Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan concluded his one day working visit to Bulgaria and departed from Sofia on Monday.
Erdogan's meeting has taken place upon a formal invitation from Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.
Turkish prime minister Erdogan met with his Bulgarian counterpart Borissov, they gave a joint news conference and Erdogan had his last meeting with Kasim Dal, the Deputy Chair of Movement for Rights and Freedoms Party.
Erdogan and Dal assessed relations between Turkey and Bulgaria and problems of Turkish people living in Bulgaria.
ERDOGAN: "WE WISH THAT TURKISH CITIZENS IN BULGARIA WILL INTEGRATE WITH BULGARIAN SOCIETY"
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday, "we wish that Bulgarian citizens of Turkish descent would successfully integrate with Bulgarian society and contribute to development of Bulgarian people."
Prime Minister Erdogan told reporters before leaving for Bulgaria on a working visit as the guest of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, "we held productive talks during Prime Minister Borissov's visit to Turkey on January 29-30. Steps to be taken about the dam in the border region between the two countries are very important. I hope that we would make a final decision today."
"Besides the good neighborly relations, we have alliance ties with Bulgaria. The bilateral relations between the two countries have made a significant progress in the last two decades and reached the 'perfect' level. Our economic relations have also improved. Trade volume increased to 4 billion USD in 2008. There was a decrease in 2009 in our trade volume because of the global financial crisis. But we will catch it by the end of this year," he said.
Erdogan added that regional and global developments would also be high on agenda of his meeting with Prime Minister Borissov.
THERE IS CONTACT WITH ADMINISTRATION IN NORTH OF IRAQ
Erdogan said that there was a contact with the administration in the north of Iraq due to presence of separatist terrorist organization in that region.
When a reporter reminded him of the Turkish interior minister's talks in the north of Iraq, Erdogan said that officials with National Intelligence Organization, Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry had contacts with the administration in the north of Iraq and they would do.
"We are exerting great efforts to get result in fight against terrorism as soon as possible," Erdogan said.
"There is no problem regarding informing the parliament on those contacts. It can be done. After we return, we can assess it and discuss the issue at a secret session in the parliament," he said.
State Minister and Chief Negotiator for EU talks Egemen Bagis, State Minister Faruk Celik, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz and Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim are accompanying Erdogan.