Turkey's Labour Minister Calls on Bulgarian Turk Expats to Vote DOST

Turkish Labour and Social Policy Minister Mehmet Müezzinoglu has called on Turkey-based expatriates from Bulgaria to vote for DOST, the party of ex-DPS leader Lyutvi Mestan, Bulgarian and Turkish media report.

Bulgaria will hold an early election on March 26. For the first time, the ethnic Turk-dominated Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), purporting to cater to Bulgarian Turks' interests, is facing a strong challenge in the same niche by its former chairman Lyutvi Mestan's DOST party.

"As the Turkish Republic, which wants its Turkish people in Bulgaria to become more powerful, we must support the DOST party, in order to put them into the background," Turkish daily Milliyet quotes Müezzinoglu as saying.

According to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and Mediapool.bg, the minister says the aim of helping the DOST coalition is to ensure "a better future for our [Turks'] compatriots in Bulgaria."

Müezzinoglu is said to have made the comments at a meeting with members of Bulgarian expatriates' organizations in Istanbul.

Reportedly, he has promised Turkey-based expats that the government in Ankara will facilitate their stay in the country.

Expat organizations say thousands of people who have arrived in Turkey since the so-called Revival Process began back in the 1980s currently have no valid passports and cannot receive Turkish documents.

One of the organizations' chairman is quoted as saying the Turkish government has now decided to allow those whose identity documents have expired to return to Bulgaria without paying fines at the border and return to take part in the election.

Müezzinoglu in turn has said authorities will allow ethnic Turks who arrived from Bulgaria and other Balkan nations...