Dispute between Turkey and Bulgaria on radio frequencies
Adelina Marini, May 19, 2009
Bulgaria has provided Turkey with tangible data about the trans border radio frequencies discrepancies at yesterday's first session of the joint Bulgarian-Turkish committee on unsolved bilateral issues which was held in Ankara. Bulgaria was presented by the co-chair of the committee the deputy foreign minister Lyubomir Kyuchukov. A methodology has been negotiated for further measuring of the radio frequency discrepancies on both sides of the border. Bulgaria has for years raised the issue of radio obstructions, especially in the region of the Black sea where even the Bulgarian national radio's signal is often obstructed by Turkish radio stations.
The problem though, is mutual. On the one hand Turkey violates the 1961 agreement which sets limit on the capacity of radio transmitters. On the other hand, the Bulgarian National Radio hasn't yet used all its possibilities, given by its license and thus its transmitters are not powerful enough to overcome the Turkish radio stations at the Black sea.