Bulgaria's defence ministry announced on 19 March 2008 that it had begun selling components stripped from World War II-era armored vehicles, with bids already reaching 14,000 euros for a single gun turret from a Soviet T-34 tank.
The opening sale covered parts from 140 T-34s that had guarded Bulgaria's Cold War border with Türkiye, then a NATO member on the opposing side of the Warsaw Pact. The 41 German Panzer tanks and tank destroyers in the collection are scheduled to go under the hammer in May and are expected to attract the greater share of collector interest.
Bulgaria had already smelted roughly 2,500 Soviet-era vehicles between 2006 and 2007. The tanks now being sold were different: the army had deliberately half-buried them along the Türkiye frontier as a defensive line against a potential NATO attack. After the Warsaw Pact dissolved in 1991, the vehicles and their accompanying bunkers were largely forgotten, leaving them exposed to looters who stripped guns, hatches, and entire turrets for scrap.
The looting had already claimed one notable loss: a rare Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer was stolen the previous year, leading to the arrest of two German nationals and a Bulgarian army officer. Full auction results were due to be released the following day.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2008, in its own words.