Българо-турски отношения след Втората световна война (40-те – 60-те години)
Bulgarian-Turkish Relations after the Second World War (40s – 60s)

Summary/Abstract: Two problems were predominant in Bulgarian-Turkish relations during the first fifteen years after the end of World War Two. The first was the incessant tension along the common frontier. It was brought about by the fact that the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier after World War Two became also the border between the two opposing blocs, the capitalist and the socialist. The strong attachment to the bloc policies of and the commitment of Bulgaria and Turkey to military and political structures in confrontation lent particular sharpness to the confrontation which found an expression in the tension and conflicts along the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier.The existence of a considerable Turkish population in Bulgaria, amounting in 1946 and 1956 respectively to 675 500 and 656 025 persons, who under the Convention of Settlement between Bulgaria and Turkey of 1925, which had not been denounced, had the right to free resettlement in Turkey, because the cause for the emergence of the second serious problem in Bulgarian-Turkish relations: that of emigration. In 1956 was made the first successful step towards reducing the tension along the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier. By mutual accord were restored the destroyed frontier sings prevented accidental violations of the border. The right to free emigration of Bulgarian citizen of Turkish origin to Turkey under the 1925 Convention was considered by the Turkish side as a principal issue on which depended the all-round improvement of relations between Bulgaria and Turkey. Owing to the complex problem of an economic and political nature which the emigration issue raised, it was not fully solved not only by the end of the period under review but even for many years afterwards.

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