Turkey declared a Bulgarian diplomat persona non grata –

/ world today news/ The tension between Bulgaria and Turkey continues to grow after yesterday our southern neighbor declared a Bulgarian diplomat persona non grata. Zornitsa Apostolova, first secretary at our Consulate General in Istanbul, has been asked to leave the territory of Turkey, the “Hurriet Daily News” newspaper reported.

The drastic measure is a response to the decision of the Bulgarian authorities to request the recall of Ugur Emiroglu – attaché at the Turkish Consulate General in Burgas. The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to comment to Sega. Initially, information appeared last Sunday that Turkey plans to expel our Consul General in Istanbul, Angel Angelov, but Minister Daniel Mitov denied it.

Ugur Emiroglu, who was expelled from Bulgaria, is an employee of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in Turkey, and in our country he was accredited as an attaché for social affairs. According to “Hurriet”, sources familiar with the case have confirmed that Emiroglu has been declared persona non grata by Bulgaria. The reason cited by Bulgarian officials is Emiroglu’s activities incompatible with his diplomatic status. The Turkish side considered this argument “unfounded ” and after Sofia did not agree to back down from her original position, she responded with a reciprocal measure. “The situation is indicative of the growing rift between Ankara and Sofia due to the specific position of Sofia, due to close relations with Moscow, although the country is a member of the EU and NATO”, comments “Hurriet” and adds that the tension between the two countries is began to rise after the incident with the downed Russian bomber by a Turkish fighter in November.