Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov who recently observed multinational exercises with participation of Bulgarian military termed “political speculations” the allegations that the Bulgarian army could only partially perform its constitutional functions. Talking to the Bulgarian National Radio he pointed out that he had withdrawn the report about the state of the armed forces adopted by the caretaker cabinet that included such wording:

“I do not think that the Bulgarian Army is unable to perform its constitutional duties. Yes, there are setbacks and these have to do with poor understanding of the role and importance of the Bulgarian Army, something which has gone on for 25-26 years. So, now when speaking about the modernization of the Bulgarian Army we need a lot of cash, 3.5 billion leva, because for years, nothing was modernized and nothing brand new was bought for the Bulgarian Army. On the contrary, many things were destroyed, and the Army was looked upon with contempt.”

Krasimir Karakachanov said he would demand rescheduled payment of this amount of 3.5 billion euro (more than 1.7 billion euro) earmarked for the first stage of the army modernization.

He commented the topic of the good neighbor agreement with the Republic of Macedonia planned to get signed in early August. Regarding the thesis that this agreement would recognize and make legitimate the Macedonian language Krasimir Karakachanovnoted that languages were not recognized with agreements and added:

“The agreement reads that it is signed in the languages defined by the constitutions of the two countries. It is very clear that neither of the countries has territorial claims; that neither would finance, encourage or support groups of people, organizations or activities related to separatism”, Krasimir Karakachanovsaid in his BNR interview and explicitly rejected allegations that the agreement would recognize the existence of a Macedonian minority in this country.

The Minister of Defense termed inexplicable the silence of the Turkish Foreign Ministry about the Bulgarian citizens present on a blacklist and banned from entering Turkey. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has asked for clarifications about the ban, but for now there has been no response from Turkey. Krasimir Karakachanov commented the topic this way:

“We can only guess who these 77 persons are. Most of them have probably criticized the developments in Turkey. But the way Bulgarian border guards were summoned to appear before a Turkish court of justice in Edirne, honestly speaking, does not demonstrate tact and good intentions in Turkey’s treatment of Bulgaria. If this is about terrorism - about people who could cause problems related to terrorism – terrorist attacks in the territory of Bulgaria, it is inexplicable to me why the Turkish side, knowing about these people, does not inform us who they are. Is it not right for Turkey as a good neighbor to inform us who these people are so that we can take appropriate action? There are many questions arising in this case.”