Mehmed Dikme told FACTI: Dogan's MPs have hidden themselves as their leader

What is the political situation in Bulgaria and what is the role of the two MRF factions in the government. Who is working openly, who is not. And how does one participate in a coalition, but without signing an agreement… Mehmed Dikme, a former member of the MRF and former Minister of Agriculture, spoke to FACTI.

- Mr. Dikme, we are already used to the situation in parliament of having two MRF parties. Which one of them - the MRF around Dogan and the MRF "New Beginning", what role does it play at the moment. How do you see things?
- There are no two MRF parties. There is one party, the DPS, because the other is a coalition of farmers and others who transformed themselves into a parliamentary group called "Democracy, Rights and Freedoms". That is, there is one DPS party and this one is "DPS-New Beginning". Another issue is that in that parliamentary group, the DPS, 99% of the people in it came from the old DPS, including those who participated in the leadership. But they are not part of the "Movement for Rights and Freedoms" at the moment according to Bulgarian legislation. The registered political party is "DPS-New Beginning". There is no other registration. There is a refusal for the other, and it is part of a parliamentary group. So there is no doubt here. The group around Dogan, if it wants to identify itself separately as a specific party, must create an entirely new party. The "Movement for Rights and Freedoms" as a brand according to the law is “DPS-New Beginning“.

- Which DPS has what influence…
- Right now we are seeing a race to see who will support the government more. In general, the people around Dogan made a huge political mistake. I am talking about the people in the leadership who make the important decisions. They have an extremely large political experience, but… You simply cannot unconditionally support someone without signing, without having an agreement for this support. Such support was made by the APS coalition, as the people around Dogan showed up for the elections, but support against what… Now the feeling remains whether someone somewhere behind the curtains has not promised someone some post. This is a completely separate topic. So their support today is more like, and the opinion is increasingly being strengthened among society that some people are in parliament to preserve their parliamentary immunity, their personal inviolability, to have protection. And in order to have protection, they give support in the governing formula. And they think that this brings them some dividends. No - it brings them negatives. On the other hand, the people around Peevski very clearly said that they will be opposition, but they will support Bulgaria's European integration and specific things. And, respectively, in their capacity as opposition, they do not want to participate with people in the leadership of the parliament and the parliamentary committees. In this sense, the people around Peevski have shown greater political maturity. And this is the reason why the MRF electorate, the people, have greater sympathy for them at the moment.

- There was a moment recently when Dogan's MRF said that they might leave the government. Then they got together, had a long meeting, but in the end they decided to stay. Was this a political game. Could they have said – no?
- They could have said both “yes“ and “no“. And they, in my opinion, should have said “no“ rather, since they do not have a signed agreement. You simply cannot, since no one has invited you to the government, because there are other parties that can provide the same support, ask for various positions from this government. Here, the question was rather to ignore Delyan Peevski and his influence with this support at the beginning.

- You are talking about strengthening the “sanitary cordon“…
- Yes, but this played a bad joke on the people around Dogan. They simply did not foresee everything that could happen, purely politically. The entry of "Majesty", for example. And this is exactly what played a bad joke on them. Now we see that this continued support for the government of the people around Dogan is causing them very great electoral damage. Once, because of their support, the second time, because they are doing this without clear and specific commitments. Here an interesting question arises from the MRF electorate. I was recently during Bayram in different places in the country and people ask the following: "Why did we have to go to elections a year ago, after the people around Dogan did not support the "Zhelyazkov" cabinet then, after which all the processes in the MRF started, and today they support him? What has changed?" People ask what this means. It means that there is something that is not being said. And in all likelihood these are personal interests. In this, people see mainly economic and financial aspirations for power. We know well that power provides certain economic opportunities. And the people around Dogan have a lot of experience in absorbing these economic interests. People also see that it is a question of immunities. I do not see what the problem is for someone, after an accusation has been brought against him, to defend himself in court. Bulgaria is a country governed by the rule of law. To give himself immunity, and for the court to say who is wrong and who is right.

- You said that you have been to places, you have traveled around Bulgaria. What is the attitude of people towards the two factions of the MRF, because there is a comment about how people who sympathized with Ahmed Dogan are now switching to the “New Beginning“. Is that your feeling?
- This is what is observed in the structures. The members of parliament from “MPS-New Beginning“ are extremely active. I am talking especially in regions, in settlements, where Ahmed Dogan received more votes in the last elections. Peevski's people are creating entirely new structures, so in the next elections they will certainly increase their influence. On the other hand, Ahmed Dogan's people are gone. And where is Ahmed Dogan himself? No one knows where he is, where Ahmed Dogan has hidden, there are no statements from him. If someone comes out and speaks on his behalf, it is not known whether this is his opinion. We recently saw how they denied the statement by Yucel Atilla that it is good to create a new party from Ahmed Dogan. Dogan's deputies have hidden themselves as their leader and are not among the people, they are not dealing with the problems of the people. And those around Peevski are very active, which will certainly bring them dividends. I don't know why the MPs around Ahmed Dogan are hiding, do they not have eyes to go to their electorate... I can't explain this, but this is their judgment - of each MP. Every MP must have constant contact with the people. It is no coincidence that the parliamentary rules state that Monday is a day for meetings between MPs and voters.

- We heard GERB leader Boyko Borisov say that without Delyan Peevski nothing can be voted on in parliament. Is that so…
- At the moment, the people around Peevski have much greater weight in the government, because they have clearly and precisely stated their priorities as to why they support the government on certain issues. They do not want positions, they do not want to participate in the government, but they want Bulgaria to develop, they want to work for the people, which is what is happening. In the municipalities, we now see that the investments are quite serious. For the first time, money is reaching the municipalities to solve the problems of people in specific settlements. “DPS-New Beginning“ have a more clearly expressed position. On the other hand, the constant demand for positions and posts by Ahmed Dogan's deputies, but without putting on the table clear policies to solve the problems of society, leads to a negative attitude of both society and voters, and even of other political formations towards them. In this sense, I believe that at the moment the people around Peevski are in a better position, although they do not participate, have not signed an agreement and are not part of the so-called coalition council.