site.btaNot Having Bucharest-Sofia Highway Is Unacceptable, Turkish Ambassador to Romania Says

The Turkish Ambassador to Romania Ozgur Cavanc Altan is outraged by the absence of a highway between Bucharest and Sofia and Bucharest and Istanbul. Speaking during an event organized by the Romanian armed forces Thursday, he said it was "unacceptable for Romania not to have highways on the Bucharest-Istanbul or Bucharest-Sofia routes".

"Why don't we have a Bucharest-Istanbul highway? It is beyond belief that we don't have it", Altan said. "It's 600 kilometers and takes us ten hours to drive! It is unacceptable. Five hours! We have to make them five hours," he added. 

"Bucharest-Sofia. Why don't we have a highway? We should meet and really work on these projects", Ambassador Altan urged, elaborating that once these highways are built, they need to extend them to the whole Black Sea region.

There has been a highway between Sofia and Istanbul since 2015, when Bulgaria opened a highway to the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, connecting it to the Turkish highway to Istanbul. Romania, however, does not have a highway to Bulgaria, Romanian media reported.