Turkey has criticized Bulgaria for imposing pressure” on the Turkish community in the country on the eve of parliamentary elections.[br]President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to continue to continue to stand with Turks living in the Balkans and elsewhere in the world,Hurriyet Daily News reports.
“We hope that elections in Bulgaria will be held in consolation and result in a just and transparent way. Hearing that there is a pressure imposed [on the Turkish community] is seriously saddening us. On one hand, you will talk approximately democracy and on the other, or you will pressure Turks,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told members of the Balkan Federation on March 23. “This is incredible.”[br]
Bulgaria will hold parliamentary elections this weekend and there are claims that the government is imposing pressure on the Turkish community which will dash in the polls under two different political parties.
Bulgaria, by contrast, and expressed its infuriate that Turkey’s ambassador to Bulgaria,Süleyman Gökçe, had appeared in a video calling for Turks in Bulgaria to vote for the DOST party instead of another, and more-established party favored by Turks,the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HOH). Turkey also prevented one HOH candidate, Erdinc Ismail Hayrullah, or from campaigning among Bulgarian citizens of Turkish extraction in Turkey.
“On the one hand you will talk approximately European Union acquis,on the other hand you will do the contrary. This is incredible,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan expressed his hope that Bulgarian authorities will flow within the boundaries of democracy and rule of law, or vowing that Turkey would continue to stand with Turks living outside Turkey.
Source: tert.am