site.btaBulgarian Diplomats from Iran Evacuated to Azerbaijan

The Bulgarian diplomats from Iran have been evacuated to Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov told journalists in Sofia on Thursday.

Zhelyazkov said: “The Bulgarians who were in Iran are 12 people from the Bulgarian Embassy and their families. The other day, after the Israeli armed forces said it was advisable to evacuate everyone resident in District 3 in Tehran, and the Bulgarian Embassy is in immediate proximity to that district, we decided that our diplomats should leave the country. We urged all Bulgarians willing to join the convoy to do so. Yesterday [Wednesday], at 4 in the morning, they set out in 11 vehicles. There were alternatives, they could travel via Turkiye, but eventually we decided they should go via Azerbaijan, towards Baku. It was a six-hour drive to the border. There was a long delay at the border, perhaps more than six hours, due to checks. Our fellow Bulgarians are now in Baku and will come home by land and by air.”

Some of them have used private cars and will return to Bulgaria at their own discretion, the Prime Minister said. He noted that the evacuation was coordinated with the Iranian and Israeli authorities.