site.btaDemocrats for Strong Bulgaria Join Demand for Consultative National Security Council Meeting

Democrats for Strong Bulgaria Join Demand for Consultative National Security Council Meeting

Sofia, August 17 (BTA) - Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) back the demands for convening the Consultative Council on National Security (CCNS) with the President, the Right-wing party's Chair Radan Kanev said here on Wednesday.

The leader of the nationalist IMRO Party, Krassimir Karakachanov, also demanded last week that the CCNS should meet over the risk of a huge migrant wave from Turkey.

According to DSB, which is part of the Right-wing Reformist Bloc, Bulgaria is facing serious challenges: a disconcerted EU, US foreign policy blocked by the run-up to elections, and dominating aggressive pressure from Russia and Turkey. "There is a risk that the conflict between Erdoganists and Gulenists, and between two Islamic movements can spill into Bulgaria," Kanev warned. According to him, the Bulgarian security services must categorically prevent this from happening.

"Bulgaria's policy should not be expressed by unilateral gestures towards the regimes in Ankara and Moscow." DSB sees the Abdullah Buyuk case as "a striking example of a flawed policy, along with backing off from the national positions on the Belene N-plant project, and the requested bilateral settlement of migration issues with Turkey." The party believes that the migrant wave must not be used to scare Bulgarians before the November 6 presidential elections and must not be viewed as an element of bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Turkey, but rather as an element of the global relations between Turkey and the Western world.

According to RB MP Atanas Atanassov, the big problem with refugees in Bulgaria are the serious corruption schemes which generate a migrant flow through this country while no measures are being taken to address the issue. "Last week, Prime Minister Borissov assumed the role of the 'uncompromising Boyko' by demanding the resignations of the Boder Police command, thus finalizing the image of the 'helpless [Interior Minister Roumyana] Buchvarova. The schemes, however, remain," Atanassov commented. He does not see political will to fight corruption schemes which enjoy the Interior Ministry's protection at a high level.

At a possible CCNS meeting, DSB will raise the question of increasing State control over religious organizations in Bulgaria, religious studies and the financing of religious institutions. "Russia's direct political influence over the Bulgarian Orthodox Church must not be overlooked, either," Kanev noted. Another question which DSB would bring up is whether it is admissible to open voting sections in Turkey during the Bulgarian presidential elections, at a time when the internal democracy in that country is suspended.

Kanev noted GERB's strong positions within the European People's Party and asked that they be used not only for election campaigning but for national goals, such as the support Bulgaria needs from the European Commission.