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Slovak police to help protect Bulgarian-Turkish border

Xinhua, October 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Slovakia has sent 25 police officers to Bulgaria to protect its borders with Turkey, announced Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak on Monday.

This is yet another contribution of Slovakia to tackle the migration crisis. The police officers will be deployed for at least one month, and they will be replaced by other colleagues thereafter.

It's the first ever mission of Slovakia under the auspices of the European Border and Coast Guard.

"We're very glad that we can contribute to this mission with this significant number, because the whole mission consists of slightly over 200 police officers, of which 25 are from Slovakia," reiterated Kalinak.

Slovakia has sent more than 300 police officers to Macedonia, Hungary and Slovenia in the last year.

"This year a mission to Bulgaria will be added, then to Serbia and then again to Macedonia. We have the largest contribution of police officers within the EU to protect the EU external borders and we think that that's how it should be," added Kalinak.

Kalinak explained that as the migration influx between Turkey, Greece and Macedonia has subsided, the greatest pressure has started to be felt in Bulgaria, and that's why the European Border and Coast Guard is responding at this spot. Endit