Bulgaria's extreme right and nationalist Ataka ("attack") party issued a statement Wednesday calling for the cancellation of the planned visit to Bulgaria of the Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ataka points out some aspects of Erdogan's visit on March 27 and 28 were illegal - namely his planned visits to the provincial cities of Kurdzhali and Turgovishte, which are the centers of regions with large Muslim and ethnic Turkish population.

The nationalists cite the State Protocol Act, which states that only the heads of state of other countries have the right to visit cities other than Bulgaria's capital.

They also remind that the Turkish PM was not Turkey's head of state, and therefore the city in Bulgaria he should be entitled to visit was Sofia.

Ataka goes on to suggest that the motives for Erdogan's planned visits to Kurdzhali and Turgovishte had not been explained by the Bulgarian government.

It states that the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms conducted a policy aiming to "turkicize" and to segregate the Bulgarians living there.

Thus, the nationalists conclude the Erdogan's visit there was a proof of Turkey's aspirations to acquire Bulgarian territories.

Ataka calls upon the PM Stanishev and the Foreign Minister Kalfin to cancel the planned visit of the Turkish PM because it violated the State Protocol Act, and presented threat for the territorial integrity and the national security of Bulgaria.

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