site.btaBulgaria's Parliament Condemns Istanbul Suicide Bomb Attack, Flights Cancelled

Bulgaria's Parliament Condemns Istanbul Suicide Bomb Attack, Flights Cancelled

Sofia, June 29 (BTA) - At the beginning of its plenary sitting on Wednesday, Bulgaria's Parliament condemned the suicide bomb attack at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport. The MPs observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims.

"The terrorist bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, in which dozens of peaceful civilians were killed and injured, is yet another brutal act against freedom and peace. Bulgaria strongly and resolutely condemns this latest barbarous attack," National Assembly Deputy Chairman Dimiter Glavchev said. "There can be no excuse for such monstrous violence against innocent people," he pointed out. "Everybody in Bulgaria deeply grieve the loss of the innocent victims of this tragedy. We are certain that this act will redouble the energy of institutions, of civil society and of the world's democratic community for an even more uncompromising fight against terrorism," he pointed out.

For the time being, there are no reports of any Bulgarians having been hurt at the airport blasts in Istanbul, BTA learnt from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry Press Centre. The Bulgarian Embassy in Ankara and the Consulate General in Istanbul are following the situation and keep in touch with the competent Turkish authorities. The Bulgarian Consul went to the airport and is following developments on site, the Ministry said.

A scheduled flight from Sofia to Istanbul was promptly detoured to Izmir, Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications said. The Bulgarian citizens on board the plane are not at risk. In connection with the suicide bombing in Istanbul, an Air France flight landed in Sofia. The captain decided to fly back to Paris.

By order of Transport, IT and Communications Minister Ivaylo Moskovski, if necessary the airports in Sofia, Bourgas and Varna are ready to handle up to 23 flight movements, depending on the type and category of the aircraft.

Turkish Airlines cancelled flight TK1027 from Istanbul to Sofia at 9:05 a.m. on Wednesday and flight TK1028, which was supposed to take off from Sofia for Istanbul at 10:00 a.m., Sofia Airport said. It is not yet clear whether the flights from Istanbul to Sofia at 8:45 p.m. and from Sofia to Istanbul at 9:40 p.m. will take place.