Movement for Rights and Freedoms

Bulgarian MPs dissolved on Wednesday the controversial ad hoc committee of inquiry on all facts and circumstances related to the alleged interference of Russia and Turkey in Bulgaria's internal affairs.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov hinted on Monday that one of the state agencies might be closed down.

Borisov said this in connection with the series of public procurement procedures, which have been halted recently due to lack of transparency and unclear selection process of contractors.

Bulgarian tobacco growers have vowed to take to the streets unless what they call a "smear campaign" against Bulgartabac, a major tobacco holding group in the country.

Earlier the private company announced it was halting all sales to the Middle East as of April 01, citing an alleged negative media campaign and the "sensitive situation in that region".

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov on Friday say his institution had done its best to prevent a diplomatic conflict with Turkey from spiralling.

Speaking before lawmakers as part of a regular Q&A session with ministers, however, he acknowledged ties between the two countries had been strained by some recent developments.

The Bulgarian parliament adopted at first reading on Thursday draft amendments to the Electoral Code, which pave the way for the introduction of compulsory voting.

The amendments were adopted with 121 MPs voting in favour, 27 being against and 21 lawmakers abstaining, daily Dnevnik informs.

Former DPS party chair Lyutvi Mestan has said he is ready for a "deep conversation" about the oligarchs that have dominated Bulgaria for years, but has added "Prime Ministers" should also be involved.

Mestan on Sunday did an interview with private bTV station after launching his political project, Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance (DOST), a day earlier.

Lyutvi Mestan, the expelled leader of Bulgaria's predominantly ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), said on Saturday that his new political project, DOST, will be 'a radical, pro-NATO and pro-EU party'.

Russia and Turkey are fighting for control over Bulgaria's Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) political party "in a proxy battle in their wider conflict", Victor Kotsev writes in an article for Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail published on Friday.

"The fight threatens to destabilize further the European Union's southern border," the author says.

Turkey has managed to stir confusion in Bulgaria and meddle in the country's internal affairs to an extent that leaves no room for rhetoric, an article reads in the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet [TR], as quoted by the Bulgarian News Agency.

Turkey has declared a Bulgarian diplomat "persona non grata", echoing a step by the Bulgarian government which expelled a Turkish social affairs attaché to the Consulate General in Burgas, Turkish media outlets report.

Zornitsa Petkova Apostolova, who works at the Bulgarian Consulate General in Istanbul, was reportedly asked to leave Turkey.