The foreign minister with details about the missing Bulgarian during the earthquake in Turkey – Politics

About 750 polling stations are expected to be opened for voting abroad on April 2, 2023. Acting Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov said this at a media briefing today.

He defined the organization of elections abroad as the main priority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And he explained that all structures of the department will be involved.

According to him, more than 1,000 people will be seconded. According to him, this change is required because of the introduced changes in the Electoral Code.

The plan-account for the elections is about BGN 8 million. The higher price is due to various expenses related to business trips, but also to the increase in the salaries of SIK employees, as well as to the larger number of people who will be sent for the elections abroad, noted Milkov.

The devastating earthquake in Turkey: Day 2

The foreign minister also commented on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Bulgaria is the country that was able to provide help very quickly. There were three flights of Spartan planes, valuable and important assistance. The MFA contributed to the organization as through the embassy we coordinated how things were happening. We stay in touch. We are monitoring the situation with the missing Bulgarian. His relatives have gone to the spot. The consular service is in touch with them. They hope he may be alive. There are a number taken out and hospitalized, not identified. The hope is that he is among them, Milkov specified.

According to him, there are no indications and forecasts of an increase in the wave of refugees after the devastating earthquake.

Minister Milkov expressed his condolences to the relatives of those injured and killed in the earthquake in Turkey.

Among his priorities within the office, Milkov highlighted the work on admission of Bulgaria to Schengen. He emphasized that next week he will participate in a conference in The Hague. The Foreign Minister noted that Bulgaria has received feedback regarding the submitted initial memorandum for membership in the OECD, with positive assessments.

Regarding PCM, Milkov stated: You know the attitude we took regarding January 4. From inaction regarding the repressions against Bulgarian citizens and people with a Bulgarian self-consciousness, the authorities in the RSM took action and it was seen what this action was. This is about the fact that we cannot but state with deep regret that attempts to upgrade relations with the RSM were undermined by the authorities in the RSM, who did not allow the tribute to Gotse Delchev. We tried to thaw the relationship.

Initially, three citizens were allowed to worship at the grave of Gotse Delchev, after a protest, five people were allowed. He then shut down their skip system which was down for four hours, it wasn’t working just one way which shows the whole staging. Those who managed to get in were not allowed into the church. None of these people who traveled from Sofia were able to worship in the church. At the expense of this, people were arrested and beaten, added the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The official minister noted that Hristiyan Pendikov will be accommodated in housing that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide for him.