site.btaTurkey Would not Apologize for FM’s Statement that Angered Bulgaria

104 BULGARIA – TURKEY – PM – VICE PRESIDENT – CONTROVERSY

Turkey Would not Apologize for FM’s Statement that Angered Bulgaria

Bucharest, March 30 (BTA special correspondent Antoan Nikolov) – Turkey would not apologize to Bulgaria for a statement by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that his country had interfered into Bulgaria's internal affairs regarding the Religious Denominations Act.  This transpired after a meeting of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov with Turkish Vice President Fuat Octay in Romania, details of which were made public by Borissov. The two talked for over five hours on the sidelines of a quadrilateral summit of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia, where Octay was also invited.

According to media reports, Cavusoglu told a local election campaign rally in Corlu on March 27 that Ankara had been compelled to interfere because Bulgaria was preparing to restrict the rights of the denominations, and after that Bulgaria had to revise the Religious Denominations Act, so that the Muslim denomination would not be forced to sell out its property in order to pay its debts. The statement caused strong reaction in Bulgaria and assurances that Bulgarian officials have never given in to external influences. Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva called the statement “extremely unacceptable” and summoned the Turkish Ambassador for an explanation.

After his meeting with the Turkish Vice President, Borissov said that he would not accept anything other an apology from Octay. The Turkish official, however, told him that his country does not believe Cavusoglu’s statement hurt Bulgaria in any way and that it was taken out of context.

Borissov said: “Nobody has exercised any influence on us with regard to the Religious Denominations Act. That [revision] was our own decision because we believe that the State should be financing all religious denominations. And that is what we did.”

He said that Turkey does not see any pressure being exercised on Bulgaria through Cavusoglu’s statement and that he spent five hours discussing with the Turkish side what is “pressure” and what is “situation”.

Borissov also said that Bulgaria has never engaged in anti-Turkey campaigns because goodneighbourly relations are important for it. “I understand that they have elections in Turkey but I don’t want to see anything done at Bulgaria’s expense,” said the Bulgarian Prime Minister.

He argued that Bulgarian Muslims need no external protection because they enjoy the same rights and freedoms as everybody else.

“This is what I was trying to tell [the Turkish Vice President] but, unfortunately, we failed to come to understanding,” Borissov said in conclusion. LN/