2013 was the year when Bulgaria suffered the strongest refugee pressure for decades. The Syrian events and the unstable situation in Afghanistan and Iraq made many people leave their homes with the hope of a better life in Europe. That was why the refugee flow towards the southern border with Turkey was huge. Some 11,500 people, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan crossed illegally the Turkish–Bulgarian border through the second half of 2013 alone. Due to the fact that an integrated monitoring system had been functioning as of 2012 along the border segment between Kapitan Andreevo and Lessovo, Turkish smugglers redirected the trafficking to the East of Lessovo. Thus in November 2013 alone we had 3,000 illegal trespassers. The border part between Lessovo, Valcha Polyana and Golyam Dervent is really tough for monitoring due to the forests there. That is why the so-called engineering and technological facility with a length of 30 km was built up right there with the purpose of stopping the illegal flow of immigrants. Besides that more than 1,000 police officers from across the country were sent to the border as of November 2013. Representatives of the EU FRONTEX agency have taken part in the actions of Border Police with vehicles and other facilities.

“The migration pressure has spread along all zones ever since we constructed the fence and we started to use the monitoring system,” says Hristo Stefanov, Head of the Border Police – Elkhovo Regional Directorate. “The increased number of police officers and the facility itself contributed to the better control along the entire borderline.”

According to Hristo Stefanov the integrated surveillance system that has been functioning since 2012 in the areas of the Elkhovo, Svilengrad and Bolyarovo Border Police Directorates (a total of 100 km) has to be finished for the Sredetz and Malko Tarnovo BPDs by mid-June 2015. The surveillance along the borderline includes sensorsand cameras. In case a violation is registered, the monitoring teams notify the patrols that nab the illegals. Besides cameras, the officers use mobile thermal image systems and off-road vehicles. There are choppers with surveillance systems and anything, seen from above can be watched directly in the monitoring room. Thanks to the strengthened control the migration flow along the entire zone from Kapitan Andreevo to Rezovo is the same at all points and the illegal trespassing attempts have been minimized. At the same time the number of illegals, hidden in trucks and large vehicles has been on the rise (900 at the Lessovo BCP last year only).

“The eventual construction of an additional facility along the entire border with Turkey will give a chance to the officers, engaged in guarding activities to return to their bases inside the country. On the other hand border infrastructure is to be improved which will provide an opportunity for border patrols to react much faster and more adequately to attempts for illegal border crossing.”

A few days ago the government decided to finish the fence along the entire Bulgarian–Turkish border and also the defense ministry to take part in the border patrolling in terms of logistics.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev