Bulgarian PM: The EU Should Consider the Consequences of Deteriorating Relations with Turkey

"The issue for Cyprus will not be resolved during the Bulgarian EU Presidency." This is what the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov told the Cypriot news agency KNA, BTA reported.

In the words of the Prime Minister, "The EU must think very seriously about the risks and consequences of the deterioration of its relations with Turkey". He also said that "if we change the approach to Turkey, this must be reflected in the EU's defense policy," he said.

Responding to a question as to whether and how far the Bulgarian Presidency will boost the enlargement of the EU-Turkey customs union and the liberalization of the visa regime for Turkish citizens, the Bulgarian Prime Minister points out that "as co-chair of the Council, Bulgaria considers that the sovereign right for decision-making on these issues lies with the Council of Member States itself, in which sense I can only "think aloud" by answering your question, "he says.

"For many, Turkey is a distant country, for our friends in Cyprus, for Greece, and here in Bulgaria, Turkey is close, it has 80 million people and an army that works very efficiently," notes Boyko Borissov.

"We are following the course of events ... The EU has trade relations with Turkey, there is cooperation on Syria and terrorism, do we want to worsen these relations, do we want to continue to exchange high-level bad words?", asks Borisov.

"In Bulgaria, we have a Muslim minority ... we are very careful about ethnic tolerance," the Prime Minister also said.