Bulgaria on Monday deployed 350 soldiers to the border with Turkey to help police cope with the growing influx of migrants, the defence minister announced.

"Soldiers arrived at the Bulgarian-Turkish border since today to back up the border police," Georgi Panayotov told the private bTV channel.

The 350 troops deployed with 40 units of equipment, he added.

This year has already seen more than 6,500 people cross illegally into Bulgaria, three times the numbers for the first nine months of 2020, according to the interior ministry.

The east European country sits on one of the main routes migrants use to enter the EU from the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Bulgaria is an external border for the European Union. A partly damaged barbed-wire fence runs the length of the 259-kilometre (161-mile) frontier with Turkey.

Parliament agreed in August on the dispatch of 400-700 soldiers on the borders with Greece and Turkey, mainly to help build fencing.

Bulgaria is the poorest EU member state and has never taken in large numbers of asylum-seekers, most of whom try to move on through the EU before waiting for a response from Sofia on their refugee status.

EU countries have feared an influx of people from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control on August 15, with memories still fresh from the migrant crisis that shook Europe in 2015.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Smoke bombs, floods and virus fears as Glasgow readies for COP26
Glasgow (AFP) Oct 29, 2021
A soft drizzle fell on a cluster of American climate activists as they set off smoke bombs in George Square in Glasgow's city centre. The clouds of white smoke were symbolically aimed at the heads of state beginning to arrive in Scotland's biggest city for COP26, the United Nations climate change conference which starts on Sunday. The demonstration on Thursday night was one of the first in an expected multitude of protests and publicity stunts planned as tens of thousands of delegates pour into ... read more