The army should help the Interior Ministry to patrol along the Bulgaria-Turkey border by deploying troops there, Bulgarian Vice-President Margarita Popova has said.

Popova has thus joined the debate on further measures to step up security at the border with Turkey in the face of a prospective flow of asylum seekers coming from the south-east.

In her words, this would help neighboring Turkey as well, meaning it would improve border security.

Popova told the Bulgarian National Radio that the army has "an obligation" to take part in missions even when the country is not in war, "under the law."

Earlier, Defense Ministry officials rejected the idea that the military could join efforts to improve border control, saying this could be interpreted as "aggression" by Turkey.

But others remind Ankara is doing the same along its borders to curb illegal migration.