I am a person of the Ministry of the Interior, with over 37 years of experience. I cannot be tied to any political entity. I wouldn't say that I have a political background or biases. This was stated by the Acting Minister of Internal Affairs Atanas Ilkov, quoted by Nova TV. He was invited to the position personally by Dimitar Glavchev and a day later he agreed.
Since he became a minister, politicians have not called him, for no reason at all, says Ilkov.
Ilkov commented that police officers can go out and express their dissatisfaction when they have a problem with the social and domestic working conditions, with the equipment, etc.
On the occasion of the castings in the Ministry of the Interior, Ilkov stated that he wants to form his own team with which to guarantee fair elections. “I have started and will start fulfilling my responsibilities with a team that I want to create. So the responsibility is mine," he emphasized.
Why did he also replace the chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dimitar Kangaldzhiev, Ilkov explained: “This is again related to the team. Let there be no doubt that we are making choices with part of the old team. And this should be a reason to wedge the Ministry of Internal Affairs into the spiral of the fact that with this team we have continued some old practices and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is influencing the election process.
Ilkov said that there will probably be a new chief secretary under a regular government.
„We have issued an order for the appointment of a new general secretary, but since the current deputy general secretary did not report to work in the morning because he was admitted to a hospital, the procedure has not been completed at the moment, Ilkov explained. And he added: “I will not enter into the hypothesis of “if”. I will be very happy if the health problem goes away quickly”.
„The choice of Deputy Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is mine – Yavor Serafimov. He will step in”, said Ilkov.
He confirmed that the director of the General Directorate “Gendarmerie, Special Operations and Combating Terrorism”, Special Operations
„He has been reassigned to the unit to assist the Minister of the Interior. The change is dictated by the fact that it is a nodal directorate in the Ministry of the Interior and the vision it should show is not what it should be. I want a new director, with a new vision, with more energetic actions," said Ilkov.
Asked if he foresees changes of directors of regional directorates, Ilkov stated that he will not leave a person who has not fulfilled his duties according to law.
On the ownership of the Dogan Sarai
The Minister of the Interior explained that a signal was sent to 112 that a group of men had entered the property in “Boyana”, inhabited by the honorary chairman of the DPS. Before the policemen who arrived on the spot, they presented a notarized document that they had the right to be there. Law enforcement contacted the property owner who confirmed this and there was nothing wrong with the men being there.
„A rental contract has appeared. An investigation into how the relationship between the owner and the tenant has been arranged is underway. All the information so far has been reported to the prosecutor's office, Ilkov explained.
„We have no relationship and will not take sides in this process. It is not good to speculate about the presence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police, that we might have some bias and are present there. We have no such bias. This is a very delicate situation. I have told my colleagues, with whom I am in continuous contact, that they should not succumb to provocative actions. It is expressly ordered, if physical force must be used - after an express order. Filming the entire process. I can't tell who is aiming for this. And it's not right for me to say anything. "We are there so that there is no escalation of tension, no unlawful actions and violation of the law," Ilkov pointed out. The Minister of the Interior is adamant that police violence during the clashes in “Boyana” there wasn't.
Regarding the report, which claims that there is a danger to the life of the honorary chairman of the DPS, Ilkov specified that it was checked. “At the present moment, all the facts and circumstances that have been clarified by the investigation of this signal have been reported to the prosecutor's office. The commission, which will assess the facts and circumstances related to Dogan's security, will come up with a decision on whether there is any data on his danger, the energy minister added.
About powdered energy drinks
„This energy drink has been established, it has disturbing indicators”, said Atanas Ilkov. He specified that actions have been taken to make the drink in question unavailable to children until the Narcotic Substances Commission makes its decision.