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Ahmed Dogan, file photo BGNES
In a rare public appearance, Ahmed Dogan, honorary lifetime chairman of the liberal DPS party has requested from supporters to have at least 4 MEPs in the next EP.
Dogan has assigned the task to the leadership and members of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which largely represents the Turkish minority in Bulgaria, at a seminar in the SPA resort Velingrad.
The news was reported by the online agency Dnevnik, citing participants in the event, speaking off-the-record.
Dogan urged full mobilization as the fate of the current government of DPS and its partner, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) would depend on the results of the upcoming European elections 2014.
The target is for BSP and DPS to have 9 MEPs together out of a total of 17. Dogan has said that anything under 4 DPS MEPs would be considered a failure.
Currently, DPS has 3 MEPs, while BSP has 5 and is aiming to have 6 in the next EP.
"Our goal is modest – 3 or 4 seats; in 2007 we had 4, then 3. We aim to have 3, the best case scenario is to have 4," DPS MP Yordan Tsonev told bTV on Monday.
Prime Minister, Plamen Oresharski, has been a guest at the seminar. He has accounted for achievements, has outlined future steps, and has asked DPS for its support for his government.
Delyan Peevski, the controversial MP from DPS, whose appointment for Chief of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) sparked relentless antigovernment protests in the country, has also been in attendance, but has not taken the stand.
Other participants have included lawmakers, ministers, deputy ministers, regional governors, leaders of local DPS structures and mayors.
The MEP nomination procedure is expected to be launched by the Central Council of DPS in mid-February.
Dogan has not been seen in public since January 19, 2013, when 25-year-old ethnic Turk Oktay Enimehmedov pointed a gas pistol at him as he was delivering his resignation speech at a party conference in the capital Sofia.
No shots were fired and Enimehmedov was arrested. He is currently on trial for attempted murder.
Dogan was removed as witness in the trial on grounds he was suffering from severe depression as a result of the incident.
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