Updated on
Summary The shelter in the southeastern town of Harmanli will be able to take in some 1,000 people.
Bulgarias government announced on Wednesday it planned to build a temporary shelter on the border with Turkey to cater to Syrian refugees fleeing unrest at home and transiting Turkey.The shelter in the southeastern town of Harmanli will be able to take in some 1,000 people, the governments press office said in a statement. This could also include non-Syrians.However, the government explained the decision followed the need for additional measures to cope with the increasing number of Syrian citizens, seeking shelter in our country, noting that current shelters were filled to 80-90 percent of capacity.Bulgarias permanent refugee facilities can currently host a total of 780 people of all nationalities, data by the refugee agency shows.The small Balkan country has already beefed up its police presence along the border with Turkey to prevent trespassers from its southeastern neighbour, which is swamped with over 100,000 refugees from conflict-torn Syria.Bulgaria is however still far from witnessing a wave of refugees, Boris Cheshirkov, local press officer for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) told AFP Wednesday, noting that only 183 Syrians entered Bulgaria illegally between January and September this year.Far more Iraqis entered the country, he said, without however giving a figure.
