Announcement
11 May 2019 News
On instructions from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the Republic of Bulgaria Hasan Ulusoy was summoned to the MFA on Monday by Deyan Katrachev, Director of the South-Eastern Europe Directorate, to explain his statement made on May 11 of this year, calling upon the Bulgarian Government to promote the learning of Turkish as a foreign language as a precondition for the increase of Turkish investments in Bulgaria.
The Ambassador heard the Bulgarian position that his statement is politically unacceptable and does not correspond to the expectations of the Bulgarian side about maintaining friendly and good-neighborly relations. The Bulgarian side underscored that Turkish investments in Bulgaria cannot be made in any way dependent on the learning of the Turkish language, but should follow a purely economic logic. Further, the Bulgarian host pointed out that Turkish investors should conform to the fact that Bulgarian is the official language in this country and should instead support the training of personnel with a proper command of the language. At the same time, the learning for foreign languages in Bulgaria is a matter of the free choice of every Bulgarian citizen, and all enabling conditions for that are there.
The Bulgarian side also voiced its expectations for the Turkish side to adhere to the fundamental principles underpinning their bilateral relations, namely good neighborliness, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.
For his part, the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey stated that his words had been misinterpreted by the media. He presented to his host the text of his speech, adding that he had never suggested that the study of the Turkish language should be made compulsory for Bulgarian citizens. Ambassador Ulusoy said that Turkey has no intention to interfere in any way whatsoever in the domestic policy of the Republic of Bulgaria, and that in his work he has been guided entirely by the goal to develop friendly and mutually beneficial relations with Bulgaria.