Late last night, it was reported that Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva called Ankara's Ambassador to Sofia, Hasan Ulusoy, for a meeting in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because of claims by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu that Ankara had intervened in preparation of the amendments to the Religious Denominations Act. Minister Zaharieva had already discussed the issue in a telephone conversation with her counterpart and the ministry’s press center had stated that "Bulgaria cannot allow foreign involvement in its legislative process and this has not happened".

A request by the IMRO party for parliament hearing of the Foreign Minister followed. When it comes to the case, it has been causing high political and public sensitivity, as headlines in the Bulgarian press showed: "Bulgaria changes its religious law at Turkey’s request" (Sega newspaper) and "Turkish Minister says he stopped Bulgaria from blocking Ankara's money for Muslims "(24 Hour newspaper).

It is worth pointing out the fact that the Grand Mufti's Office in Bulgaria welcomed adopted legal amendments. They put off due payments of the Muslim religious denomination to the Bulgarian state for ten years and also protect the possibility for receiving funding from abroad in addition to a state subsidy.

Tensions rose days before the local elections in Turkey and at a time of tense election situation in Bulgaria related to the upcoming vote for MEPs. Two years ago, once again in a pre-election situation on the eve of the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria and the referendum in Turkey, Sofia called ambassador to Ankara, Nadezhda Neynsky, for more details about statements by a Turkish minister in support of a certain Bulgarian party, which was viewed as interference in domestic affairs. On that day, a mayor of a town in southwestern Turkey called on Bulgarian emigrants there to vote so that Turks in Bulgaria became more powerful and their language official. Political observers then commented that "unpardonable acts of Turkish officials and informal persons against the sovereignty of Bulgaria" provoked a series of countermeasures from Bulgarian institutions.

An informal visit by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağin August 2013 also caused an episode of tension. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry was informed about the visit only by the embassy of Ankara in Sofia and Bulgarian journalists were not allowed to cover the visit. The Deputy Prime Minister then said that "architectural monuments from Ottoman time were in a poor state and Ankara wanted to be able to take care of them." Then Bulgarian Minister of Culture Petar Stojanovic said the issue of waqf properties was solved between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire back in 1909 and that this put an end to the topic.

Episodes of tension between Sofia and Ankara are not very frequent, but their sharpness and high public sensitivity to them gives such episodes strength that can cause serious disturbances in good bilateral relations. The last episode is still in development and its real consequences are yet to be seen and analyzed.

English: Alexander Markov