Bulgaria-Turkey border protest: truck queues and what drivers should check

Turkish professional drivers are protesting the Schengen 90-in-180-day stay limit at the Bulgaria-Turkey border, and outlets report about 6,000 trucks unable to enter Bulgaria at Kapikule-Kapitan Andreevo and Hamzabeyli-Lesovo. The figure comes from BNT News on 2026-10-29 and trans.info on 2026-10-30, and neither names a source, so it is a media estimate and not a measured count. Bulgarian Customs Agency data show truck entries back near earlier levels by 2026-10-30, but no official statement says the backlog has cleared.

What the protest is about

UND, the Turkish haulier group, says 90 days in any 180 is not enough to fulfil transport contracts. Its president, Serafettin Aras, said the protest is not aimed at any country, according to trans.info. BNT lists the demands: a change to the 90-in-180 rule, year-round travel, longer-term visas, a special regime for international road transport, and an end to treating professional drivers as tourists. Bulgarian carriers back them. Georgi Petarneichev, who chairs the management board of the Association of Bulgarian International Road Transport and Roads Companies, said: "Bulgarian carriers support the fair demands of our colleagues from Turkey."

The EU position has not moved. According to trans.info, the European Commission acknowledged that some third-country professional drivers may need stays above 90 days, but said Schengen rules are not changing and that the Entry/Exit System (EES, the EU border register of entries and exits) introduces no new stay limits. BNT notes that EES has been cross-checking records in Bulgaria since April.

On 2026-10-28, Anadolu Agency via Foreks reported, citing a UND statement, that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Trade Minister Omer Bolat held talks with Bulgarian counterparts. According to the same UND statement, Bulgarian authorities said they apply the rule within the EU Schengen framework and have no national power to intervene. Their Interior Ministry will ask the Commission for flexibility. No concrete measure was announced.

What the border data show

The Customs Agency publishes a daily count of trucks for the 24 hours to 08:00, and the 2026-10-30 release shows entries recovering. At Kapitan Andreevo, entering trucks fell from 904 in the 2026-10-27 release to 279 on 2026-10-28 and 371 on 2026-10-29, then rose to 1,065 on 2026-10-30. At Lesovo the series ran 927, 638, 47, and then 645. For comparison, the 2026-10-23 release showed 983 entering trucks at Kapitan Andreevo.

These numbers measure throughput only. They do not give queue length, they do not prove what caused the dip, and the entering and exiting labels are the agency's own. We could not find the 2026-10-31 release at the time of writing, and we found no official source stating that the 6,000-truck backlog is gone. trans.info still described the situation as ongoing on 2026-10-30.

Other reported causes and what drivers should check

Reports from Edirne on 2026-10-21 gave different reasons for the delays. About 300 drivers held a sit-in at the Kapikule customs building, and Evrensel quotes Edirne Deputy Governor Sevket Atli saying about 1,600 trucks were waiting at Kapikule. He said a permit problem had been fixed around 14:00, trucks should clear in one to two days, and renovation at the Bulgarian customs gate had sent some vehicles to Hamzabeyli. The report does not mention Schengen. Drivers' spokesperson Koray Torun put waits at four to five days, a figure trans.info repeats. We treat both as statements, not measurements.

If you dispatch or drive on this lane, three checks help this week. First, count remaining days in the rolling 180-day window before dispatch, using our explainer on how EES counts days . Second, check the live position before committing a trailer, starting with our Kapikule queue check . Third, plan for delays on the Bulgarian leg, and review the Bulgaria driving ban rules for the first Schengen country on the route.

Carriers moving freight on this corridor can follow vehicle positions and waiting time with Logifie GPS tracking .