The Bulgarian government has reported a significant decrease in attempts to illegally cross from Turkey into Bulgaria.
According to acting interior minister Kalin Stoyanov, Bulgarian authorities have thwarted 5,200 attempts to cross the Bulgarian-Turkish border illegally since the start of the year. This figure contrasts sharply with the 15,600 attempts recorded during the same period of 2023. Additionally, the number of migrants detained in Bulgaria has fallen to 260 this year from 1,260 last year.
Stoyanov provided these figures during a parliamentary session on Wednesday, highlighting a noteworthy decline in migration pressure on Bulgaria.
The 259-kilometer border between Bulgaria and Turkey is often crossed by migrants and refugees from crisis-affected regions, seeking to enter the European Union without going through official border checks. Most of these migrants seek to pass through Bulgaria, the EU’s poorest member state, en route to Central and Western Europe.
EU border protection agency Frontex plans to significantly increase its presence along Bulgaria’s borders with Turkey and Serbia. Starting March 20, up to 600 additional Frontex officers will be deployed in Bulgaria, tripling the current number. This move comes as Bulgaria prepares to join the Schengen area at the end of March.
Parallel reports from Turkey’s border with Greece indicate a more than 95 percent decline in irregular migrant activity this year. Turkey has been a key transit country for refugees and migrants aiming to reach Europe, exacerbated by the Syrian civil war, which started in 2011.
Greece and Bulgaria are accused of illegally pushing back asylum seekers who have reached their countries, thereby denying them their right to asylum.
Human rights groups and nongovernmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) criticize the European Union for tolerating a policy that perpetuates violence against migrants. They point out that the normalization of abusive pushbacks in Greece and Bulgaria represents a failure of the Greek, Bulgarian and EU authorities. Rights groups have documented extensive evidence of violence and pushbacks.