The schism in the DPS took Ahmed Dogan out of the sheds and left him powerless in the DPS party. How is Peevski different to get to this point… Journalist Mehmed Yumer spoke to FACTS.
- Mr. Yumer, what events are we observing in the DPS and how did it happen that Ahmed Dogan currently has no home and no party behind him?
- This is a rather serious cause for reflection, but things start from the illegal period of Ahmed Dogan, when he created an organization in defense of the Turkish minority group and the Muslim community, and then transformed into the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party (DPS) . And so the party became an icon, a benchmark for making modern politics. Already in the first years of the transition, the DPS clearly stated its orientation towards the Euro-Atlantic value system and integration into the structures of NATO and the European Union. All this was useful for Bulgaria, because we - unlike our neighbors to the west - had a painless transition. From a moment on, however, if we have to enter into some historical framework, from the moment when the DPS with leader Ahmed Dogan entered through the front door of power under the leadership of the NDSV, then in the Triple Coalition, and then participated in the cabinet “ Oresharski“, things have changed. After coming to power, the DPS cause was already replaced by capital. This was felt by the DPS elite. It was not by chance that I started with the illegal period, because then DPS was a cause, and Dogan's loyal despatchers had built a kind of solidarity, the kind that is built as friendship in the barracks, for example.
- Has this changed in the DPS, today this solidarity is gone?
- In DPS, the ideal disappeared, the romantic period disappeared, the belief in the cause of the wounded depressed. There was an outflow of early supporters and sympathizers, and the party remained rather people who were interested in how to keep their power - from the local to the central. And, yes, solidarity is the factor after which the positive spirit that supported the people united around DPS disappeared. Somehow, those who believed that with the young blood that comes from the youth, things will fundamentally change in the leadership of the party, did not remain. DPS for some time preserved its solidary hardliners, but over time the main ideals were completely discredited. Thus, the DPS has taken a comfortable centrist position over the years, swinging left and right in the role of balancer. After the DPS entered power through the front door, it became an end in itself, and the cause was forgotten. Then the people who were loyal stopped believing in the “fairy tale” DPS. Yes, the party has retained a solid core that continues to believe in Dogan's leadership qualities and that halo built by the illegal period.
- We saw Lyutvi Mestan as the leader of the party, we also saw Mustafa Karadai as the leader of the party. How is Delyan Peevski different and what qualities did Ahmed Dogan underestimate in him to get to this situation?
- Look, Ahmed Dogan has been at the head of the party for almost 40 years, including those 5-6 years in the illegal period. When a person sits at the head of a party for a long time, it becomes difficult for him to withstand the mental and physical pressure. One wears out. Ahmed Dogan had a very significant role at the beginning of the transition when he resisted the tensions created around the DPS. You know there were calls to ban the party, a lot of protests back in the very beginning of the 1990s. Dogan was then able to lead the DPS through these political upheavals with moderate policy-making without going to extremes. When Dogan already gave up active politics and lived in the barns cut off from people, somehow he must have lost a real idea and judgment about things.
- What did Dogan underestimate in Peevski?
- I don't know if it's about underestimation or overconfidence in one's own abilities. At his last public appearance at the Central Operations Bureau (COB) meeting, we heard Dogan say that his will as Honorary Chairman is above the party organs and the COB. Apparently, this confidence that Dogan has had over the years, that he can exclude anyone whenever he wants, has played him the worst joke in the party. At this meeting of the Central Committee, we heard him say that just his call for their resignations already means that they are expelled from the party. That's what I'm talking about, the lost real view of things. It was exactly Ahmed Dogan who called Delyan Peevski a “phenomenon” and nominated him to empower him at the National Party Conference. This excessive self-confidence, that Dogan stands above everything in the party organs, played a bad joke on him.
- Why did Delyan Peevski dare to oppose Dogan. It's just time for a “new beginning” li, as already said…
- Look, in the beginning, Delyan Peevski was quite defensive against Ahmed Dogan. Only when the people around Ahmed Dogan announced that they were excluding Peevski and his associates, then Peevski reacted more sharply. Until then, Peevski said that there was no "Dogan" topic. Peevski used to say that he was against deribes.
- What gives Peevski courage to follow a certain path?
- The very fact that he was elected at the National Conference, where everyone voted for him and for Jevdezht Chakarov, is enough. After that, Peevski led the DPS to the second political force. Delyan Peevski is considered and was legitimately elected co-chairman. Look, we don't know exactly what happened that Ahmed Dogan called not to vote for the "Zhelyazkov" cabinet. From there started some kind of rift, which is not yet clear.