site.btaDefence Ministers of Bulgaria and Greece Attend VIP Day of Balkan Dagger Exercise

Defence Ministers of Bulgaria and Greece
Attend VIP Day
of Balkan Dagger Exercise


Ilinden, Bulgarian-Greek border, June 9 (BTA) - Defence Ministers Krassimir Karakachanov of Bulgaria and Panagiotis Kammenos of Greece attended the VIP day of the joint Bulgarian-Greek training activity Balkan Dagger on Friday. They watched a demonstration of the capabilities of the two countries' special operations forces near the Ilinden border pass. The participants in the event simulated an operation to neutralize a terrorist group.

The show marked the end of the Balkan Dagger activity which began on May 29. It involved a unit of the 2nd Battalion of Bulgaria's 68th Special Forces Brigade and the Z' MAK unit of Greece's Special Operations Forces.

Karakachanov and Kammenos gave high marks for what they saw. The demonstration was also attended by Bulgaria's Chief of Defence, Lieutenant General Andrei Botsev, and the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis.

Karakachanov told the media that this is his third meeting with Kammenos in a month. Expressing his satisfaction with these meetings, Karakachanov noted that Bulgaria and Greece have no problems between them. He said: "We are two friendly Orthodox nations, but sadly, illegal migration has afflicted us with shared problems. It is with such joint exercises of our special forces and the other branches of the armed forces that we can enhance our capabilities in order to deal not only with the dangers stemming from illegal migration but also the dangers associated with Islamic terrorism on the continent, specifically in the Western Balkans."

Karakachanov noted that, after a hiatus, the tradition of joint Bulgarian-Greek military exercises was restored by the Special Operations Forces and will be continued on a regular basis.

For his part, Kammenos said that the main message of Balkan Dagger is that Greece and Bulgaria and their armed forces are able to build "a strong shield of stability and an axis of security." "This is a way to keep extremism and terrorism from spreading," the Greek Defence Minister said. "We take pride in our armed forces. Our joint political message is that Europe is safe, but Central Europe should realize that the countries of Southeastern Europe need to be supported and to develop, because these countries are Europe's protective shield." PK/VE
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