June 3, 1959
MESSAGE TO BULGARIA: Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Periklis Skeferis summoned the Bulgarian charge d’affaires in Athens to the Foreign Ministry yesterday and handed him a note verbale from the Greek government in reply to a statement on May 20 by Bulgaria, which attempted to lay responsibility on Greece for Bulgaria’s failure to pay war reparations as specified in the peace treaties. The communique from Greece sets out the history of Bulgaria’s bad faith over the past 12 years and emphasizes Greece’s repeated displays of good faith regarding this issue. The note verbale also replies to Bulgaria’s claims of Greece’s hostility toward it. It recalls acts by Bulgaria against Greece, namely its attempt to keep Bulgarian occupation troops on Greek territory after September 1944, its support for communists in Greece during the war against these outlaws and its recent accusations against Greece. It also mentions the Bulgarian defense minister’s support for hostile statements against Greece made in Tirana by Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev last week. The Greek government said the issue of how Greece defends itself against threats from the north was a purely domestic one in which no foreign government had the right to intervene.
