Striving for morals in politics is detrimental for the State, according to Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish leader, Ahmed Dogan.

The statement has been made by the leader of the ethnic party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, on March 16th before participants in the national program "Management Skills," the Bulgarian Trud (Labor) daily writes, citing their own sources.

"The qualities of any politician must be judged by what he or she is doing for the State, not by the morality or immorality of his actions," Dogan had said.

Other lecturers in the program have already included Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, President, Rosen Plevneliev, the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, and of the Party of European Socialists, PES, Sergey Stanishev, participants have told Trud off the record because they have signed confidentiality agreements.

Dogan had made the statement about the uselessness of morals in politics as a reply to a question if it was right for a politician like him to pocket huge consulting fees for a hydro-power project such as "Tsankov Kamak."

In his reply the DPS leader had cited Italian philosopher Machiavelli, who had been the first one to launch the idea of differentiating between morals and politics.

Participants further report that they had noted that during his lecture, Dogan failed to say even one word of criticism for the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, or for any GERB minister or Member of the Parliament.

After the forum, at the restaurant of the hotel where it had been held, at an informal gathering, the ethnic Turkish politician had forecasted that within 3 months Plevneliev will sharply differentiate from Borisov, adding he had been very impressed by the President, after their meeting at the beginning of March.