Bulgarians flock to Kırklareli for daily needs

KIRKLARELİ

Bulgarian citizens have flocked to the border province of Kırklareli to meet their shopping needs, everything from clothes to cleaning materials, as traders in the city have been delighted to see the influx.

Bulgarians, who came to the city both with their own cars and via tours, met all their needs from grocery to glassware shopping in Kırklareli.

Cars with Bulgarian plates were in almost every corner of the city as they visited the local bazaars after flocking to the city on early Nov. 16.

While the rise of the Euro against the Turkish Lira continues, the people in Bulgaria had flocked to another border province of Edirne to meet their winter needs earlier as they are expected to face the natural gas problem after Russia’s Gazprom halted gas flows to the country.

“We are happy that Bulgarians come. They buy fish, vegetables and fruits. They shop well. We are neighbors here, let them come and shop,” said Yahya Şentürk, a tradesman in the region.

A recent decision on July 27 allowed Bulgarian visitors to stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days on visa-free travel.

The move is designed to attract more tourists from the neighboring country, which will give a boost to the hard currency earnings of Türkiye.

Between January-May, nearly 950,000 Bulgarian nationals visited Türkiye, claiming the second spot on the list of foreign tourists after Germans. Bulgarians accounted for 8.3 percent of all foreign tourist arrivals.

In May alone, nearly 270,000 Bulgarians visited Türkiye.

However, Turkish citizens are still required to obtain a visa to visit Bulgaria.

Nationals of 16 countries, including Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Greece as well as Georgia do not need a visa and enter Türkiye with their IDs.