker Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev, who inspected the Bulgarian-Turkish border in the area of responsibility of the Border Police Elhovo on August 5.

Dermendzhiev said that for the same period last year, the migrant pressure has increased nearly 6 times and compared to last month - about 24%. In the first seven months of the year there were more than 60,000 attempts to cross the border, mostly by people from Syria and the Middle East.

"We have become familiar with the situation and the problems. So far there is no reason for concern. The available forces are coping. There are about 860 people deployed from inside the country - police forces assisting the Border Police. We are closely monitoring the situation on a daily basis and if there is a change, we are ready to react with additional forces and a change in the organisation," Dermendzhiev said.

So far, no additional forces are needed, but if there is a change, we will react immediately. The dynamics of events require us to monitor these processes on a daily basis, he added.

According to Dermendzhiev, the fence is in good condition, the technical facilities are in good working order.

Regarding the early elections, for the preparation of which Dermendzhiev will be in charge, he said that they have already entered into communication with the Central Election Commission and meetings are scheduled for early next week.

“I assure you that everything that exists as best practices will be implemented. But our ambition this time is to catch the people behind this vote buying and not just disrupt it, as it happened before. Not for lack of desire, but for lack of capacity in this regard. The aim was to prevent the vote from being bought, and we are adding to this aim to identify the people who are involved in this and to hold them criminally responsible," Dermendzhiev said.

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