Signing of Bulgaria-Turkey-Greece border co-operation deal postponed after Turkish interior minister’s son arrested
A scheduled signing in Sofia of an intergovernmental agreement between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey to build a joint contact centre for police and customs co-operation was postponed until further notice after the Turkish interior minister’s son was arrested in connection with alleged bribery linked to public tenders.
The signing of the agreement was scheduled to have taken place on December 17 2013, a day after Turkey signed a readmission agreement with the European Union – with interior minister Muammer Güler signing on behalf of the government in Ankara.
But on December 17, after the announcement that Güler’s son Barış was among more than 20 people held by police in Istanbul in an early-morning raid in connection with the alleged corruption, interior minister Güler said that he was cancelling all of his appointments, including the signing of the deal with Bulgaria and Greece.
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(Photo: The December 16 signing of the EU – Turkey readmission agreement. Turkish interior minister interior minister Muammer Güler is on the right, with European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström signing on behalf of the EU. Turkish interior ministry)
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