/ world today news/ DPS leader Lyutvi Mestan made a surprise appearance in Kardzhali and gave an urgent press conference, the BGNES correspondent for the region reported.
Mestan did not attend the extraordinary meeting of the central leadership, he learned about it from the media, and in his long exposure to the journalists, he presented his point of view on the intra-party upheaval. With him were the regional leader of the DPS Bahri Yumer, the mayor of Ardino Resmi Murad, as well as the deputies Husein Hafazov and Shabanali Ahmed. It became clear that Mestan was not hiding in the Turkish embassy yesterday, but was visiting a friend in Plovdiv who was also in the hall today. The birthday man, who turns 55 today, will remain in the region and will participate in the traditional commemorative rallies for the victims of the “revival process” near the Turkyan fountain in the village of Mogilane and in Momchilgrad.
Here is what Lyutvi Mestan said at the press conference in Kardzhali:
“I learned from the media about the convened meeting of the Central Council, according to the statute it should take place on January 11 before the start of the new parliamentary session, I did not convene such a meeting. I took the initiative yesterday and repeatedly called Mr. Rushen Riza to ask him if this was true. It wasn’t until late last night around 10-11pm that he called me back and confirmed. But pay attention to the following question: how come I do not know whether I will at least be admitted to this meeting, he regretted that he was unable to give me a positive answer. I asked him today at least until 9:30 am to confirm that I can participate in the meeting of the CS, which will be held in Boyana, in a place known as the Saraites. I waited until this time, still no call. The arrangement was that I would only have a call if I was admitted to the meeting. Pay attention to this fact. I asked for a press conference, I owe answers to the voters and to the Bulgarian society, because the interest in what is happening in the DPS is huge, and in such a situation a politician owes his frank and valiant answers. Following the speech on the 17th after midnight at the DPS New Year’s Party by Honorary Chairman Dr. Dogan, in which he made several sets of criticisms, the emphasis of which was his strong disagreement with the statement to Parliament on the crisis of the downed Russian plane by Turkish Air Force. I realized that such a clear and strong criticism from the creator of the DPS needs a very sincere and deep debate, firstly, about the local structures of the party, because this is a fundamentally important problem related to the Euro-Atlantic orientation of both the DPS and of Bulgaria, a deep debate in all structures with a subsequent serious one in the CS of the DPS. In my opinion, this debate should be held on January 11 before the opening of the winter session of the National Assembly, where the strong position of the members of the Central Committee on this declaration should be heard. It presents a very clear position, and defining it as a grave political blunder presents an alternative position. Of course the party must be determined. And if the mood is in favor of the criticism, and of course, I do not receive a vote of confidence, and then my continuation as chairman would be impossible. This would be neither a drama nor a problem for me, because regarding the Euro-Atlantic orientation of the DPS, I cannot make compromises before anyone, I declare, before anyone. Our declaration aimed to show that in a critical situation both our country and individual political parties are able to express a clear and categorical Euro-Atlantic position.
By the way, I am left with the impression that the criticisms against this declaration seem to have long gone beyond the context of the document itself. I take this moment to ask whether such a clear position can be defined as a grave political error or blunder. This declaration was written as I often work in PG, in the presence of colleagues, dictating texts and it was born in the same way. It rests on facts that are confirmed in the official position of NATO, expressed at the extraordinary meeting of the member countries of the pact, which once again recognizes the right of each country in it to protect its sovereignty. By this we are saying that it is not true that there is no NATO position. NATO’s position, at that, consensual and with the participation of the Bulgarian ambassador there, had a reaction immediately the day after the incident. Our declaration simply reaffirms NATO’s position and seeks balances with the undisputed participation of non-NATO countries as well. Because ISIS is a challenge not only against Euro-Atlanticism, but also against modern civilization and humanity. In connection with the intervention of other countries in the resolution of the conflict – their military intervention cannot have as a hidden goal the protection of Bashar Assad’s regime, because it is at the root of the huge refugee crisis that has engulfed Europe and threatens Bulgaria as well. The last two points in our declaration are calls for an even more active dialogue between NATO and the EU countries to develop a common policy and concretely decisive countermeasures against the expansion of the Islamic State and the growing terrorist aggression. In the final words of the document, we support NATO’s call for a de-escalation of relations between Russia and Turkey, and for a return to political dialogue.
In this declaration, I do not see anything that can be defined as a political mistake, on the contrary, it is a clear manifestation of the image that we have been trying to build for the DPS for so many years – as the Euro-Atlantic party of Bulgaria. Because, I will say this with pain, unfortunately, the public image of DPS is loaded with several terrible myths – that it is almost a corporate, oligarchic party. But this is coupled with the even scarier myth that the party represents Russian interests. To get to that publication in the “New York Times” a year ago with the thesis that there are two pro-Russian parties in power in Bulgaria – BSP and DPS. We have made a huge effort to free the image of DPS from the shackles of these mythologemes, without going back to the questions of who, when and why gave rise to them, our efforts were aimed at clearing this image. Because we are aware that with these layers on the public image, it will be difficult to return the DPS to the legitimate power in Bulgaria. We knew that this was the stake of our participation in the next administration of the country. But, in our opinion, Euro-Atlanticism is not an abstraction or a bare phrase, it is an expression filled with concrete content and also implies a continuous, consistent, adequate behavior of any party that identifies with this value.
Mr. Dogan’s main accusation against me is that because there are large-scale transformations in the world, that it is transforming from unipolar to multipolar, mainly due to the fact that Russia will impose itself by all means and, if necessary, by force. I think that from this point of view the Euro-Atlantic position of each NATO country becomes even more mandatory. The balances that Dr. Dogan talks about can be searched for by the different countries according to their status. Bulgaria and DPS cannot do this as a neutral country, for example like Serbia. Bulgaria and DPS cannot stand as neutral between Russia and NATO. Our position is balanced and we are looking for the balance in the first place from the point of view of the status of Bulgaria as a full member of NATO, because this corresponds to the Bulgarian national interest.
This is a clash of opposing positions regarding Bulgaria’s place in geopolitics and, respectively, the positions of the DPS. It is very important for us to see what is the attitude, above all, of DPS voters towards this case study. I am sure that the vast majority of them would see no problem with the declaration, I would even say welcome it. By the way, this is also the assessment of analysts, who could not be classified as others who, for one reason or another, are under Russian influence. The attempt to present this frank pro-NATO position of the DPS as pro-Turkish, and from there to make suggestions that the DPS is becoming the Fifth Column of a foreign country, is incorrect and unacceptable to us. If this incident had happened not between Turkey and Russia, but between any NATO country and Russia, I would have expressed exactly the same categorical position. However, I don’t know then whether anyone would have assessed my position as pro-Greek or pro-Latvian. No matter in what capacity, no matter what my status will be, I will follow this line, because the interest of DPS voters and the community we represent is for Bulgaria to develop as a country – a full member of Europe, the EU and NATO, and to develops good relations with all its neighbors and strategic partners, including the Republic of Turkey. We also find that Europe is experiencing a crisis, there is a huge geopolitical rift. But it is not enough just to state this, the point is to propose solutions. We are deeply convinced that the solution lies in strengthening the EU and deepening the solidarity between EU and NATO member countries. This alliance was created to guarantee peace, and it is only natural that militarily it should not be competitive. But I think that this is not a reason not to be optimistic about the future of the EU, because it is precisely the EU that has guaranteed Europe more than 70 years of peace. Therefore, as an adequate response to the crisis, this leadership of the DPS and the parliamentary group already a year ago presented to the leaders of the liberal parties and the Bulgarian society a comprehensive concept for the expansion of the EU to the Western Balkans and to Eastern Europe. We see the enlargement of the EU as the most reliable mechanism for the enlargement of the EU’s security area as well.
The worst-case scenario for DPS is to return to the myth of the hidden pro-Russian party, that would be a disastrous step back,” Mestan concluded. He made the arrangement not to be asked about the versions with which certain media inundated him, such as “the declaration was received on the territory of some foreign country and DANS detected this”, and described it as madness.
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