site.btaParliamentary Forces Comment on Tension in MRF

Representatives of parliamentary represented parties Thursday morning commented on the latest developments in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). Late on Wednesday, MRF Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan called for the resignation of MRF Chairman Delyan Peevski as well as of Deputy Chairmen Halil Letifov and Stanislav Anastassov, Deputy floor leaders Hamid Hamid and Erten Anisova, and MRF Central Operational Bureau member Radoslav Revanski. Shortly after, Peevski issued a position reading that he would not give up, he was not a traitor and would not betray the people who had given him their trust, adding that "no one can stop the New Beginning".

Commenting on the tension in the MRF, GERB leader Boyko Borissov said: "It is a bit like Spain and England in the [FIFA World Cup] final." In Borissov's words, there is a problem in the MRF, and the accusations they throw at each other give a great opportunity for GERB's structures to develop better. "The worse off the other parties are, the better for us," the GERB leader noted.

Gyunay Hyusmen of GERB-UDF told reporters that what is happening in the MRF is not acceptable but "they do whatever they decide". "I used to be part of that formation but no longer am, I am now in GERB," he added. "We do not interfere in their internal affairs," Hyusmen added. Asked if he had expected such a war in the MRF, he said: "No, in no way did I expect it."

Continue the Change co-leader Kiril Petkov commented what we see is not just an individual battle but the slow an obvious decomposition of the Peevksi model. It transpires from his words that the Peevksi model is when someone decides to do whatever they please in the State without observing the law.

Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria floor leader Nikolay Denkov commented that what Dogan mentions in his letter - about thuggish approaches being used in the MRF to intimidate families and to take away people's business through the prosecution and police services - is what the Peevski model is about. "What we have to achieve is the prosecution service and the police reporting when they have done something wrong, so that they can be sanctioned by the citizens, institutions, State," Denkov noted.

BSP for Bulgaria floor leader Borislav Goutsanov told journalists that these are internal processes in the MRF so it is the MRF who should solve them. However, that has a huge impact on the entire political life in the State.