Bulgaria's new 'Iron Curtain' keeping people out, not in

In Soviet times, the now rusty watchtowers and barbed wire fences near the windswept Bulgarian village of Shtit stopped people escaping Communism over the border into Turkey.

Now, 25 years later, a new "Iron Curtain" of sorts -- a brand new fence topped by razor-wire -- has been erected, aimed at stopping an exodus going the other way -- migrants crossing from Turkey into Europe.

"It was different back in the old days. Then it wasn't refugees who were coming in but Bulgarian prisoners and other people who wanted to run away," recalls Ivan Petkov, a pensioner from Shtit.

The fence is part of Bulgarian efforts to avoid becoming the new migrant trail into Europe after western Balkan countries slammed shut their borders to refugees, many from Syria, travelling north from Greece.

EU member Bulgaria began building the fence along its frontier with Turkey in late 2013 after seeing large numbers of migrants cross the land border from Turkey. Now work is being speeded up.

Around 30 kilometres (20 miles) were erected in 2014 and today the three-metre-high barrier stretches 95 kilometres through rolling countryside, patrolled on each side by Turkish and Bulgarian forces.

Along the length, a gravel road has been built to allow army four-by-four vehicles to patrol and reach any breaches as quickly as possible.

"We are continuing at an accelerated rate of six kilometres per month," Stanislav Dechev, governor of the Haskovo border region, told AFP.

The aim is to have 132.5 kilometres completed by July, covering half of the 260-kilometre frontier.

- Cold War 'enemies' -

During the Cold War from 1945 until 1989, when Bulgaria was under communist rule and allied to Moscow, the Turks -- on the side of the West -- were the "enemy".

Many people, not just Bulgarians but also East Germans, Czechs and others, tried to escape into Turkey. Dozens were killed in the attempt, and others disappeared.

"Any person or animal touching the barbed wire set off an alarm," remembers a border policeman who was also in the communist-era border army, without wishing to give his name.

"Often the fence was set back hundreds of metres (yards) back from the border. Once escapees made it over the fence, they thought they'd made it to Greece or Turkey.

"But they were wrong, and they were caught by the border guards."

Locals were told to report "outsiders" to the authorities, and the situation is not dissimilar now, with border police stationed at major crossroads in the region checking all vehicles.

- Harsh treatment -

For now, Bulgaria has not yet seen large numbers of migrants try to enter the country since the western Balkan route -- used by hundreds of thousands of people in 2015 -- was closed down, and following the new agreement between the EU and Turkey.

Complaints from rights groups about the harsh treatment of some of the 30,000 people who made it into Bulgaria last year has also had a deterrent effect. Onwards travel to Hungary or Romania is also difficult.

"On websites giving advice to refugees, crossing into Bulgaria is advised against," Vladimir Chukov, a Bulgarian Arab expert, told AFP.

But Sofia is not taking any chances, strengthening its borders and sending additional personnel to its frontiers with Turkey, Greece and Macedonia, as well as increasing surveillance on the Black Sea.

It currently has close to 2,000 police on patrol with dogs on its Turkish border. In February parliament adopted legislation giving the military greater powers to act on the frontiers.

High-profile exercises have taken place in recent weeks on the Greek and Macedonian borders involving helicopters and armoured vehicles -- in a clear show of force to any would-be migrant.

"We're not going to shoot the refugees, just stop them and send them back," assured Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, at one exercise.
Source :AFP