Bulgaria, Turkey Hail Coordination in Protection of Common Border

Bulgaria and Turkey have achieved a very good level of cooperation in ensuring the protection of their common border in the context of the current migration crisis in Europe.

The conclusion emerged during a meeting of Bulgaria's Justice Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and Turkey's Chief Public Prosecutor at the Supreme Court Mehmet Akarca in Sofia in Tuesday, according to a statement from the Justice Ministry.

Bulgaria has a 270-km land border with Turkey which is also part of the EU's external border. To stem a migrant inflow from Turkey, Bulgaria has built a razor-wire fence along some 100 km of the common border.

At the meeting, Zahareiva stated her opinion that the law should treat terrorists and those providing them with financing with the greatest severity.

"We need to join forces to counter terrorism, paying attention to the smuggling of goods, drugs, cultural objects ??as well as the trafficking of people, which are the sources most often used to finance terrorist organizations," Zaharieva said.

Bulgaria had achieved tangible results in countering smuggling activities over the past year thanks to good cooperation between the prosecuting authorities and the government, Zaharieva added.

Mehmet Akarca said he hoped that his visit would help deepen the cooperation between the prosecutor's offices of Bulgaria and Turkey as well as the justice ministries of the two neighbouring countries.