Regional Leader of DPS in Bulgaria's Kardzhali Quits Party

DPS's former chair Lyutvi Mestan at a commemorative event in Southern Bulgaria, December 26, 2015 Photo: BGNES

The splits within the second largest opposition party in Bulgaria, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), continue as its regional leader in Kardzhali, Bahri Yumer, announced on Saturday that he is both resigning his office and leaving the party.

Yumer, who is also the mayor of the town of Dzhebel, expressed disagreement with the current policies of DPS and in particular with the recent dismissal of the the party's former leader Lyutvi Mestan.

The regional leader pointed out that he had been among the founders of DPS and has always followed the party's policies, but disapproves the way in which Mestan was dismissed from his office and excluded from the party.

Yumer was disappointed and angry with the dismissal of Mestan and made it clear that he can no longer continue being member of DPS as the cause of the party has been lost.

In the past days, Yumer stood firmly behind Mestan in the latter's visit to the region of Kardzhali, daily Dnevnik informs.

The cracks within DPS started to appear after the controversial declaration of Mestan on the downing of the Russian Su-24 bomber by Turkey.

In the declaration, Mestan expressed support for Turkey, noting that the violation of Turkish airspace constituted violation of the airspace and sovereignty of NATO as a whole.

In a new year's speech to the elite of the party, founder and honorary chairperson of DPS, Ahmed Dogan, harshly criticized Mestan over the declaration, identifying it as a "goof".

This was followed by an extraordinary meeting at the villa of Dogan on Thursday attended by the majority of the party's governing body, but not Mestan himself.

The management of the party decided to dismiss him from the leadership position and to exclude him from the party...

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