Kapıkule

Traffic is intense at the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the press centre of Chief Directorate Border Police announced.

Voting of Turkish citizens abroad in the referendum for constitutional amendments on April 16 started on Monday.

Voting sections have been opened at Turkey's border cross checkpoints and in Europe, at airports and ports.

Groups of angry nationalist Bulgarians blocked roads from two border gates to Turkey on March 21 in a bid to prevent voters who hold passports of both countries on the eve of a general election over the weekend. 

Slightly after 10:00 hrs, traffic at border cross checkpoint Kapitan Andreevo was blocked by protests held by patriots against the so-called "voting tourism" from Turkey.

Initially, the protest was announced as peaceful but, later on, people decided to block the lane from Turkey to Bulgaria and put tyres and chains along it.

A lengthy queue of trucks has formed at the border in the western province of Edirne, with trucks waiting at the Kapıkule Border Gate in a 10-kilometer long queue. 

State-run Anadolu Agency said the trucks are trying to deliver export loads but are stuck in heavy traffic due to insufficient administrative measures on the Bulgarian side of the border. 

The Istanbul representative of the Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP) has won a tender held for kittens and puppies recently seized on the border while being smuggled into Turkey from Bulgaria. 

No buyers have been found in a second tender for 15 kittens and six puppies that are currently being housed at the Kapıkule and Hamzabeyli customs offices after they were seized while being smuggled into Turkey, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Turkey's trade to Europe has been slowed down with more than 1,000 trucks waiting for days to cross through the Kapıkule Border Gate with Bulgaria to European markets. The delays are reportedly caused by an ongoing bribery operation carried out by Bulgarian police, tightening controls by the EU to prevent human trafficking by land, and construction works at the gate.

Turkish authorities detained 97 Syrian refugees, including 22 children, in the trailer of a truck near the border with Bulgaria on Sunday.

The migrants were caught when they attempted to illegally cross the Kapikule-Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint.

Turkish authorities intercepted on Wednesday 712 refugees headed for the EU in the northwestern province of Edirne near the border with Bulgaria.

The usual number of refugees intercepted in Edirne on a daily basis is 100-150, but the recent surge in their number was due to the announced plans of EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to relocate 160 000 people.