The Chairwoman of the Velichie Party, Ms. Albena Pekova, asked the US Secretary of State, Mr. Marco Rubio, about the assessment of the 2024 annual report for the Republic of Bulgaria.
In this report, the Velichie Party is presented in a contradictory and rather mysterious manner, in which its leader, Mr. Ivelin Mihaylov, is almost a problem for Bulgarian democracy.
But the power of this truth for Bulgarian democracy is so accurately described in the verbal note that we are submitting to the US Department of State! The Chairwoman of the Velichie Party Ms. Albena Pekova asks her questions very clearly and categorically!
I sincerely hope that the State Department will express its sincere commitment to democracy!
Ms. Pekova's Note Verbale:
The Political Party “Majesty“ is sending this Note Verbale in connection with the publication on the official US government website of the 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, in the part for the Republic of Bulgaria, in expression of my deep disagreement with the obviously unverified and unreliable information presented in the Report regarding the chairman of the parliamentary group of the political party “Majesty“ in the 51st National Assembly, Mr. Ivelin Mihaylov.
I am aware that the Report published in this way was prepared during the time of the dominant Democratic Party government in the USA and that the current government was probably not familiar with either the authenticity of the information or the reliability and objectivity of its sources from the Republic of Bulgaria. However, the fact that in the entire Report concerning the state of human rights in the Republic of Bulgaria, the only subjects named are the political party "Majesty" and the chairman of our parliamentary group, Mr. Ivelin Mihaylov, is a sufficiently clear indicator of the selfish and far from ideal goals of the source in question.
The content prepared and published in the Report, in which we are branded as subjects repressing freedom of journalistic speech in Bulgaria, is in itself not a good example either for the proper development of the principles of objectivity and equality, or for diplomacy. Even more unacceptable and alarming is the fact that the "information" publicly announced in the Report is based solely on information from a person working for the media of the economic-oligarchic circle "Capital".
The Bulgarian public and the broad media circles in Bulgaria have known for decades that through the media empire built by the oligarch Ivo Prokopiev, together with the economic circle "Capital" created by him and gravitating around him with an insatiable material appetite for the absorption of public goods, a well-organized system for discrediting inconvenient politicians and public figures has been operating for quite some time.
Thus, with our proven opposition activity and the constant protection of the rights of ordinary citizens, we from the "Velichy" party we fall into the circle of those inconvenient for the circle “Capital“, from whose circles the information used for this part of the Report comes.
With even greater bewilderment and regret, I also note the fact that the Report also comments by name on a private business - the joint-stock company and cultural-historical complex “Historical Park“, built entirely on a private-law basis. In this sense, the interference in such relations by the state authority of a foreign country, I consider as an unacceptable interference in an activity peacefully carried out by private-law entities of another country. This is in practice also an interference in the state sovereignty of the Republic of Bulgaria, through which it regulates its internal legal relations.
Is the aspiration for this clearly nihilistic discrediting born from Mr. Mihaylov's refusal to give his consent to a company from the circle “Capital“ for the construction of wind turbines on land next to the cultural and tourist complex "Historical Park" in the village of Neofit Rilski, which he built, is an issue that the US State Department should have investigated before using the information provided to it by individuals who, although they are journalists, work for media from the "Capital" circle and are clearly in a conflict of interest. In any case, however, I find what was done to be extremely unacceptable from both a diplomatic and a business perspective.
Last but not least, I would like to emphasize that in order for a democracy to be real and not a facade, before proceeding with such responsible projects, such as the annual report on human rights in countries around the world, the compiler of this document should conduct a comprehensive study of the facts, so that the information is not superficially collected only from a single interested source, but from the widest possible range of sources from the relevant public spheres.
There is no shortage of such non-governmental sources defending human rights in Bulgaria, but they have never been notified of the interest of the US State Department, nor have they been sought out to satisfy it. Given this, as well as the fact that in addition to journalists who have already found access to the US State Department, serving the consumer interests of the “Capital“ circle in Bulgaria, there lives and works a significant community of journalists whose activities are not funded by the “America for Bulgaria” foundation and does not share the approach of either the “Capital“ circle or the media serving it, then the Report appears to be extremely biased and discriminatory.
With the Report in its indicated part, a country external to Bulgaria, such as the USA, in an unacceptable diplomatic and political way, has practically joined the targeted political and economic discrediting and destruction of both our party and the MP and Chairman of our parliamentary group in the 51st National Assembly, Mr. Ivelin Mihaylov. And this - given that this party and its informal leader - Mr. Ivelin Mihaylov are currently the only entities recognized by ordinary citizens of Bulgaria inside the country and abroad as expressing their will to fight corruption, violence and the violation of human rights. Even more absurd is the image attack committed in this part of the Report on a Bulgarian cultural and tourist complex, such as the “Historical Park“, in which, by the way, quite a few shares of American citizens-shareholders are invested.
Given all the above, on behalf of the political party “Majesty“ I insist on stopping the unacceptable interference and political discrediting of the opposition political party I represent, carried out by the US State Department through the annual Human Rights Report in the part concerning the Republic of Bulgaria.
By declaring our readiness to cooperate and hold bilateral exploratory talks, we also insist on some kind of moral compensation for our damaged image.