Turkish Foreign Minister pays a visit to Bulgaria as part of his Balkan tour

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on January 30 visited Bulgaria as part of his tour of the Balkans. His agenda included meetings with his counterpart - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel, President Rumen Radev, and Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov.

A meeting with the Speaker of Bulgaria’s Parliament, Rossen Zhelyazkov, is also planned. During the meetings, key issues such as illegal trafficking, security in the region, the economy and transport were discussed.

The curiosity and questions surrounding the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who also was former director of the intelligence service and MIT and Erdogan's "black box", grew with his first meetings in Bulgaria.

Photos on the official website of Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that they were with the outgoing chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), Mustafa Karadayi, and the nominees for future co-chairs, Delyan Peevski and Associate Professor Dr. Javdet Chakyrov. We were not able to ask him what they said to each other because no opportunity for questions was given during the official statements. But both Bulgaria and Turkey stressed that their compatriots are an important topic.

"As far as our compatriots in Bulgaria are concerned, Bulgarian Turks as well as Muslims in the country, their happiness and well-being is among the important topics for Turkey. I would like to warmly congratulate our compatriots and thank the Bulgarian government for its efforts in this direction," explained Hakan Fidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

Hakan Fidan came to Bulgaria ahead of the rotation in the Bulgarian government, the expiry of the current ambassador's term in office and the MRF national conference. Good neighbourliness, NATO alliance and preserving security in the region and the Black Sea were among the priorities outlined by the Bulgarian and Turkish foreign ministers.

"Bulgaria has always supported and will support Turkey's European path. That is why we welcome the proposal to intensify EU-Turkey relations", Mariya Gabriel said.

Mariya Gabriel received an invitation to visit Turkey in March from President Recep Erdogan. The topics of the meeting includes the preservation of cultural heritage in both countries.

"For our part, we would appreciate efforts to establish a regional underwater cultural heritage centre based in Bulgaria," Gabriel said.

After today's meeting, an “Energy and Climate” group will be established. Among the goals Bulgaria and Turkey have set themselves is to increase trade from 7 to 10 billion dollars.