Bulgaria begins building wall at border amid Syrian refugee influx

Bulgaria began construction of a 30-kilometre wall on its border with Turkey to prevent undocumented immigrants from Syria from entering its territory, the Defence Ministry said Thursday. Bulgaria aims for refugees from the Syrian civil war to no longer cross within the 30-kilometre zone illegally but instead to use official border crossings to enter Bulgaria and the European Union. In an interview published Wednesday by the Sofia News Agency, Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, said the Bulgarian government wanted refugees to enter the country at established border crossings that have facilities to receive them and where they may seek international protection.