Bulgarian liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedom proudly bears the responsibility to be in power at a crucial point for the country's history, argued MRF leader Lyutvi Mestan.

Friday Mestan sent out a message to party members on occasion of the organization's 24th anniversary, to be celebrated Saturday.

"We are proud that the third term of our party in power is no less emblematic than 2001-5 (the Simeon Saxe-Coburg cabinet and Bulgaria's NATO membership), and 2005-9 (the Sergey Stanishev cabinet and Bulgaria's EU accession)," wrote the liberal leader.

"Now MRF bears the high domestic responsibility to irreversibly restore the demoratic functioning and development of Bulgaria, and to remove once and for all the shadows of authoritarianism and rule by force," added he.

Mestan was referring to the 2009-13 cabinet of center-right GERB party leader Boyko Borisov, accused by some of undermining institutions and concentration of power at the hands of the executive.

"He have seen off a year filled with political tensions. However, for us 2013 stands not only under the signs of cataclysms and protests, for we in MRF read in them the painful effort of the political process and civil society to heal the heavy wounds dealt by four years of authoritarian rule," stated Mestan.

In the latter half of 2013, large rallies marched in Bulgarian capital Sofia, demanding the resignation of PM Plamen Oresharski, after a string of controversial appointments, many of them having to do with MRF functionaries.

In his address, Mestan congratulated MRF members for working hard and upholding European values, and wished them a healthy and successful 2014.

Lytuvi Mestan assumed the Movement's chair position in January 2013, after a 23-year-long chairmanship by Ahmed Dogan.

MRF has been a junior partner in all three cabinets it has taken part in, with the now marginalized fellow liberal National Movement for Stability and Prosperity, and/ or the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

The current Oresharski cabinet is supported by an informal coalition between the Socialists and the Movement.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is traditionally supported by many among Bulgaria's sizeable ethnic Turkish minority.

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