TURKEY: Compensation issue dominates discussion as Bulgaria's PM visits Ankara

Record ID: 217461

  • Title: TURKEY: Compensation issue dominates discussion as Bulgaria's PM visits Ankara
  • Date: 2nd February 2010
  • Summary: TURKISH AND BULGARIAN FLAGS ERDOGAN AND BORISOV INSPECTING HONOUR GUARDS
  • Embargoed: 17th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2VIIRLUCXSCNSMNZ2RQQZZJVO
  • Story Text: Bulgaria and Turkey need to overcome recent ethnic tensions, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Friday (January 29), during a visit to Ankara where he met his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.
    Borisov is on a state visit, a few weeks after tensions between the two countries were raised over a row over a compensation issue for a refugee case dating back to 1913 .
    In early January Bulgarian minister Bozhidar Dimitrov tried to claim more than 20 billion USD (almost 43.4 billion euro) compensation from Turkey, for the property of more than 250,000 Bulgarians forced out of their homes in eastern Thrace, now in Turkey, during the Balkan wars in 1913.
    He threatened to block Turkey's European Union (EU) if the matter was not resolved.
    A few days after Dimitrov's claim, Borisov said the statement did not reflect the official position of the Bulgarian government and said the compensation issue had nothing to do with Turkey's bid to join the EU.
    A few day's later Borisov said Dimitrov's statement did not reflect the official position of the centre-right government, which took office in July.
    Speaking after his meeting with Erdogan on Friday, Borisov said there needed to be a solution for aggrieved families.
    "Therefore, we have set up a commission for it. It is working and we are waiting for the results," he said.
    Borisov emphasized the need to strengthen bilateral ties with Turkey in order to solve mutual problems.
    "We need to overcome the ethnic tensions created by certain circles. Bulgaria and Turkey should create employment opportunities. Together we should provide income for our citizens. That is friendship. That is neighbourhood," he said.
    Erdogan said the commission needed to complete its work before anything else could be done.
    "Afterwards we are going to evaluate whether we should take this problem to the courts. All these issues will be discussed and when we come to a conclusion, I don't know how it will be implemented, maybe through an exchange, or maybe we will find another way but we are going to take all the necessary steps," he said.
    According to Bulgaria, Turkey recognised the rights of the refugees in a 1925 treaty, but the agreement was never implemented.
    Turkey on the other hand, claims that the compensation should be discussed in line with the rights of Turks who had to leave Bulgaria in the wake of forced assimilation of the Turkish minority in the late 1980s.
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