ankara • Ankara denounced yesterday the shooting of a Turkish fisherman by Bulgarian security forces in the Black Sea and urged a swift investigation into the incident. “Such action against fishermen on the grounds that they are fishing illegally is unacceptable,” a foreign ministry statement said, adding that Ankara “reserves its legal rights” over Thursday’s incident.

“We expect the Bulgarian authorities to complete as soon as possible the required investigation and inform our country about the outcome,” it said.

The Bulgarian police said the man was shot accidentally as the security forces tried to arrest him for fishing illegally for turbot in the Bulgarian waters of the Black Sea.

Two shooting occurred when officers moved in on the boat, which had two other fishermen on board, near the mouth of the River Rezovo, which marks the border between Bulgaria and Turkey. Turbot fishing there has been banned since Tuesday.

The fishermen attacked the security forces with bats and one of them was accidentally shot as he tried to grab the pistol of one of the officers and died on his way to hospital, according to the Bulgarian statement.