TURKEY BLOCKS EU FUNDS OVER BULGARIA’S BURGAS RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Sofia News Agency
March 10 2008
Bulgaria

Turkey’s government declined to sign a EU-funded cooperation agreement
with Bulgaria because of the decision of the city council in the Black
Sea city of Burgas to recognize the genocide of the Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915-1922.

The funds blocked by Turkey under the PHARE Trans-border Cooperation
Program amount to EUR 32 M, the Bulgarian private TV channel BTV
reported. EUR 12 M of these are for the 2007-2009 period.

The agreement was supposed to be signed on March 6 by the district
governors of the Bulgarian Burgas District, and the Turkish Edirne
District but the meeting was canceled by the Turkish side.

"It is not within the authority of the Burgas City Council to take
decisions on political matters, especially with regard to this issue
as there is no consensus between Turkey and Armenia over it, and
the interference by a third party will not be of any help", declared
Turkey’s General Consul in the city of Burgas on Sunday, March 9.

The Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov also received Saturday a letter
from the Edirne District Governor regarding Burgas City Council’s
decision to recognize the Armenian genocide stating: "This decision is
offensive and we denounce it. Until it is canceled we will discontinue
all social, cultural, and economic contracts with your district."

Mayor Nikolov, who is from the Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov’s GERB party,
expressed his surprise over Turkey’s sharp reaction. He said the City
Council was going to discuss the matter during its next session.

The Burgas City Council is dominated by members of the extreme
right Ataka Party, and of the GERB party. On February 28 it voted to
recognize the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, and declared
April 24 Day of Remembrance.

Last week members of the rightist Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party
of the former PM Ivan Kostov tabled a proposal for recognizing the
Armenian Genocide to the city council in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia.

Bulgaria’s parliament has rejected similar motions by the rightist
opposition several times, allegedly because of the ethnic Turkish
part Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which is a junior partner in
the governing three-way coalition.