President Plevneliev: Bulgaria is proud of its Armenian children

January 17, 2016 By administrator

bulg-arm Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s official visit to Bulgaria kicked off on Friday.

First, he was received by President Rosen Plevneliev.

The Bulgarian President noted that the Armenian and Bulgarian peoples share a historical friendship, and that Sofia is interested in the further development of bilateral cooperation.

Plevneliev stressed that Bulgaria is proud of its Armenian children, who have had a major contribution to the prosperity of the country.

Nalbandian, for his part, conveyed to Plevneliev the greetings and best wishes by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

At the ensuing talk, the interlocutors stressed the bilateral readiness to give new impetus to Armenian-Bulgarian relations.

President Plevneliev and FM Nalbandian exchanged views on several regional and international matters, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In this context, the Bulgarian president expressed a conviction that there is solely a pacific resolution to this conflict.

Subsequently, Edward Nalbandian met with Chairwoman Tsetska Tsacheva of the National Assembly (NA) of Bulgaria.

The Armenian FM thanked the Bulgarian parliament for the statement it had adopted in 2015, and on the occasion of the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

At the ensuing talk, they underscored the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the development of interstate relations.

Tsacheva expressed a conviction that the broadening of cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries will help make Bulgaria-Armenia relations grow deeper.

The Armenian FM, in turn, highlighted the respective activities of parliamentary friendship groups.

Also, Nalbandian briefed the Bulgarian parliament speaker on the ongoing efforts by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict.

On the same day, Armenian and Bulgarian FMs Edward Nalbandian and Daniel Mitov held talks.

Mitov noted that Armenia-Bulgaria relations are centuries-old.

Nalbandian, for his part, stressed that Armenia attaches great importance to its close historical ties with Bulgaria.

The FMs shared the view that new impetus is needed to the political discourse and additional efforts are needed to further deepen cooperation between the two countries.

The interlocutors reflected on numerous matters that are on their bilateral agenda, and exchanged views on urgent regional and international issues.

They discussed Armenia-European Union (EU) relations, too. In this context, FM Mitov reaffirmed Bulgaria’s support to the development of Armenia’s cooperation with EU.

In addition, Edward Nalbandian presented to Daniel Mitov the latest developments regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks.

Also, the Armenian FM invited his Bulgarian colleague to Armenia.

Subsequently, the two FMs held a joint news conference.

In addition, the Bulgarian FM gave an official dinner in honor of his Armenian counterpart.

Separately, Edward Nalbandian met with members of the Bulgaria-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Bulgarian NA. The Armenian FM highly appreciated the activities of the members of this group.

And on Friday evening, Edward Nalbandian got together with representatives of the Bulgarian Armenian organizations and associations.

Bulgaria shuts border with Turkey: Prosecutor, most people wish if it stay close forever to stop Turkish terrorist

December 13, 2015 By administrator

AFP photo

SOFIA – Agence France-Presse

Bulgaria on Dec. 13 shut its busy border crossing with Turkey as 14 customs officials were detained in an anti-corruption raid, chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said.

“All customs officers from the morning shift, who control the entries into Bulgaria at the Kapitan Andreevo (border checkpoint) were detained within a probe against contraband,” Tsatsarov told public BNR radio.

“We apologise to travellers” over the closure, he said, adding that traffic from Bulgaria to Turkey was flowing uninterrupted.

Kapitan Andreevo is the largest and busiest border checkpoint in the Balkans and a major crossing point on the route between Europe and the Middle East.

BNR reported that a queue a dozen kilometres long of trucks, waiting to enter Bulgaria, had formed the Turkish side.

Bulgaria’s state security agency DANS conducted about 100 raids in five towns close to the border, Tsatsarov added, without giving further details about the aim of the raids.

The radio meanwhile said the probe was targeting a major cigarette smuggling ring.

Bulgaria’s position at Europe’s exterior border makes it a major crossroads on the route of goods smugglers and human traffickers.

Migrants are also regularly caught at Kapitan Andreevo and other checkpoints, trying to cross into Europe hidden inside trucks.

Cigarette smuggling is another lucrative business with a major ring dismantled last March.

Belgian lawmakers surprised by lack of anti-Azerbaijani propaganda in Armenia

September 14, 2015 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The Belgian lawmakers who traveled to Armenia and Karabakh were surprised by lack of anti-Azerbaijani propaganda, MP Simone Susskind said.

“We were surprised to see that there is no propaganda of hatred against the opponent, especially knowing about Azerbaijani leadership’s attitude toward civil society. Of course, it will be difficult to compare situation with Azerbaijan [official Baku blacklisted MPs after their trip to Karabakh – ed.]. Nevertheless, we know that a part of Azerbaijani civil society does not share position of the authorities,” she added.

This does not meet that superiority of one of the parties has to be underlined. On the contrary, it is necessary to maintain contacts between the society of Armenia, Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

“We have to understand how to promote dialogue,”she added.

European sun-seekers switch to Spain, Bulgaria & Greece, instate of Tunisia & Turkey

July 5, 2015 By administrator

Fearing for their safety in Tunisia after a gunman killed dozens of tourists, sun-seeking Europeans are switching to destinations such as Spain, Bulgaria or even Greece for holidays this year.

Tunisia’s tourism industry had been recovering after the Arab Spring unrest, and had become a popular lower-cost beach holiday spot for Europeans. Last year, 2.8 million travelled there, rebounding back towards 3.8 million level seen in 2010 before the uprising, according to official statistics.

But last week’s attack – in which 38 people were killed by an Islamist gunman at a beach hotel, mostly Britons – added to security fears raised after a massacre at the Bardo museum in March, when two gunmen opened fire on tourists.

Now many tourists who had planned or booked Tunisian trips are looking elsewhere.

Also Irishman found dead in Marmaris hotel room in Turkey

Economy Minister Assures Bulgaria Not Exporting Weapons to Syria

June 13, 2015 By administrator

Bulgarian Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski. Photo: BGNES

Bulgarian Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski assured on Saturday that the country does not export and does not allow for weapons to be exported from its territory to Syria.

His comments come as a response to the information widely circulated during the week by Reuters that the three US contractors, who were injured by the explosion at the military polygon in the Bulgarian village Anevo, had been testing weapons destined for export to the Syrian opposition.

The incident, which took place on June 6 after a rocket-propelled grenade malfunctioned, claimed the life of one of the US citizens, while the other two as well as two Bulgarians were injured.

Lukarski asked the US authorities to provide an explanation whether Bulgarian armaments reached Syria as the country was not issuing permits for Syria as an end user, the minister said in an interview for Darik radio.

Lukarski added that Bulgaria exported weapons, including Russian ones to the USA and dismissed the speculations that weapon testing was taking place in Anevo, but rather training of specialists.

It did not amount to weapon testing as the rocket-propelled grenades in question were in use since the time of the Warsaw Pact.

Bulgaria MP: Our country recognized events of 1915

May 24, 2015 By administrator

Bulgaria, in fact, has recognized the events in 1915, said Bulgarian MP Yanaki Stoilov, speaking to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In Stoilov’s words, actually, this fact is more important for the modern Bulgarians than the external formulation of the word “genocide.”

He recalled that on April 24, the Bulgarian parliament passed, with a majority of votes, a resolution on the Armenians’ large-scale slaughter in the Ottoman Empire.

The resolution is important as a confirmation of Bulgaria’s great contribution in saving thousands of Armenians in various phases of history,” Yanaki Stoilov added.

HP unveils €5.1m Technology Lab in Bulgaria

May 12, 2015 By administrator

By Andrada Fiscutean

HP has opened a 300-square metre Technology Lab in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, part of the company’s Technology Services Lab infrastructure.

HP has invested BGN 10m (€5.1m) in the Technology Lab located in Business Park Sofia. It is the largest investment of this kind the company made in Europe, Iravan Hira, general manager of Hewlett-Packard Bulgaria, said at the recent opening of the facility, according to the Bulgarian News Agency. The Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov, the transport, IT and communications minister Ivaylo Moskovski and US ambassador Marcie Ries were invited to the opening.

“The purpose of the lab is predominantly to allow HP technical staff to have hands-on experience with our latest technology on an ongoing basis, as well as in some instances also replicate customer issues,” an HP EMEA spokesperson told ZDNet.

The Technology Lab will provide support for local academic institutions such as the Technical University in Sofia, the St. Kliment Ohridski University, the New Bulgarian University, and the Sofia-based John Atanasov High School of Electronics. Students will be able to use HP’s resources for learning purposes.

“This will provide a foundation for our staff in Sofia to build a delivery capability at a higher level of quality and complexity to meet the ever increasing requirements of our customers,” HP EMEA’s spokesperson said.

HP has hired over 6,000 professionals in Sofia in the past nine years, according to the company. At the moment, HP has 60 job openings in the Bulgarian capital.

The country offers the sixth lowest tax levels for a medium-sized company in the EU and the European Free Trade Association, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The IT sector in Bulgaria employs over 20,000 software engineers in R&D roles alone, according to Bulgarian Association of Software Companies. Another 20,000 IT professionals work in outsourcing, making IT the fastest-growing sector of the Bulgarian economy.

Bulgaria: How a military failure brought independence: Bulgaria celebrates 139th anniversary of April Uprising

May 3, 2015 By administrator

Bulgaria celebrates 139th anniversary, 30,000 massacred by Turks

Today Bulgaria is celebrating the 139th anniversary of the April Uprising, one of the main drivers for independence organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876, which indirectly resulted in the re-establishment of Bulgaria in 1878. Only some 10,000 men from 95 villages participated in the uprising in the dawn of fire waepons-a novelty at the time.

The Ottoman response was immediate and severe. They mobilized detachments of regular troops and also irregular bashi-bazouks. These forces attacked the first insurgent towns as early as 25 April. The Turkish forces massacred of civilian populations, the principal places being Panagurishte, Perushtitza, Bratzigovo, and Batak.

By the middle of May, the insurrection was completely suppressed; one of the last sparks of resistance was poet Hristo Botev’s attempt to come to the rebels’ rescue with a detachment of Bulgarian political émigrés resident in Romania, ending with the unit’s rout and Botev’s death. It is generally accepted that the death toll on the Bulgarian part was around 30,000.

The ruthless surpression of the revolution led to international acknowledgement of the self-determination of the Bulgarians and their right to have their own nation state. Thus while a military defeat, the April uprising is still the largest political success in the Bulgarian history.

source: standartnews.com

Armenians of Bulgaria welcomed the withdrawal of the Armenian Parliament standardization protocols of Armenian-Turkish relations

February 20, 2015 By administrator

football diplomacy is over

The Association of Armenians in Bulgaria, welcomes the decision of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to remove from Parliament the issue of protocols signed in Zurich in 2009 between Turkey and Armenia allegedly aimed at normalizing bilateral relations. “The Turkish authorities have once again demonstrated to the world that in refusing the desire for peace of Armenia are the direct heirs of those who committed the genocide of the Armenians. The gesture of the President of Armenia is fair and justified because Turkey not only regret the crimes of its past, but strengthens its anti-Armenian policy and its denial of genocide “wrote in a statement the Association of Armenians in Bulgaria. It also says that instead of respecting the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, Ankara moves cynically that day celebrations of the victory of the Battle of Gallipoli. “Almost every day, the Turkish officials use various opportunity to distort history and deny the existence of the Armenian genocide and denying any responsibility for these crimes,” the statement continues by saying that Turkey supports the Azerbaijani government in the conflict opposes in Karabakh “what is foolish in these circumstances to speak of improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations.”

Krikor Amirzayan

Bulgaria simplifies visa requirements for Armenian citizens

February 9, 2015 By administrator

Bulgaria’s Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova and Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov ruled to simplify tourist visa procedures for citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Georgia, Bulgarian media report.

The alterations envisage issuance of short-term double- and multiple-entry visas for organized trips.

The visa is valid for up to one year to be issued to citizens who already used Bulgarian visas in the past.

The move is aimed to boost tourist inflow from ex-CIS states.