Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Mad at President Radev, Accuses Him of Cooperating with Fugitive Gambling Lord Bozhkov

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov rushed furiously into the hall where today's traditional briefing of the National Operative Headquarters was held and interrupted it. He turned up the heat bragging about his successful management of Bulgaria. The Prime Minister's main target was President Rumen Radev. Borissov voiced serious accusations against the head of state.

"Radev says that I am a mate of Peevski and that I am a protégé of Erdogan. Both allegations are not true. Yes, Erdogan respects me, and that's fine, because he's the head of 85-million Turkey - our biggest muslim neighbor. Yes, we are friends, but I am also friends with the Serbian president and Romanian and others. It is not true that I am a mate of Peevski in business and politics. I haven't even seen him in a few years. He's the MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and I've won many elections myself since I was mayor of Sofia.

Radev and the others in the opposition are playing a dangerous ethnic card and I will ask them not to. They bring Peevski to the fore when they have no other arguments  and aim at destabilization. MRF has supported the government on several occasions - the purchase of the F-16, the Euro-Atlantic route, the Istanbul Convention and nothing else. MRF supported Rumen Radev for the first term, not Tsetska Tsacheva. Now they can do whatever they want. What do I have to do with MRF? During the upcoming election in some regions the battle will be between GERB and MRF and it will be uncompromising. A large number of Bulgarian Muslims will vote for GERB. They can't impute anything to me," Borissov said.

He added: "With Turkey, we have the best of diplomatic relations. Our stock exchange exceeds billions of dollars and increasingly more investments, especially in...