site.btaBulgaria, Greece, Turkey Agree to Set Up Joint Contact Centre for Police, Customs Cooperation

Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey Agree to Set Up Joint Contact Centre for Police, Customs Cooperation

Sofia, May 25 (BTA) - Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey here on Monday
concluded an agreement on the establishment of a joint contact
centre for police and customs cooperation.

In the presence of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, the
agreement was signed by Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and
Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova, Turkish Interior Minister
Sebahattin Ozturk and Greek Alternate Minister of Interior and
Administrative Reconstruction Ioannis Panousis .

The purpose of the agreement is to help the three countries cope
with common problems: migration, organized crime and
counterterrorism. "Coordinating the text took several months and
we had a chance of signing it at a historic moment for Europe,
which is most appropriate for it," Buchvarova said after the
signing. "Such a document is signed for the first time by these
three countries. Bulgaria already has such contact centres with
all its other neighbours. This one will be the first for Turkey
and the first between three countries in our region," she added.

"We can't cope with the shared challenges without cooperating
and exchanging information. Each country comes under a stronger
migration pressure which has its specificities in our region,
and we target raising this issue with our EU partners because
this border is sensitive to changes and we may run into various
difficulties. My Turkish and Greek colleagues and I share an
identical assessment of the problems and take the same view of
them," Buchvarova pointed out. She thanked Ozturk for the quick
response when Monday's meeting was arranged because "all three
countries will benefit from it."

"This sets the beginning of a test preparation for our future
work and the various cooperation models. We hope that Greece and
Turkey will ratify the agreement, in Bulgaria its entry into
force requires only a Council of Ministers decision," the Deputy
PM explained.

Panousis thanked Bulgaria for the warm welcome and hospitality
and for the opportunity to discuss matters of shared interest.
"This is a very positive initiative of the Bulgarian Government
to which we responded because we are experiencing common
problems," he added. "We live in the age of globalization and
high technologies, but also in the age of joint activity and
shared responsibility.

Ozturk sees the signing of the police and customs cooperation
agreement as important evidence of the teamwork between the
three countries. "Quite a few of our problems are of a global
nature. A problem arising at the border of one country already
affects directly many other countries as well," he noted. "For
this reason, the insecurity south of Turkey's border influenced
other countries. Turkey has so far given refuge to 2 million
immigrants, of whom 1.7 million are Syrian refugees. Turkey has
spent some 5,500 million US dollars on addressing this issue, of
which only 300 million are aid from Western countries," the
Turkish Interior Minister said. "The joint contact centre will
facilitate our cooperation: through it the police and customs
authorities will exchange information in real time and will be
able to react adequately to illegal immigration and smuggling.
We will always be ready for cooperation with our neighbours,"
Ozturk emphasized.