site.btaExpatriates in Turkey Want Ankara to Hold Bulgaria's DOST Party Responsible for Election Failure

Expatriates in Turkey Want Ankara to Hold Bulgaria's DOST Party Responsible for Election Failure

Istanbul, March 31 (BTA exclusive by Nahide Deniz) - The Bulturk association of Bulgarian Turks has called on the authorities in Turkey to hold Bulgaria's DOST party responsible for its poor showing in last Sunday's early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria. The appeal has been published in the newspaper of the Istanbul-based association.

Bulturk President Rafet Uluturk wrote in the statement:

"By claiming that they had influence in Bulgaria and would certainly enter the Bulgarian Parliament, DOST deceived a number of Turkish politicians and institutions that supported them directly or indirectly. They presented themselves to the Bulgarian Turks as 'a party of Erdogan' and actually harmed the Turkish President and the Republic of Turkey as a whole. Therefore, DOST and their agents should be held strictly responsible and the party Chairman, Lyutvi Mestan, should resign.

"DOST say they are 'proud' that they won 17.38 per cent of the votes in Turkey and 'broke the monopoly of the MRF [Movement for Rights and Freedoms].' But they say nothing about the price. Their populist promises doomed voters to wait for hours until they got to the ballot boxes, to be pushed around in those narrow corridors, and to be transported across the border free of charge, although DOST knew that the nationalists in Bulgaria would try to stop and repress them, which is what they did.

"The problems of Bulgarian Turks are in Bulgaria and should be addressed there. The problems of those who have migrated to Turkey are being addressed in Turkey, but the issues facing the Turkish population in Bulgaria have acquired chronic proportions and have remained unsolved for years. I think that, after all, voters showed the MRF as well as DOST that they are dissatisfied and expect more from these parties. Turkey's relations with Bulgaria should not be strained for the sake of partisan interests, they should be kept good, because this is beneficial for both sides."

According to a comment by Arif Gundogdu published in "Istanbul Gazetesi," the elections in Bulgaria "led to a loss of parliamentary seats for the Turks in the Bulgarian Parliament and weakened their influence on Bulgarian politics."

Gundogdu says that division is an old project which was reactivated during the March 26 elections. He notes: "This was the second time that the Turks [in Bulgaria] had to choose between two parties. The MRF, which used to be a balancing party and controlled 38 parliamentary seats, now suffered a serious blow from DOST and saw its own election score falling to about 9 per cent. DOST won 2.98 per cent, which left it below the Parliament entry threshold and showed that this is a still-born project. It is now time for those who conceived the idea and carried it out to be held to account for the failure and the tension they caused in Turkey's relations with Bulgaria., March 31 (BTA exclusive by Nahide Deniz) - The Bulturk association of Bulgarian Turks has called on the authorities in Turkey to hold Bulgaria's DOST party responsible for its poor showing in last Sunday's early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria. The appeal has been published in the newspaper of the Istanbul-based association.

Bulturk President Rafet Uluturk wrote in the statement:

"By claiming that they had influence in Bulgaria and would certainly enter the Bulgarian Parliament, DOST deceived a number of Turkish politicians and institutions that supported them directly or indirectly. They presented themselves to the Bulgarian Turks as 'a party of Erdogan' and actually harmed the Turkish President and the Republic of Turkey as a whole. Therefore, DOST and their agents should be held strictly responsible and the party Chairman, Lyutvi Mestan, should resign.

"DOST say they are 'proud' that they won 17.38 per cent of the votes in Turkey and 'broke the monopoly of the MRF [Movement for Rights and Freedoms].' But they say nothing about the price. Their populist promises doomed voters to wait for hours until they got to the ballot boxes, to be pushed around in those narrow corridors, and to be transported across the border free of charge, although DOST knew that the nationalists in Bulgaria would try to stop and repress them, which is what they did.

"The problems of Bulgarian Turks are in Bulgaria and should be addressed there. The problems of those who have migrated to Turkey are being addressed in Turkey, but the issues facing the Turkish population in Bulgaria have acquired chronic proportions and have remained unsolved for years. I think that, after all, voters showed the MRF as well as DOST that they are dissatisfied and expect more from these parties. Turkey's relations with Bulgaria should not be strained for the sake of partisan interests, they should be kept good, because this is beneficial for both sides."

According to a comment by Arif Gundogdu published in "Istanbul Gazetesi," the elections in Bulgaria "led to a loss of parliamentary seats for the Turks in the Bulgarian Parliament and weakened their influence on Bulgarian politics."

Gundogdu says that division is an old project which was reactivated during the March 26 elections. He notes: "This was the second time that the Turks [in Bulgaria] had to choose between two parties. The MRF, which used to be a balancing party and controlled 38 parliamentary seats, now suffered a serious blow from DOST and saw its own election score falling to about 9 per cent. DOST won 2.98 per cent, which left it below the Parliament entry threshold and showed that this is a still-born project. It is now time for those who conceived the idea and carried it out to be held to account for the failure and the tension they caused in Turkey's relations with Bulgaria.