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![\"T\u00fcrkiye,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6a7b1a33466803a6bd63c662.jpg\")
<\/p>\n SOFIA
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T\u00fcrkiye<\/a> and Bulgaria <\/a>on Aug. 11 pledged to strengthen joint efforts against organized crime<\/a> groups, which have been on the rise in both countries.<\/p>\n \u201cNew-generation criminal organizations have now evolved into new-generation terrorist organizations. As two countries sharing the same border, I believe it is important for us to cooperate and join forces in combating these organizations,\u201d Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa \u00c7ift\u00e7i said at a press conference in Sofia with his Bulgarian counterpart, Ivan Demerdzhiev.<\/p>\n \u00c7ift\u00e7i pointed to significant progress in cooperation with Bulgaria in the fight against the gangs, noting that Bulgarian authorities had extradited 89 people wanted by T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n \u201cNegotiations regarding the extradition of 19 individuals are ongoing. I believe that the necessary assistance and support will also be provided on this matter. On the other hand, T\u00fcrkiye has extradited 24 individuals wanted by the Bulgarian authorities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u00c7ift\u00e7i also highlighted the importance of combating drug trafficking during the talks.<\/p>\n \u201cCooperation between the two countries in the fight against drugs is extremely important. We value Bulgaria\u2019s support both in combating new-generation crime and in the fight against narcotics. We believe that the steps we take in these areas will serve the interests of both countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis situation makes security cooperation between our countries not a matter of choice, but a necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00c7ift\u00e7i is also scheduled to visit the Office of the Chief Mufti of Muslims in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n He will meet with Chief Mufti Ahmed Hasanov to exchange views on issues concerning the Muslim community living in Bulgaria. \u00c7ift\u00e7i will then visit T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Embassy in Sofia and the Banya Bashi Mosque before concluding his program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOFIA \u00a0 T\u00fcrkiye and Bulgaria on Aug. 11 pledged to strengthen joint efforts against organized crime groups, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6278,1023,17349,56,10],"class_list":["post-38455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-turkiye","tag-bulgaria","tag-crime","tag-gang","tag-trkiye","tag-turkiye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}