Update! What do you know, Bulgaria is building a fence, check it out here.
As I scoured my alerts this morning I see there are several about Bulgaria struggling to cope with the Syrian refugee flow coming across their border from Turkey. Previously I speculated that the flow out of Turkey toward Bulgaria instead of Greece was due to Greece’s strengthened border security. This article confirms that.
See all of our recent coverage of poor Bulgaria’s predicament, here.
From Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (emphasis mine):
About 100 people are arriving at Bulgaria’s border with Turkey daily, and the numbers are rapidly increasing. In the past, Bulgaria received, on average, 1,000 migrants and asylum seekers per year. This year, more than 6,500 have arrived, leaving officials scrambling to find housing and funds to accommodate them.
Arrivals have increased steadily since August, and at the current rate, the ministry of the interior estimates it will have received 11,000 to 15,000 by year’s end – the vast majority Syrian.
“We see that the government is overwhelmed, and that the reception capacity has been depleted,” said Cheshirkov.
Smugglers who used to lead migrants from Turkey into Greece are increasingly moving them to Bulgaria instead, in part due to the construction of a 10.5km fence at one of the most popular crossing points along the Turkish-Greek border.
Bulgaria, a country of just 7.5 million people, is one of the poorest in the European Union.
“We are just at the beginning of this crisis,” Vasil Marinov, deputy minister of the interior, told IRIN.
Of course no one ever says a word about how Turkey, which is financially and militarily in a better situation, should be stopping them on their side of the border!