Turkish Ambassador to Bulgaria Sekizkök presented with the State Order

"Türkiye is our traditional and important neighbour and friend," Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said.

Radev presented the state decoration of the first degree "Horseman of Madara" to the Turkish Ambassador to Sofia Aylin Sekizkök, who will complete her mission in Bulgaria.

Speaking at the ceremony held at the Presidency of the Republic, Radev said that the honour was awarded to Ambassador Sekizkök for her outstanding contribution to the consolidation and development of bilateral relations at the end of his successful and productive term of office.

"For Bulgaria, Türkiye is our traditional and important neighbour and friend, our ally in NATO, our strategic partner in various areas of mutual interest," Radev said, noting that bilateral relations between the two countries have developed efficiently in recent years.

Stating that bilateral cooperation in areas such as security, energy and transport links, border and environmental protection requires the search for new and constructive solutions, Radev continued his words as follows:

"We expect that soon the volume of trade exchange between our countries will reach the strategic target of 10 billion euros. Türkiye has become one of the strategic investors for Bulgaria."

Ambassador Sekizkök

Ambassador of Türkiye to Sofia Aylin Sekizkök evaluated her 4-year term of office in Bulgaria.

Stating that Turkish investments in Bulgaria have reached 2.5 billion euros and mutual commercial exchange has reached 7.5 billion euros, Sekizkök said: "We owe this admirable success to the visionary Turkish and Bulgarian business people. We sincerely thank them."

Giving examples of bilateral cooperation, Sekizkök said: "Türkiye has opened its liquefied natural gas capacities to Bulgaria. There is cooperation between the two countries at all levels and in the field of combating irregular migration. Thanks to a memorandum of understanding, the search for mines in the Black Sea, which is a common threat, is being carried out jointly."

Ambassador Sekizkök reminded that Bulgaria was one of the first countries to send aid and rescue teams during the Kahramanmaras earthquakes in 2023 and said: "Mr President, the Bulgarian heroes (in the aid teams) were the first to arrive to save the lives of the people trapped under the collapsed buildings in the disaster zone."

Several ambassadors from Sofia, a delegation of the Grand Mufti's Office of the Muslims of Bulgaria and members of the parliamentary deputies of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HÖH), whose members are mostly Turks and Muslims, were also present at the ceremony.

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