About the causes, effects and Dogan
Ladislav Tsvetkov*, June 26, 2009
Beyond political exorcism and campaigns, built upon "anti-Dogan", would not be wrong if we try calmly to analyse what the leader of the DPS (the Movement for rights and freedoms, perceived as the party, representing the Turkish minority in Bulgaria) Ahmed Dogan: "The MPs have no power. They have no power! Their power is legislation. They write laws". According to the Constitution of Republic of Bulgaria, we are a parliamentary republic. In this sense neither the president, nor the prime minister can be put before the speaker of the National Assembly. But is it so? No. The president who has only representative functions, is being guarded more than the speaker of Parliament. The same is the picture with the prime minister.
So what is wrong with that Ahmed Dogan said? We cannot escape asking ourselves how the MPs gained their independence and showed that not anyone else but they and the parliament are the most important and put on the first place in the Constitution institution and not anyone else but they themselves, define the rules? That is why we have the next part of Ahmed Dogan's statement: "And you must be very open, to have quite different positions and positioning, other informal contacts, so that you can one day turn into an instrument of power for solving problems".
This sentence is so true and is in unison with practices for making politics in Bulgaria. But still, can we call politics in Bulgaria transparent and public? No! The most frequently used words in the election campaign are fraud, sale, corporate and manipulated vote. No one is explaining why this or that decision is being taken and no one makes any specific engagements. Does Ahmed Dogan make politics by taking care of his voters? Yes! And he is not ashamed to say it: "How will the MP solve the problem related to projects or their investment? It is impossible. The power is in my hands. This is I what you to understand!"
And people in these regions understand this. Because if you bother visit these places you will see that Dogan is not wasting his time. A village, populated with voters of the DPS (mainly ethnic Turks or just Muslims), has new streets, the village is constantly been taken care of and only 4 km away, in another village, there is no even a half a metre of road, but there people are not supporters of the DPS and most parties remember about them only during elections. In this regard wherever Dogan goes he can say: "If you had investments in Satovcha and I'm not talking only about the projects, I am the instrument that distributes the portions of financing in the country. I want you to be aware of this." Ahmed Dogan also explains his voters why he needs power: "And when we want powerful presence in Parliament, this would mean broader positioning in Parliament and from there - in the central authorities, gentlemen. Yes, I have such instruments like her (he's pointing toward the director of the state fund "Agriculture"), ministers, deputy ministers, directors, deputy prime ministers and so on. I have the power concentrated in me, not in your MPs. I want you to know this".
From the above said we need to remember the following: The way Ahmed Dogan is explaining what he is doing and why he wants power, undoubtedly, is beyond all principles of normal politics. It is intolerable that in a country that calls itself democratic and constitutional, someone is working like this at the expense of every one else just because you can multiply yourself in power at any price abusing the defects of transition. And the problem now has 2 sides.
What Ahmed Dogan said the other day shows clearly that it will never occur to him that Bulgaria needs to apply the rules of democracy, to be transparent, instead he is even more eager to create his own model of work, consciously abusing every weakness of our country. And if today everyone is analyzing what he said, we should pay attention to what political parties have done through the years giving the DPS chances to evolve and after all, giving him the opportunity to state: "Power is concentrated in me, not in your MPs. I want you to know that".
*Ladislav Tsvetkov is a reporter of the Re:TV (www.retv.bg) and a photographer.
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