Bulgaria Promises to Probe Groups' 'Gulenist' Ties

Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Valentin Radev, on Thursday said Sofia would investigate 14 organisations, including colleges and trade representatives, for ties with Turkey's so-called FETO movement, led by the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen - which Ankara blames for the failed 2016 coup attempt in Turkey and accuses of terrorism.

The Turkish request to probe the groups followed a meeting between Radev and his Turkish counterpart, Suleyman Soylu, in Odrin on Tuesday.

"The [intelligence] services will make an inquiry and decide what to do", Radev said, noting that the question about the 14 organisations would be forwarded "to the responsible institutions", Dnevnik.bg reported.

"We will continue working in a spirit of good-neighbourly relations and will make all efforts to be useful, but we will abide by Bulgarian laws," the minister added.

Bulgaria has cooperated with Turkey before on this matter, on at least two occasions, deporting alleged Gulen supporters to Turkey.

The first case involved the extradition of businessman Abdullah Buyuk in the summer of 2016. Seven other so-called Gulenists were arrested and deported in October 2016.

In April this year, the European Court of Human Rights requested all documents related to the extradition of Buyuk.

Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed on Tuesday that the Turkish authorities had  arrested a Bosnian citizen on May 22.

The Consulate in Istanbul and the Embassy of Bosnia in Ankara would "provide all possible assistance to the Bosnian citizen and his family," the Foreign Ministry said.

Authorities in Turkey said they had arrested a Chinese student and a Bosnian student in western Turkey for alleged links to the "Gülenist Terror Group, FETÖ" - after investigators...