site.btaForeign Minister Mitov: "Foreign Diplomats' Attempts to Interfere into Bulgaria's Internal Affairs Are Unacceptable"

Foreign Minister Mitov:"Foreign Diplomats' Attempts to Interfere into Bulgaria's Internal Affairs Are Unacceptable"

Sofia, March 11 (BTA) - "The attempts at interfering into Bulgaria's internal affairs on the part of foreign diplomats accredited in this country, regardless of which State they represent, will not be left without the respective consequences," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said here on Friday. He addressed Parliament during Question Time, answering questions from independent MP Velizar Enchev, Stanislav Stanilov MP of Ataka and Dimiter Dubov of BSP-Left Bulgaria about "trampling on the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations by the Turkish Ambassador and Turkey's Consuls General in Bourgas and Plovdiv".

"Our relations with Turkey have a sound and stable foundation, and we have a number of priorities in our bilateral relations which we must implement jointly," Mitov said. He specified that the first priority is clear control of Bulgaria's southeastern border in order to prevent an influx of refugees. "We also have a number of joint economic, trade, infrastructure, energy and transport projects," he recalled.

The Foreign Minister pointed out that "despite all vicissitudes, our peoples have been neighbours for centuries and are well aware that good-neighbourliness is too important to allow relations to deteriorate owing to certain actions by particular officials, regardless of their rank."

"To set the record straight, bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Turkey, as well as our national dignity, were to a certain extent impaired by the events in the days around Christmas," Mitov commented. "The Bulgarian side, in the person of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has already taken measures and has done everything possible to contain the conflict, for which we have made all possible diplomatic efforts," he added. "I would like to tell those who advise us to take more radical steps that matters should be considered in a greater depth and in a longer-term perspective," the chief Bulgarian diplomat noted.

Mitov said that "the actions of a chief of mission who, despite the clear standards of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, exhibits a behaviour that public opinion perceives as interference into our country's international affairs," do not fit into his understanding of professional diplomatic conduct. The Foreign Minister said he had used diplomatic channels to call for what is necessary to be done so as to overcome this perception as soon as possible.

"I have left to my Turkish colleague Mevlut Cavusoglu, whom I respect very much, to decide whether the presence of Ambassador Suleyman Gokce benefits our relations," the Foreign Minister said. He confirmed that Sofia has declared Ugur Emiroglu, attache for social affairs at Turkey's Consulate General in Bourgas, persona non grata in connection with "activities incompatible with his diplomatic status". Turkey reciprocated by expelling Zornitsa Apostolova, first secretary at Bulgaria's Consulate General in Istanbul.

Tensions between the two countries mounted after Lyutvi Mestan was ousted as leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) in mid-December 2015 for declaring support for Turkey in connection with the downed Russian bomber. Mestan, together with his wife, briefly took refuge at Ambassador Gokce's residence on December 22.

Independent MP Georgi Kadiev has said in a Facebook post that MRF MPs had told him that they had come under "horrendous pressure" from the Turkish Embassy and the consulates in Plovdiv and Bourgas to back Mestan. The MPs were "unceremoniously threatened and intimidated," Kadiev said.

In a bTV interview on February 20, Gokce denied that Turkey is interfering into Bulgaria's internal affairs. "With all due respect, Turkey has never asked any Bulgarian politician to take sides regarding any other political and public figure in Bulgaria," he asserted. The diplomat deplored what he called "a whole series of such statements" as impertinent and not conducive to bilateral relations.