Bulgarian Ethnic Turkish Party Calls for Expert Cabinet

Politics » DOMESTIC | December 26, 2012, Wednesday // 20:04
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Ethnic Turkish Party Calls for Expert Cabinet DPS’s calls for a government of experts after the 2013 parliamentary elections were voiced at a commemoration gathering for the victims of the Revival Process in the village of Mogilyane. Photo by dariknews.bg

Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party has argued that a government of experts should assume office in 2013.

The announcement came Wednesday at a commemoration gathering in the southern village of Mogilyane for the victims of the Communist's regime attempt to forcefully assimilate Bulgarian Muslims, known as the "Revival Process."

Some 300 000-400 000 Bulgarian Turks fled in the late 1980s when the Bulgarian Communist Party and Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov staged the notorious so called "Revival Process" or "Regeneration Process" - a campaign to assimilate first ethnic Bulgarian Muslims and then ethnic Turks by forcing them to adopt Slavic-Christian names instead of their Arab-Turkish ones.

Wednesday's commemorative event was attended by several thousand people, including Turkey's Ambassador to Sofia Ismail Aramaz and a number of DPS MPs and senior local DPS representatives.

"It is high time for Bulgaria to elect a government of experts consisting of the top members of all parties," said Yunal Tasim from DPS, as cited by local news agency Arda News.

"The most important political goal for DPS is to participate actively in the search for a new formula for the country's government after the parliamentary elections," Lutvi Mestan added.

He specified that Bulgarian voters would determine which political forces would be represented in the new government.

Mestan suggested that one option for creating an alternative to the current GERB government involved a government enjoying broad coalition support, which was not necessarily a coalition government in the strict sense of the word.

Sali Ramadan, Mayor of the Kirkovo Municipality, delivered a speech, reminding of the 17-month baby who had been shot down in Mogilyane during the Revival Process.

Tsveta Karayancheva, MP of ruling center-right party GERB, also attended the rally.

She announced that she had not been invited by the organizers but felt it her duty to honor the event and express compassion and solidarity with the victims of the Revival Process.

She criticized DPS for turning the event into pre-election agitation and using it as a platform to hurl criticism at the government.

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Tags: DPS, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, ethnic Turkish party, Lyutvi Mestan, GERB government, center-right party, Tsveta Karayancheva, Revival Process, Ismail Aramaz, Turkish Ambassador

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