Dogan - Litmus Test for Bulgaria Govt

Novinite Insider » EDITORIAL | Author: Milena Hristova |March 30, 2010, Tuesday // 15:15
Bulgaria: Dogan - Litmus Test for Bulgaria Govt

At last! The leader of the Bulgarian ethnic Turks Ahmed Dogan, largely known until recently as the country's back seat ruler, called a time out. Following allegations of pocketing more than BGN 1,5 M from the state budget, he decided he has done his fair share of listening and should speak up. Only to reveal himself as a scared fraudster, who piled up his wealth by sponging on his political clout.

We have never seen Ahmed Dogan like that. For the last eight years he has been a leader of the kind of voters, who never show cracks in their armour, a man blessed with the gift of a gab and the in-depth view of an analyst. Election time set off new opportunities for him to make his hard-earned cash work for him by winning the support of more voters. In between election time he took advantage of the political high tide to launch entrepreneurial ventures and capitalize on them. Dogan knew well how to hide behind the false image of a reflecting philosopher, while actually being the back seat ruler of the country.

Until now. Ironically the myth that Ahmed Dogan had built about himself was debunked by the very newspaper that courted him quite successfully until recently. The exchange of letters with a female journalist from Trud daily showed the intricate lover-like connection between the media and those in power, who sooner or later break up. They just could not rise above the urge to spew venom. There is nothing like former lovers who can't hide their hurt feelings, flaring tempers and crossed wires, isn't there?

Ahmed Dogan has never kept secret his model. “If you think that I have less opportunities than a banker, then you have no idea about what a politician can do. For the last fifteen years, half of all Bulgarian businessmen, who can boast higher than the average incomes, have had to win my cooperation or at least my smile,” Ahmed Dogan admitted two days before the parliamentary elections in 2005, notoriously adding that a ring of companies stand behind (or may be around!) each party.

The situation now is unique in many ways. This is the first time that the price of his smile is on a real bill and on his name. This is the first time that there are concrete figures and facts that accuse him of corruption and that show his own personal ambitious entrepreneurial plans have never been grounded or put on the back burner while in power. This is the first time that the perfect model for winning power – creating jobs for votes - has turned against its founder and ideologist. This is the first time that the society and the European Union ache to see the guilty brought to justice and will hardly buy the worn-out ethnic peace arguments. To top it all off the money for the hydro power plant Tsankov Kamak, from where he took the sky-high payment as an “expert”, were paid by the state-owned National Electricity Distribution Company, left in tatters after the ruling of the previous cabinet.

Ahmed Dogan, on whose mandate the previous Socialist-led government was formed and the driving force behind a number of reshuffles, has always had the habit of working busily behind the scenes.

The last time he had hatched a great plot - let a new center-right government come to power and inherit the deplorable state that the current three-way coalition turned Bulgaria into, exacerbated by the repercussions of the global financial crisis. With so many wrongs, he thought, it would be impossible for Bulgarians to shore up their faith in the new government and within one year they will be more than willing to part with what they think no longer serves them. The three parties from the current ruling coalition will then be more than happy to be back on the political scene, victorious, puce-cheeked and finger-wagging at the voters. That was the plan.

The new center-right government of Bulgaria was elected on an anti-corruption mandate in July and on the promise to bring to justice such big fish as Ahmed Dogan. Nothing of this sort has happened so far. The middle and low-scale corruption schemes that are being busted make for the perfect information noise to cover up those shady deals, whose unraveling would really make a difference. There is a threshold, which is never passed. Now the new government has the perfect opportunity to show they want to change this.

The battle against Dogan has been won, but will they win the war?

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