The European Union's border protection agency has renewed a mission to keep officers at Bulgaria's border with Türkiye until at least the end of the year, according to the head of the Bulgarian Border Police, Anton Zlatanov, on Tuesday.
Zlatanov announced a meeting with Frontex Director Hans Leijtens, the BTA news agency said.
After a staffing boost earlier this year, attempts to enter Bulgaria from Türkiye illegally decreased by 70% compared to the previous year, Zlatanov said, without providing more detailed figures.
Leijtens said that the number of Frontex officers at the Bulgarian-Turkish border, also an external EU border, tripled this spring. The number of Frontex personnel at Bulgaria's border with Serbia was also increased.
Migrants frequently cross the 259-kilometer (160.9-miles) land border between Bulgaria and Türkiye illegally, despite it being protected by a barbed wire fence and monitored with thermal imaging cameras. Smugglers help people from crisis and war zones bypass the border crossings.
They are not registered in Bulgaria and travel to Central and Western Europe.
EU member Bulgaria aims to join the Schengen zone fully, Europe's free movement area. But to do so, it needs to show progress on hardening the EU's external borders to irregular migration and smuggling gangs.
Türkiye has seen an influx of irregular migrants, especially from Asia, in recent years. In the past 20 years, the country has intercepted 2.6 million irregular migrants.
The neighbors are also teaming up with a 1.7 million euro project to offer better training for their security forces to stop irregular crossings, which has aggravated in the past decade.
The project will cover forces stationed in Bulgaria’s Burgas, Haskovo and Yambol and Türkiye’s Edirne and Kırklareli, all at the front line of irregular migration flowing into Europe.
The project’s coordinator, Şenol Filiz, said at an event in Edirne earlier this month that the security personnel would see their abilities and communication skills improved through training and be well-informed about EU regulations on tackling migration.
He noted that the project would also provide more equipment and vehicles to law enforcement. Border guards and outposts will be furnished with high technology, including devices to spot forged documents and cameras for recognition of license plates. Law enforcement members will also participate in Bulgarian and English classes as part of the one-year project.
Situated at the intersection of Asia, Europe and Africa, Türkiye has been a transit route for irregular migrants due to its role as a bridge between wealthy Western countries and underdeveloped countries with political and economic instabilities.
However, this "transit" role changed into a final destination in recent years as Türkiye grew into a rising power in the international community, especially for refugees from the Middle East.
Though the number varies over the years, Afghans and Syrians make up the bulk of intercepted irregular migrants.
Between 2014 and 2017, Syrians topped the list of intercepted migrants ahead of Afghan nationals. Afghan migrants replaced them in the first place after 2018. Between January 2014 and July 11 of this year, 766,587 Afghan irregular migrants were intercepted, while this number was 476,574 for Syrians.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters earlier this month that they heavily invested in border security. "We spent $950 million and will spend another $136 million this year," he said, citing the costs of a 1,253-kilometer-long (778.57 miles-long) wall across the country’s borders, hundreds of "patrolling lanes" staffed by security forces along the blind spots of the border, thermal cameras and other technological instruments to watch the border.