Turkey-Russia crisis causes spat in Bulgaria’s pro-Turkish party

As Bulgaria's Turkish minority party the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) expelled its leader on Thursday over his openly pro-Turkish stance in the diplomatic spat between Moscow and Ankara over a downed Russian fighter jet on November 24, more on the inter-party continues to spill.

Lütfi Mestan was dumped as the leader of the MRF for 'too hastily' backing Turkey after it shot down a Russian fighter jet on its border with Syria at the end of November. Mestan's leave was reportedly took place as the MRF founder Ahmed Doğan, who pushed for Mestan's ouster, convened the party's central administration board beyond his authorities, whoich took Mestan's expulsion decision.

Turkey's Milliyet daily reported that Mestan was also stripped of his official guards provided by the state, and he took refuge in the Turkish embassy in Sofia along with his kids. Mestan was reportedly afraid offearing from sharing the fate of the Doğan's former secretary Ahmet Emin, who died as a result of a suspicious suicide in 2008. Speaking to a Bulgarian newspaper, Mestan confirmed that he had spent couple of hours in the embassy and he needed that period to provide his own security.

The article reported that Doğan has a pro-Russian stance due to his intelligence background in the Cold War period.

Three additional deputies offered their resignations following Mestan's leave.

The jet downing incident sparked a bitter diplomatic row between Turkey and Russia, which back different sides in Syria's war. Bulgaria, while a member of NATO along with neighbor Turkey, is also heavily dependent upon Russia for energy.

Doğan cautioned against Bulgaria taking sides. "Both Russia and Turkey seek to position themselves (as leaders) in the region, which risks sparking crises ion the Balkans and in Europe," he said, while Mestan defended his stance as not pro-Turkish but pro-NATO.

Attending to a commemoration event in the southern part of the country on Saturday, Mestan said that he would again read the statement that led to his expulsion even if he had known it earlier, adding that he was a close ally of Doğan for the last 19 years. The event commemorating the deceased Turks during the brutal assimilation period in Communist Bulgaria was also attended by Turkey's ambassador and two consulates.

Milliyet's article claimed that Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu also called his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov to ask for support to Mestan, however, Borisov stated that he would not take sides. As MRF's seats declined from 36 to 32, Mestan was claimed to found a new party in the 240-seated parliament.

According to political analyst Evgeniy Daynov, Doğan was seeking to preserve the "pro-European character" of his movement, contrary to Mestan's recent attempts to associate the party with the conservative government in Ankara.

The MRF regularly polls about 13 percent nationally with the support of the ethnic-Turkish minority and Roma, has long been a key player in the Bulgaria's politics and occasionally backs the conservative coalition of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

A three-men interim leadership council will lead the party until it chooses a new leader.