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Bulgarian Turkish Leader Calls for Return of Democracy Ahead of Vote
[size=150:1grkjyak]Elections 2013

Bulgaria: Bulgarian Turkish Leader Calls for Return of Democracy Ahead of Vote
Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Lyutvi Mestan. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria would either return to democracy or continue sliding into authoritarianism at the general elections on Sunday, according to Lyutvi Mestan, leader of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms party.

Mestan urged voters not to allow the “authoritarian mentality to completely destroy the democratic system.”

“No one is stronger that the free will of Bulgarian citizens,” the ethnic Turkish leader declared in his last address to voters ahead of Sunday’s vote.

The center-right GERB government of former PM Boyko Borisov resigned amid massive protests against corruption and poverty in February, prompting President Rosen Plevneliev to adjourn the Parliament, appoint a caretaker Cabinet and schedule snap elections for May 12.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms will surely obtain seats in Parliament after the vote, according to pollster

What is going on in Bulgaria, open link
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[size=150:v1glsnmh]Bulgarians Even More Disillusioned after Vote

It looks as if there are major problems. Is Bulgaria a bit like a ship with no sail, just drifting and getting into deeper water's
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the waters are getting deeper all the time Willowsend......bulgaria may be drowning !!!



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Outraged Bulgarians to Stage New Rally against 'FBI' Head Election
Domestic | June 15, 2013, Saturday|

Outraged Bulgarians Stage New Rally against 'FBI' Head Election: Outraged Bulgarians to Stage New Rally against 'FBI' Head Election
Over 10 000 people attended the rally in the Bulgarian capital Sofia against the election of a controversial businessman and MP as national security chief.
New protest rallies are planned in Bulgaria against the election of controversial businessman Delyan Peevski as the new head of Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS).

The protest in Sofia Saturday evening will be held once again in front of the Council of Ministers.

Outside Bulgaria, a rally is scheduled for Saturday evening in front of the European Parliament building in Brussels.

The Parliament voted Friday to approve the nomination of Prime Minister, Plamen Oresharski, who proposed to have Peevski, a controversial Member of the Parliament from the liberal ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), to lead DANS.

In a move, stunning both MPs from the opposition center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, of former Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and parliamentary reporters, Oresharski proposed at the beginning of the sitting to have a new item on the agenda – election of new DANS Director.

The request caused outraged GERB MPs to leave plenary hall.

Oresharski then proceeded to nominate Peevski. The controversial MP was then quickly elected as the new head of the agency with the votes of his own party and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, despite GERB returning to plenary hall and a repeat vote on their request.

The election caused widespread outrage in Bulgaria.

Large protest rallies were held Friday evening in Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Pazardzhik, Blagoevgrad, and Shumen among others.

According to official data of the police, over 10 000 have gathered in the capital.

The rally in Sofia was held under strong police presence with key buildings – of the presidential administration, the government and the parliament, surrounded by metal fences.

Nova TV reported that cell phones have been silenced and internet communication has been very difficult.

Former GERB Regional Minister, Lilyana Pavlova, and former GERB Economy and Energy Minister, Delyan Dobrev, have been spotted among the demonstrators, despite Borisov's "
order"
banning attendance of popular GERB figures.

Former leader of the right-wing party Union of Democratic Forces, UDF, Martin Dimitrov, also joined the rally, which was reported as peaceful and without incidents.

Demonstrators from all ages, including families with small children, people with their pets, and groups of young people held banners, blew whistles, waved the national colors, and shouted against the mafia, Oresharski, and the leader of BSP, Sergey Stanishev.

The rally later moved to the Parliament and later to the key Eagles' Bridge intersection, which was blocked by the demonstrators.

They did not allow a crew of TV7, a media linked to Peevski, to broadcast footage from the protest, forcing them to move to the balcony of a nearby hotel.

Around 10 pm, the protesting people split with a few staying on Eagles' Bridge and the others returning to the parliament.

The rally ended around midnight Friday.

On Friday, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev canceled his participation in the inauguration of the second Danube Bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania after the shocking election.

He criticized it strongly and urged the parliament to "
immediately"
retract its decision.

Speaking on public TV Friday evening, the President reiterated his outrage from the move and confirmed he has lifted his trust from the Cabinet "
Oreshars

What a mess!!

bgbazz wrote:

What a mess!!

Here is a bit more to add to the mess
[size=85:2fev465k]Novinite
Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski has told European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that he would scrutinize all candidates to head the country’s State Agency for National Security (DANS).

Barroso expressed the European Commission’s concern following the shocking appointment of controversial businessman Delyan Peevski as head of DANS.

Oresharski, who met with Barroso for the first time on Friday, reassured Barroso about rule of law in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian PM also declared that he is ready to sack all officials who have come under suspicion.

The European Commission President urged Oresharski to consult widely on key appointments, especially in the areas of the fight against corruption and organised crime.

Bulgaria’s Parliament reversed on Wednesday its decision to appoint media mogul Delyan Peevski as head of DANS after dozens of thousands joined peaceful protest rallies against the appointment. The move failed to appease protesters, who have demanded the resignation of recently sworn-in PM Plamen Oresharski.

No surprises here then It's happening all over the world! The world is in a mess after this storm of protests comes the calm and then is the time to watch out Changes are made in the calm and it takes forever to to find out what they are Silence isn't always golden

Protests continue in major Cities ,but at least they seem fairly peaceful
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chrissybg wrote:

No surprises here then It's happening all over the world! The world is in a mess after this storm of protests comes the calm and then is the time to watch out Changes are made in the calm and it takes forever to to find out what they are Silence isn't always golden

This topic makes Interesting reading

[size=150:2654cfdl]Bulgarian president backs protests, says lawmakers must listen
June 22, 2013
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Bulgaria's president on Friday praised week-long protest rallies against corruption and a lack of transparency in the Balkan country and said politicians must heed the demonstrators' demands for reform. Thousands of mainly younger, well-educated Bulgarians have been rallying in Sofia and other cities since last Friday to demand the resignation of the three-week-old Socialist-led cabinet over its bungled bid to impose a media mogul as head of national security without any debate.

'Bowing' to the protesters, parliament has cancelled the appointment and Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski has apologised, but he refuses to quit, saying this would destabilise the European Union's poorest member state and harm the economy. "
Bulgaria can be proud of this good-natured, democratic protest which delivers a message to the politicians,"
said President Rosen Plevneliev, whose office is largely ceremonial but carries moral authority.

"
I very much hope they will be heard and that this time the politicians really take responsible, clear and, I would say, brave decisions,"
he told reporters. The demonstrations have been enlivened with singing and dancing and seem driven more by impatience over sleaze and "
mafia rule"
than by the poverty that still blights the country. Further protest rallies are planned for Friday and the weekend.

An opinion poll by Alpha Research published this week showed more than 80 percent of Bulgarians support the protests, though respondents were almost evenly split on whether the cabinet should step down now. It also showed support for the new coalition - comprising the Socialists and the ethnic Turkish MRF party - stood at 23 percent, the lowest level since 1997. Some 28 percent of respondents in the June 13-18 survey expressed disapproval.

More than two decades after the fall of communism, Bulgarians are fuming over their politicians' continued failure to tackle graft and organised crime, which deter investment and keep living standards low. Bulgaria and its northern neighbour Romania joined the European Union in 2007 but the weakness of their institutions and rule of law has kept them under close scrutiny from Brussels and denied them entry to the EU's borderless Schengen zone.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Oresharski during talks in Brussels on Friday that special monitoring for Bulgaria should continue and he urged the premier to seek wide support on key public appointments. "
I've made this point very clearly to the prime minister, our concerns... The candidates chosen should be based on merit and should have the highest standards of integrity,"
Barroso said in a statement posted on the Commission's website.

The government's candidate to head the national security service, a highly sensitive post with access to intelligence on high-level graft and organised crime, was Delyan Peevski, a 32-year-old ex-lawmaker with no experience in the security field. Bulgarian media said Peevski stood behind a powerful network of national newspapers and television channels owned by his mother and which has been criticised for concentrating media ownership in the hands of a few.

The main opposition centre-right GERB party, which lost power in February after protests over low living standards and graft, won most votes in the snap May election but lacked allies to form a government. GERB has called for a fresh election but it cannot force a vote of no-confidence in parliament because the government can still rely on the passive support of a small nationalist party

An interesting article, and noticed that most of the protesters are young Bulgarian people, what does that tell us

[size=150:xlb0wopb]Bulgarian president to launch talks with parties over protests

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Reuters, 24/06 17:56 CET

By Angel Krasimirov

SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s president said on Monday he would hold talks with all political parties on how to bring an end to protest rallies against graft and organised crime that have paralysed politics in the Black Sea nation for more than a week.

Thousands of mainly younger Bulgarians have been staging daily rallies in Sofia and other cities demanding the resignation of the three-week-old Socialist-led government over its bungled bid to impose a media mogul as head of national security without debate.

ing to the protesters, parliament quickly rescinded the appointment and Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski apologised, but he has refused to quit, saying this would destabilise the European Union’s poorest member state and harm its economy.

President Rosen Plevneliev, whose office is largely ceremonial but carries moral weight, has praised the peaceful, good-natured protests as a positive sign of Bulgarian democracy and has urged the politicians to heed the calls for reform.

“I will hold consultations with the political parties represented in the parliament. It will take a few days,” Plevneliev told reporters.

“I will certainly enlarge the focus of my consultations and I hope I will hear a lot of representatives of other political parties by the end of the week,” he said.

“I expect clear commitments to be taken. I will do everything possible to find a solution.”

More than two decades after the fall of communism, Bulgarians are fuming over their politicians’ continued failure to tackle graft and organised crime, which deter investment and keep living standards low.

Street protests felled the centre-right cabinet of Boiko Borisov in February, paving the way for May’s snap election in which his GERB party won most votes but lacked allies to form a government.

The Socialists and the ethnic Turkish MRF party, which placed second and third respectively in the election, then managed to form a fragile coalition that needs the passive support of a small nationalist party to stay in power.

DEMANDS

But the coalition’s naming of MRF deputy Delyan Peevski, aged 32 and with no experience of security issues, to head the national security service triggered fury among Bulgarians long disgusted by murky ties between politicians and businessmen.

Bulgarian media say Peevski stands behind a powerful network of newspapers and television channels owned by his mother and which has been criticised for concentrating media ownership in the hands of a few.

As well as the cabinet’s resignation, the protesters want to revise the election code to allow newer parties to challenge the status quo. They also want to review existing laws to prevent powerful business groups receiving public funds, to boost media freedoms and to improve the independence of the courts.

Reinforcing the mood of protest, 60 prominent Bulgarian intellectuals, lawyers, journalists and human rights activists posted on the Internet on Monday a “charter for disbanding the plutocratic model of the Bulgarian state” that calls for genuine democracy and the rule of law in the Balkan country.

On Monday, Oresharski tried to sound a conciliatory note.

“I fully understand people and their natural desire to live in a normal country. I am afraid this cannot happen immediately, we need systematic and consistent efforts in this direction,” Oresharski, a non-partisan former finance minister, said.

“Presently, the Bulgarian state urgently needs solutions to key issues. We must find fast and efficient measures to solve the most painful problems for Bulgaria’s people and business

Update, It appears that the protests are more peaceful now and nobody is setting themselves alight, but I ask the question, what have they achieved so far and where exactly are they going

Bulgarians Gather for 12th Day of Anti-Govt Protests
Domestic | June 25, 2013, Tuesday| Novinite

Thousands of Bulgarians took to the streets of the capital Sofia Tuesday evening for a 12th consecutive day of protests against the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski.

Reporters say the number of protesters appears somewhat smaller than in previous days.
Demonstrators have been booing the Council of Ministers in downtown Sofia, with many chanting “Resignation!” and “Mafia!”

On Tuesday, Oresharski said he would only consider stepping down once Electoral Code amendments are passed by Parliament.

Many protesters have called for Electoral Code amendments, as they fear the current legislation would allow parties from the mainstream political establishment to return to power after early elections.

Oresharski, who was sworn-in as PM at the end of May, has provoked the ire of parts of the public by making a number of questionable appointments – most notably that of national security head Delyan Peevski

these changes are the ones they are prepared to tell us about! What has gone through with out being reported. It happens every where all the demonstrations are used as smoke screens when the people realise this they will be quiet again and listen to and watch out for the real deals that they missed before whilst they run in the streets screeming. I believe that the world every country is enjoying the smoke screens and getting up to no good hidden behind them

What I find somewhat surprising, is the fact that they keep reporting the protests in Sofia and ignoring the numbers elsewhere! As I write this, some 5000 people are in a rally, in Plovdiv, just like they have been every evening since this began. Pretending that this isn't happening, won't make the problem go away. The solution is clear to the rest of the world, but seemingly not to a group of people (and I use the term loosely) hell bent on the destruction of a beautiful country.

Demand the resignation of the Bulgarian government!

[size=50:7cne0sci]source avaaz.org below

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Why this is important

For more than two weeks the Bulgarian people have been peacefully protesting against political impudence and for the immediate resignation of the four-week-old government and new elections. Plamen Oresharski, the new prime minister, and the parties in power, have mocked the protests and shown over and over again this is a puppet government, which does not represent people's interests, but those of mafia and oligarchy. Currently the new government has an approval rating of only 14% - less than Mubarak during the Tahrir Square revolution, creating the biggest divide between people and government in Europe’s recent history.

The protests were sparked by the appointment of a well-known oligarch as the chief of the Bulgarian security agency. The small circle, of which said oligarch is a member, owns a media monopoly, used for political influence and funded with government money, and has amassed assets of over $6.4 billion under the protection of last two governments. It is widely believed that while other countries have а mafia, in Bulgaria, the mafia has the country.

Due to the explosive public reaction, the appointment was canceled, but Prime Minister Oresharski refuses to resign in any condition, and has followed with other scandalous decisions and appointments.

The government has publicly criticized the media for reporting the protests, NGOs for taking a stance, the people for expressing their opinions, and the police for not using force against protesters. Prime Minister Oresharski has said there are "
hundreds"
or "
twenty"
protesters (media is reporting figures between 20,000 and 40,000 in the capital and more in other cities). Members of parliament have called the protesters "
internet morons"
.

The leader of the ultra-nationalist party, a sudden key factor for the existence of the government, has assembled a small paid militia, threatening with "
citizen arrests"
, has assaulted the president, journalists, police, and ordinary citizens. This is tolerated by leaders of other ruling parties and the judicial system.

The protests are likely to escalate in physical violence of a government working against its people. Support the Bulgarian nation by calling on Prime Minister Oresharski to resign immediately. You could also call your local member of parliament, senator or congressman and demand they take a stance against this government.

For more context, visit [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ... ia-protest

What's the plan behind encouraging their resignation.. as in - who replaces them? Do you think the people of BG believe there are fit and proper replacements? It would be pointless to end up like Egypt. I wholly support the demand for transparency and a crackdown on nepotism, corruption and graft, but IMHO I'm not sure that a strong enough successor has been identified to call for resignation.

I admire peaceful protest. I believe it forces people to listen because it shows the strength of genuine feeling. Unless of course like in some countries where the protesters are being paid by the powers that be.

No protests here in VT city centre that I have seen thus far on the scale of anywhere else. I see the protesters have taken over the train station in Plovdiv today:
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expatinchina wrote:

What's the plan behind encouraging their resignation.. as in - who replaces them? Do you think the people of BG believe there are fit and proper replacements? It would be pointless to end up like Egypt. I wholly support the demand for transparency and a crackdown on nepotism, corruption and graft, but IMHO I'm not sure that a strong enough successor has been identified to call for resignation.

I admire peaceful protest. I believe it forces people to listen because it shows the strength of genuine feeling. Unless of course like in some countries where the protesters are being paid by the powers that be.

No protests here in VT city centre that I have seen thus far on the scale of anywhere else. I see the protesters have taken over the train station in Plovdiv today:
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Very well put and yes a good question who replaces them. Would it be a case of the blind leading the blind