„Vazrazhdane“ insists on receiving the most complete and extensive information about the negotiations that are being conducted with both Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, both for the waters of Arda, and for the waters of Tundzha, and Maritsa. We also insist on receiving full information about the negotiations that are being conducted regarding the granting of territorial concessions to Turkey in Bulgaria.
This was stated by the leader of „Vazrazhdane“ Kostadin Kostadinov in a declaration from the parliamentary rostrum at the beginning of today's session.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met in Sofia on June 4, and Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova and her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on June 11, BTA recalled.
Kostadinov said that a year ago Bulgaria and Greece signed a bilateral protocol by which our country ceded the management of the waters of the Arda River to Greece for another five years. For us, this was a very serious domestic and foreign policy loss at the same time, he said.
For several weeks now, we have been trying to understand what exactly happened in the negotiations with Mitsotakis, who was here at the beginning of this month, said Kostadinov, adding that last week Prime Minister Rumen Radev said that Bulgaria would hold negotiations with Greece.
„The question is, however, what exactly will we want, because what we heard is that Bulgaria will want to enter the management of some ports in the Black Sea Thrace. But no country in the European Union trades its waters in this way“, said Kostadinov.
“A country is evident when it is governed by statesmen, when its leaders think for decades ahead. However, when we see how prime ministers here from this rostrum talk about a few months ahead, this is already very tragic. Because last year, Rosen Zhelyazkov, the then prime minister, convinced us that we were going to receive money from Greece for giving them water“, pointed out Kostadinov.
According to him, it became clear that last year Bulgaria received 4.2 million leva. “Given that we have sold 164 million cubic meters of water to Greece, this means that we have sold one cubic meter worth two stotinki. At the same time, the water in the municipality of Ivaylovgrad, on whose territory the last dam is located, from which we "We are releasing water to Greece, water for Bulgarian citizens is six leva," said the leader of "Vazrazhdane."
This year there is an interesting coincidence, because three days after Mitsotakis was on a visit here, one of the deputy ministers who participated in this negotiation process - Atanas Kostadinov - was fired. Maybe this is part of the political purge in the state administration, which is quite normal, Kostadinov pointed out and added that they are wondering whether when the Greeks came, they asked for exactly one of those who were more firm in defending the Bulgarian position to be removed from the country's administration.
We want to receive information whether Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan did not raise the issue of Bulgarian waters. Because he raised the issue of Bulgarian territory, said Kostadinov.
He added that the Bulgarian government, represented by Minister Ivan Shishkov, has stated that it has no problem giving a highway to Turkey. “Apparently such negotiations are underway,” he said.