site.btaBulgarian Emigrants Return from Turkiye to Spend Retirement Age in Kirkovo, Says Mayor

Emigrants who sold their properties and left for Turkiye in the 1980s and 1990s are now returning and buying land in their native villages to build houses again, Kirkovo Mayor Sinasi Suleyman told BTA on Wednesday.

He pointed out that these are people who are approaching or even have reached retirement age in Turkiye and want to return to Bulgaria to spend their old age here. In addition to private plots of land in their native villages in Kirkovo Municipality, they are also looking to purchase municipal plots, despite the significantly more cumbersome and complicated procedure, Suleyman noted. He emphasized that for 2024 alone, the municipal administration has sold 17 properties, all of which are in the surrounding villages and not the municipal centre of Kirkovo, with nearly half already issued with building permits.

Since the beginning of 2025, the municipal administration has received another 16 applications from people wishing to purchase municipal property in order to build a house, Suleyman also said.