Bulgaria and the United States announced Friday that they had concluded a defense cooperation agreement allowing American forces to use four military facilities on Bulgarian soil. The sites named by US Ambassador John Beyrle include the Novo Selo training ground near Sliven, two air bases at Bezmer and Graf Ignatievo, and a storage facility near Aitos.
The formal signing is scheduled for late April, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travels to Sofia for a NATO conference. The Bulgarian parliament must authorize each use of the facilities for any offensive operation against a third country, according to Defense Minister Veselin Bliznakov.
Beyrle said Novo Selo would typically host a rotating force of 2,000 to 3,000 troops, with the number potentially reaching 5,000 for brief intervals. The two air bases would serve mainly as entry points for personnel and equipment.
The pact fits into a broader Pentagon strategy to reposition up to 70,000 troops from Germany and South Korea toward eastern Europe over the next decade. A comparable agreement with Romania was signed last December. The deal runs for an initial 10 years, with either party able to withdraw on one year's notice.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2006, in its own words.