Category: Bulgaria

Heartstopping moment would-be assassin aims gun at Bulgarian Turkish leader’s head and pulls the trigger… but victim survives after weapon misfires
- Ahmed Dogan was giving speech at conference in capital Sofia
- Dramatic footage shows man storming the stage and attempting to shoot the politician from point blank range
- Weapon fails to fire allowing Mr Dogan time to escape
- Security guards and politicians kick and beat attacker to the ground
A Bulgarian politician today survived an extraordinary assassination attempt when a man stormed the stage and held a gun to his head as he was giving a speech.

Fortunately for Ahmed Dogan, leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the weapon misfired giving him time to react and hit the would-be assassins hand out of the way.

Before he can attempt a second shot the unidentified suspect is tackled to the ground by security guards and delegates attending the conference in Sofia.

Television footage showed the man jumping out of the audience and interrupting a speech by 58-year-old Dogan, who has led the party for almost a quarter of a century.

Security guards and politicians are then seen beating and kicking the attacker as he is pinned to the ground.

‘Ahmed Dogan is in good health. Everything is under control,’ MRF official Ceyhan Ibryamov told journalists.

Police said they had arrested a 25-year-old man from the Black Sea town of Burgas who was also carrying two knives.

The liberal MRF party represents ethnic Turks and other Muslims who make up about 12 percent of Bulgaria’s 7.3 million-strong population.

Dogan is seen as one of Balkan country’s most influential political figures. The MRF was a junior partner in the previous Socialist-led cabinet.

In 1996, former Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov was found shot dead near his home in Sofia, though attacks on politicians are rare.

Daily Mail
January 19, 2013
Bulgarian President to pay two-day official visit to Turkey

Bulgarian President to pay two-day official visit to Turkey

27 November 2012 | 14:52 | FOCUS News Agency

Home / Southeast Europe and Balkans

Sofia. Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev is to pay a two-day official visit to Turkey on 28 and 29 November, announced the press service of the President’s Office.

The visit is continuation of the political dialog at the highest level between Bulgaria and Turkey.

The visit will focus on measures for strengthening bilateral trade, economic and investment relations and on exchange of opinions on topical regional and international issues and initiatives of mutual interest.

On 28 November the Bulgarian head of state will lay a wreath in Kemal Ataturk Mausoleum and hold a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. The two delegations will hold plenary talks.

President Plevneliev is to confer also with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek and representatives of Bulgarian emigrant organizations in Ankara.

On 29 November in Istanbul President Plevneliev is to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and visit the Bulgarian Exarchate.

Rosen Plevneliev is to visit the first European railway station of the future railway tunnel under the Bosphorus. The tunnel will connect the Asian and European part of Turkey and its construction is included in a project for connecting Central Europe with Asia through a high-speed railway line.

In Istanbul the Bulgarian head of state is to hold meetings with representatives of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey and Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey. He is to talks also with representatives of emigrant organizations.

via Bulgarian President to pay two-day official visit to Turkey – FOCUS Information Agency.

November 28, 2012
Two Bulgarian municipalities became turkish

Two Bulgarian municipalities of Haskovo and Targovishte District will became members of the TDBB – Turkish Association based in Istanbul. The name of the organization literally translates in Bulgarian as ‘Union of Municipalities of the Turkic world’, but in Bulgaria it is presented by the Association of Municipalities in Turkey sais the investigation of Nikolay Draganov.

Municipality ‘Haskovo Mineral Baths’ and Antonovo in Targovishte are invited to join the association which promises to invest in them by applying for various projects as well the municipality will not pay any membership fees for participation in the association sais the Vice. Mayor of ‘ Mineral Baths’ – Musa Colak.

Future members of the association are i four other Bulgarian municipalities – Rouen, Madan, Momchilgrad and Isperih.

via Two Bulgarian municipalities became turkish | GroundReport.

November 19, 2012
Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border

Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border – Report

The construction site of what could become a Turkish NPP is said to be visible from the Bulgarian Black Sea village of Rezovo. Map from bivol.bg

Turkey does not intend to construct a nuclear power plant several kilometers away from its border with Bulgaria, a Bulgarian official has stated, denying earlier reports.

Konstantin Grebenarov, district governor of Bulgaria’s Burgas, has assured that Turkey only plans to build a thermal power plant

“Currently there are only private investment intentions for the construction of a thermal power plant there,” Grebenarov told reporters on Monday.

However, the Bulgaria Greens have expressed concerns over the potential power plant near the Bulgarian border. Even a thermal power plant may pose serious environmental risks, Greens party representative Petko Kovachev has told the Bulgarian National Radio.

“Our reaction should be very strong if Turkey is building a nuclear power plant near our border without notifying Bulgaria and the European Commission,” Kovachev declared.

Last week, it emerged that the municipality of the small Black Sea Turkish town of Igneada has received a letter from the central government in Ankara announcing the upcoming construction of a nuclear power plant and thermal power plant on the spot.

Igneada is a town of some 2 000 inhabitants, located 5 km south of the Rezovska (Rezovo) River, which marks the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The first reports that Turkey was planning to build a nuclear power plant there emerged in 2011.

Back in April 2011, the Turkish Consul in Burgas Sibel Arkan told Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov that Igneada is only the project with the third highest possibility to become Turkey’s third NPP and the Turkish government is yet to take a decision on its construction.

In May 2010, Turkey reached an agreement with Russia for the construction of what will become Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district. Turkey’s second NPP is to be located in Sinop on the Black Sea.

Locals in both Bulgaria and Turkey are said to be alarmed by the reports that a NPP may be built in Igneada.

Tags: Sinop NPP, Igneada NPP, EDF, GDF Suez, Areva, Ankara, Tekirdag, France, Sinop, Akkuyu NPP, Nuclear Power Plant, NPP, Taner Yildiz, Black Sea coast, Black Sea, Igneada, Bulgaria Greens

via Bulgaria: Turkey Not to Build NPP on Bulgarian Border – Report – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency.

November 6, 2012
Bulgaria: FM: Bulgaria Supports Turkey EU Membership

Bulgaria supports Turkey’s eventual becoming a full member of the EU, said Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikolay Mladenov in one of the rare high-ranking Bulgarian statements on the matter.

“Bulgaria approves of Turkey’s accession to the European Unon,” said Mladenov in an interview for Darik Radio Saturday.

However, the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs acknowledged that the negotiation process is complicated

“There are huge parts of Turkish legislation that still have to be harmonized with EU standards,” said Mladenov.

He also added that Bulgaria is aware that other EU member states are not so favorable towards Turkey’s future accession.

“Attitudes and position in some member states could give ground for a halt in enlargement,” commented Mladenov.

via Bulgaria: FM: Bulgaria Supports Turkey EU Membership – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency.

November 4, 2012
Four Bulgarians arrested for producing fake alcohol in Istanbul

Four Bulgarians arrested for producing fake alcohol in Istanbul

08 September 2012 | 14:21 | FOCUS News Agency

Home / Bulgaria

Istanbul. Istanbul police arrested a group dealing with illegal production of alcohol. Detainees were nine members of the group, four of whom are Bulgarian citizens. The police checked out four addresses in the districts Kumburgaz, Avdzhalar and Kyuchyukchekmedzhe within the course of a special operation involving over 50 police officers.

Two sheds for producing fake alcohol and three warehouses were found. There were 200,000 fake labels and stamps, 63 boxes of finished goods, 100,000 empty bottles and 20 barrels of ethanol. Turkish police said the total value of counterfeit alcohol is more than one million Turkish Liras.

There are doubts that the Russian tourists who died last year from poisoning by fake alcohol in the Turkish resort town of Bodrum have consumed false alcohol produced by arrested group.

via Four Bulgarians arrested for producing fake alcohol in Istanbul – FOCUS Information Agency.

September 9, 2012