site.btaPeevski Divides Party Members, MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk Says

Commenting on the extraordinary national conference of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) which is being held at Sofia's NDK convention centre on Sunday, MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk (MRF/Renew Europe), who is part of the faction supporting the movement's honorary chairman Ahmed Dogan, recalled on Facebook that on December 22, 1989, Dogan was released from prison and went to St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia to attend the founding ceremony of the Committee for National Reconciliation.

"Today, 35 years later, on the same date, the power parasite [MRF – New Beginning leader Delyan] Peevski not only encroaches on the MRF party but also on civil society," Kyuchyuk’s post reads.

According to the MEP, Peevski divides, abducts, and coerces party members, activists, and structures using arbitrariness, administrative tactics, and power maneuvers.

Kyuchyuk stated that Bulgaria needs its political centre in the coordinates of democracy.

On the agenda of Sunday’s MRF extraordinary conference are nominations and election of a new MRF Chair and Central Council head, changes in the MRF Charpter, and adoption of decisions revoking previous ones by party bodies - all to be discussed behind closed doors. One of the changes expected to be made is the abolition of the figure of Honorary Chairman.

On Thursday, the Sofia City Court refused to enter changes in the record of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) in the register of political parties. The changes were related to the exclusion of Delyan Peevski and several other people from the party.

BTA recalls that, in July, the MRF split into two factions - one loyal to MRF founder and honorary chairman Ahmed Dogan and another led by Delyan Peevski. Members of the MRF who declared their loyalty to the MRF Honorary Chairman and founder Ahmed Dogan left or were expelled from the MRF parliamentary group in the 50th National Assembly, including co-floor leader Dzhevdet Chakarov. The parliamentary group remained under the leadership of the other MRF co-floor leader, Delyan Peevski. He and Chakarov had been elected co-leaders at the last regular MRF National Conference in February 2024 at Dogan's proposal. In the last snap parliamentary elections, the two fractions of the MRF run separately for Parliament, registered as Alliance for Rights and Freedoms of Dogan and Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning of Peevski. Both formations made it into the 51st National Assembly and formed the parliamentary groups of Democracy for Rights and Freedoms (DRF) and Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning, respectively.