The Visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to Bulgaria is Postponed

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's visit to Bulgaria, due to be held today, has been postponed for a better time. This was announced by his Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zaharieva on the bTV.

Diplomatic tensions between the two countries emerged after Cavusoglu initiated a conversation with Ekaterina Zaharieva on the occasion of the Law of Denominations and then said in Turkey that he had intervened in the adoption of the amendments. His words came days before the local elections in the country, where the governors lost control over the big cities and the rich provinces. His speech sparked a reaction from Sofia and a démarche before the Turkish ambassador.

A few days later, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that "malicious circles distorted the words of the Turkish Foreign Minister" to harm relations between Ankara and Sofia.

Today Zaharieva once again described the statement as "unacceptable". She added she had talked to her colleague briefly during her visit to Washington, where he had assured her again that his words had not been translated correctly.

"So let's say this was a kind of excuse," Zaharieva said. The Minister specified that she did not speak Turkish, but the statement was attended by several people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She also commented on yesterday's National Security Advisory Board, which was convened for measures against corruption in power.

"The Bulgarian Socialist Party's pain is that the leadership of the anti-corruption body is elected by parliament, not by the president, and the first paragraphs of the draft proposed by the presidential institution coincide with those of the BSP," the minister said.

Zaharieva stressed that there was no bribery on...