site.btaBulgarian PM Meets with Foreign and Defence Minister after Syria Strikes

Sofia, April 14 (BTA) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov held a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov and Interior Minister Valentin Radev after the Syria strikes by the US, the UK and France on Saturday morning. Reading out a statement by the government, Zaharieva said it has always been Bulgaria's position that no cause justifies the killing of innocent people, including children, that the use of chemical weapons is a war crime and the strike on Syrian targets was a response to a war crime.

"We voice concern over possible escalation of the conflict and we urge all parties, especially the Syrian regime, to discontinue all actions violating international humanitarian law," the statement said.

Bulgaria calls for de-escalation and providing full humanitarian access to the victims of the chemical attacks in Douma. "We voice full support for the work of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and we expect full cooperation for the investigation teams of the organization," Zaharieva said.

She said further that Bulgaria supports the efforts of the international community, of which the country is part, to reach pace and find a political solution in Syria. "We reiterate that the only solution in Syria should be political and all players should make an effort to restore the Geneva format."

Asked whether Bulgaria has been aware of the planned strike, Zaharieva said: "We had been in contact with our partners for several days and we expected with a high degree of certainty the action would be taken."

Defence Minister Karakachanov told Bulgarian National Television earlier in the day that Prime Minister Borissov and himself had been informed about the upcoming strike in advance by the Bulgarian military intelligence, not by any of the partner countries.

The Syria strikes have not created any threats for Bulgaria and no extraordinary measures need to be taken, Karakachanov told the news briefing.

Taking a reporter's question, Zaharieva said a counter-strike from Russia is not expected.

The leader of the main opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Kornelia Ninova, said in s comment that "the use of military force only deepens the problems instead of solving them". "The use of chemical weapons is, of course, inadmissible but such use in Syria should be established and proven by an independent investigation of the UN," she added.

She also said that military actions without a UN sanction, as well as an aggravation of the crisis in relations between the US and Russia "take us farther from the goal: lasting peace in the Middle East.

Here the Socialists agree with the power-holders in Bulgaria that the only possible solution for Syria is political.

Ninova was commenting the Syria strike at a meeting with the leadership of the Young European Socialists, who are in Sofia for a two-day forum.