site.btaDOST Alliance Wants New Head of Avtomagistrali Dismissed

DOST Alliance Wants New Head of Avtomagistrali Dismissed

Sofia, February 18 (BTA) - Lyutvi Mestan and Orhan Ismailov, co-chairmen of the DOST Alliance, have opposed the recent appointment of Valentin Nikolov Executive Director of the state-run Avtomagistrali company.

The two stated in an open letter to President Rumen Radev and Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdjikov that Nikolov was not merely involved in what is known as the regeneration process (the communist-era forcible renaming of Bulgarian ethnic Turks), but was given a government award for contribution.

Mestan and Ismailov want Nikolov immediately replaced. "If we are not heeded, the DOST Alliance reserves the right to assume political responsibility for [possible] protests by Bulgarian citizens," the letter says.

Nikolov was appointed Executive Director of the company which is in charge of the construction, maintenance and operation of motorways and roads ten days ago after a woman was killed in a tunnel accident on the Hemus Motorway.