site.btaDRF Intends to Create New Party Representing MRF's Ideas, Says MEP Kyuchyuk

The Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (DRF) parliamentary group intends to create a new political entity to represent the ideas of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), said Friday MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk after a meeting of the group's leadership with MRF's honorary chair Ahmed Dogan. 

Earlier in the week, DRF's former floor leader Dzhevdet Chakarov announced his decision to quit the leadership of the party and the parliamentary group, following a meeting with MRF - New Beginning Floor Leader Delyan Peevski.

 "The message is clear - the ideas of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms must live in the political space. We intend to create a new political entity that represents these ideas without breaking with the foundations, with authenticity, but together with that we have the ambition to build a modern political party that will be an open platform for all people who want to join it," Kyuchyuk said.

"We do not have details yet, the conversation continues about the name of the party, the organisational structure, the political leadership. These are issues to be resolved," he said.

"The creation of a political party is the fruit of a lot of work, joint efforts, collective reason and we will do our best to unite all our capital, which we have no doubt, to build a modern party that meets the expectations of Bulgarian citizens. Through it we will address our messages to the Bulgarian citizens," Kyuchyuk added.

“Trust is the most important resource that every politician has, we are aware of the situation that because of the dishonest trader in Bulgarian politics called Delyan Peevski we have lost a lot of trust and we have yet to restore it,” Kyuchyuk summarized.

Asked whether he expected more MPs to leave the DRF, Kyuchyuk said that who leaves is a personal decision. "However, I want those colleagues who left the parliamentary group to have the courage to resign [as MPs]. They were not elected in a personal capacity, they were elected as MPs on the list of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms [the coalition which formed the DRF parliamentary group], so if they have any morality left in them, they should leave the National Assembly," Kyuchyuk insisted.

Earlier on Friday DRF MP Vanya Vasileva applied to leave the parliamentary group.