Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedomsleader Ahmed Dogan has received as many as 11 death threats since 2006, according to the country's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Another oppositional leader, former PM (2005-2009) Sergey Stanishev, has been threatened with murder three times since the beginning of 2011, Borisov also said.

The Prime Minister revealed the worrying information Friday, when right wing Blue Coalition's co-leader, Ivan Kostov, made a parliamentary inquiry about Dogan and Stanishev being personally safeguarded by the country's National Security Service.

"Nobody could accuse us of liking Dogan or Stanishev, but if something happens to them it would be very painful for us in a global scale.

Kostov, was outraged over the fact that Dogan and Stanishev are guarded with taxpayer money. He ironically remarked that Dogan was a well-paid "hydro geologist" and could afford to pay for his security on his own.

The rightist leader referred to Dogan's notorious BGN 1 M consulting fee, which he received on hydro energy projects while his party was in power, triggering a scandal and a trial.

The Blue Coalition used to support Borisov's ruling centrist-right GERB, but subsequently moved into opposition. However, the rightists are also distinguishing themselves from the other oppositional parliamentary groups, those of their archrivals BSP and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.