Bulgaria to recall its ambassador in Turkey

A Bulgarian government official confirmed on Tuesday that Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Turkey will be recalled soon for having once served as secret service agents for the nation’s former communist governments.

13 of the country’s ambassadors have already returned pending dismissal for the same reason.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vessela Tcherneva said a further 22 ambassadors and permanent representatives will be recalled on June 1.

Novinite.com news agency reported on Tuesday that ambassadors from Bosnia, Greece, Romania, Georgia, Serbia, China, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Belarus and Macedonia, the United Nations and UNESCO have already returned.

The agency said ambassadors to Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Turkey and Japan will return in June.

In December, a panel investigating Bulgaria’s communist-era police, published the names of 192 diplomats who had worked for the previous secret services, and parliament voted to ask Bulgaria’s president to remove 33 of them now serving as ambassadors.